Laser Performance Masters Inlands at Grafham Water Sailing Club
by Guy Noble & Sue Ritchie 27 Nov 2018 09:43 PST
24-25 November 2018
Alan Davis wins the Standard fleet in the Laser Performance Masters Inlands at Grafham Water © Guy Noble
A grey sky and a chilly 9/12 ktns ENE wind greeted the 59 Laser Masters, 38 Standard and 21 Radial, on their arrival to Grafham Water. With entrants coming from as far afield as Dun Laoghaire, Blackpool and Weymouth (11 from Wembley Sailing Club!) everyone was up for some fun and good competitive racing to see out the 2018 Master series.
It's worth taking just a quick look back at what an incredible year 2018 has been for the Laser Masters competitors. The Brits have the current Australian National Grand Master Laser champion - Tim Law, the European Grand Master champion - Alan Davies, Radial apprentice Master world champion - Ben Elvin, Radial Grand Master world champion - Steve Cockrell, Radial apprentice Master European champion - Jon Emmett, Radial master European champion - Ian Jones and of course our own super duper Olympian and now current Standard Grand Master world champion - Mark Lyttle (4 were at Grafham). I mention these undoubted heroes because we have to get in perspective just how extraordinary the Laser Master Series is.
For many of us racing in a fleet with these brilliant sailors is thrilling, a real challenge and each time we learn something new. Laser sailing is probably one of the few sports where on a Sunday morning you can jump into a piece of kit identical to the world champion's who is sailing right next to you.
Standard fleet
Race one for the standard fleet started under a black flag - with one miscreant! A shifty first beat made it imperative to be in the front row accelerating off the line and holding your lane. This meant you could tack on the first shift. As we were sailing across the lake the first beat was short. So although it paid to keep centre-right for the first half, coming in from the left in the final third paid dividends but was risky. Alan Davies got the bullet closely followed by Orlando Gledhill and local David Summerville with a notable 4th from Tim Keighley. Race two got under way in very similar conditions but this time playing the shifts well were Malcolm Marsden (Blackpool & Fleetwood Yacht Club) and Alex Jacobs (Wembley Sailing Club) who were threatening to spoil the big boys party. Marsden sailed a great race going right on the final run taking the lead just ahead of Alan Davies. The final race on Saturday saw Mark Lyttle take the win moving him into second overall - much to his relief as he was giving a talk that evening about being an Olympian and Masters world champion, pretty tricky to do if mid fleet.
After the racing on Saturday most of the competitors stayed on to listen to Mark give a brilliant talk about his preparations for both the Olympics in 1996 and for the Masters world Championships in Dun Laoghaire in 2018. Full of insights and useful advice one also got the feeling of being gently massaged at the same time - the charm of the Irish! Fast becoming a tradition of the Masters Events are the most extraordinary prizes - praise be to the sponsors. Saturday also saw Minorca Sailing holidays giving away a free holiday including flights to a lucky competitor - in this case it went to another one of our Blackpool & Fleetwood Yacht Club friends Peter McChrystal, we are expecting a top 10 finish next year! Alan Davis was the lucky recipient of a brand-new bottom section mast donated by Laser Performance.
Sunday came with the prospect of some sunshine but slightly less wind. Predicted to move left during the course of the day and to soften the first race (4) got under way, this time it was Orando Gledhill who took the win with David Summerville and Malcolm Marsden not far behind. Race 5 was a much closer affair this time with John Curran from Wembley Sailing Club doing what Malcolm did the previous day, coming down the right on the last run taking the well deserved win. The final race of the day saw the wind fall away to about 6/ 8 knts. After the race the excellent RO Peter Saxton and his wife Sue showed me the wind direction track just before during and after the start - massive shifts before and after the start. Peter, Sue and their team did amazingly well to get us away in that brief moment of stable wind. Orlando Gledhill showed perfect judgement and played the shifts superbly to take yet another win.
For this event Alan Davies just held his lead over Orlando Gledhill to take the title of Masters Inland Champion of 2018 with David Summerville 3rd.
Radial fleet
Master sailors were reminded by Joel (LP) that mince pies and mulled wine after cold racing conditions on Saturday can mean only one thing....4 weeks 'till Christmas. Nevertheless the turn out was good, Standards exceeding Radials in numbers with new faces in both fleets.
Great to see new sailors joining the Masters, welcome to Caroline (Radial) from Welsh Harp and Tim (Standard) from Felixstowe Ferry, my old club. You haven't aged in 20 years!
The good thing about Masters sailing is the willingness of people to help be it with rigging tweaks, rule explanation or borrowing £1 for a cuppa T.
Post-race debriefs give us an opportunity to quiz the leaders in their tactics too.
Saturday's racing was dominated by Jon Emmett and Ian Jones with Sean Craig from Dun Laoghaire, David Catto and Glyn Purnell fighting out for 3rd.
A sunny start to Sunday's racing saw Jon Emmett and Ian Jones continue their Saturday jousting but this time Mike Kinnear taking 3rd. Race five saw Ian Jones finally get the better of Jon with Ian Rawet (GGM) a well-deserved 3rd. In the final race it was good to see the girls mixing it up with Alison Stevens (AP) and Alison Hutton (GGM) leading the charge. Jon E 1st, AH eventually finishing 2nd and Nicholas Livingstone an excellent 3rd.
With muddy boats jet washed and packed up we were ready for prize giving. Must work harder, as Mark said during his talk, it's all about time in the boat.
The Laser Masters are extremely fortunate to have great competitors over 200 in the 2018 series), incredibly generous sponsors and amazing volunteers. For every champion there are dozens of club sailors who love to race some bigger events, so 4 or 5 times a year the Masters provide that – thank you. The sponsors help make the Masters events something special - Joel Chadwick and Laser Performance, Tideway Investment partners, Wildwind holidays, Minorca Sailing holidays, Southeast sailboats, Fernhurst Books and Rooster – thank you. Finally and most importantly there are the volunteers without whom none of this would be possible. Everyone at Grafham Water Sailing Club who helped make this a truly great end to a great season of Laser Masters sailing - thank you.
Full results can be found here.