RC Laser TT Series Finale at Kingsmill Model Boat Club
by Dave Fowler 29 Oct 2010 01:37 PDT
23 October 2010
9 keen RC Laser sailors arrived for the last TT event of 2010 - this meeting would be the decider for the overall winner of the TT, as there were only 4 points in it at the top of the table.
The Course was set and off we went, the two helms in contention for the TT lead the pack around the first mark but unfortunately on the first down wind leg, Dave Fowler found the only bit of weed (all day) which dropped him out of the top 4 buy the finish, allowing John Tushingham to take the bullet unopposed. With Adrian Tomlinson 2nd and Chris Jackson 3rd.
The second race saw again the same 2 fighting for the lead, but this time DF suffered a rudder servo failure at the leeward mark allowing JT to again tale the bullet, with Liz Tushingham 2nd and Adrian Tomlinson 3rd.
After a little 5 min pause (time required to change a servo), DF was back on the water. This time DF and JT were back in the middle of the pack, still fighting, but JT hit the starboard edge of the course, and caught a massive lift, jumping him to 1st where he stayed. At this point DF was thinking maybe he should have stayed in bed?
The rest of the races continued, with varying people challenging JT but his ability to read the wind and shifts outclassed the rest and he proceeded to win all but 2 races, with DF finally getting back on form after lunch and gaining one of these bullets.
But the whole day was worth while when in the last race JT totally misjudged his position and hit the pontoon head on on the last beat allowing Chris Jackson to take the bullet. This was the 'doh!' of the TT series - pity I didn’t have a camera ready!
A big well done to two of our new RC Laser members Keith Holmes, who gained 5 top 5 placing with a 3rd in one of the races, and to Sean Fitzpatrick who steadily improved throughout the day gaining a 7th in the last race.
A big thank you to the members of Kingsmill Model Boat Club, for all their help in running the day, and the food and drinks, and Sutton in Ashfield Sailing Club for the use of their clubhouse.
Overall Results:
1st John Tushingham
2nd Chris Jackson
3rd Liz Tushingham
4th Adrian Tomlinson
5th Dave Fowler
6th Nigel Seary
7th Keith Holmes
8th John Parks
9th Sean Fitzpatrick