RC Laser Northern District TT (December) at Burwain Sailing Club
by Tony Wilson 3 Dec 2018 01:55 PST
2 December 2018
RC Laser Northern District TT (December) at Burwain © Tony Wilson
The forecast for the North was a possibility of showers and a 20 knot wind from the West. Well it drizzled all the way on the drive to Burwain and with the low cloud was looking like it was in for the day.
Nine Skippers booked in and Trevor had kindly volunteered to be race officer for the day, after John Sharman had already spread out a selection of buoys around the lake for us to choose from. The wind was in a perfect direction, nice and straight down the lake.
Hugo had engineered a purpose-built platform from a handful of wooden pallets topped with non slip rubber matting, this would give us a nice elevated view for a second row from the welcoming race balcony.
Half the lake was looking windless as there was hardly a ripple on the water and even the official Laser banners were hardly moving as folks were guessing between A and B rigs.
On to the race briefing and it was for a large triangle of two laps with a start and finish line bang right in front of us was the order. B rigs all round for the first race and the breeze was starting to pick up all the while.
John won that first race followed by Hugo and we also had the regulars not far behind and all were up for the action, along with the two Fleetwood visitors. Race two went to Darius, one of Burwain's newest members. John then went on to alternating his wins and getting most of them. Race three was the race were John and Hugo barged in uncontrollably on the first windward mark on port tack, upsetting Richard and Tony's early arrival on Starboard. This was paid back with about half a dozen penalty turns between the pair of them, but left Tony and Richard's boats tangled, while they scarpered from the rest of the fleet that was also by now left in a pile up.
Hugo went to Tony's rescue and politely offered the use of his boat if he couldn't untangle his mess of winch lines, which was nice but not needed.
The course was later shortened to a large triangle and then a smaller triangle to finish for the second lap, this was just to speed up the races as we had only managed a couple in the first hour of racing.
Race four and the fleet had all by now attached their C rig and this was also used for the fifth before calling lunch at the right time, while a recovery went ahead for Eric's boat that was stranded on the far bank.
Over lunch the D rig was threatening as white horses were appearing on the water but dissipated by the time we were finished. Half the fleet had made the change for the storm rig led by Hugo, but a few were brave enough to stick and continue with the swan dive battle.
It was a bit of a hard one to call as when you were out of control you were losing so much ground, but the C rigs did seem to better on the beats with the added horsepower. Usually these were coming in for the first couple of race places, which made you persevere with the larger rig.
The morning had dragged a little until the shortened course and by now Trevor had started to rattle off the races to complete twelve in all before the finish deadline.
John won the days regatta followed by a close second and third place, dividing Hugo and Tony by just one point. Four individual skippers got first places so it didn't all go John's way, but well done anyway. The days sailing, although a bit bleak weather wise was enjoyed by all and had some great racing with lots of wind which makes it all the more worthwhile.
The next and last race in the series is in a fortnight over at West Lancs. It is still very much open, but you do need a third result to qualify if you have only made two of the races in the series. A couple of the Burwain members have promised they will try to get over for a change of venue. Also, they in return have offered an Open invitation to their yearly Christmas Handicap on 23rd December with prizes for all.
It is very nice location for sailing if you have never been to Burwain and the club is always open to visitors and has excellent facilities.
Top three:
1 John Sharman, 13 pts, Burwain
2 Hugo Chandor, 24 pts, Burwain
3 Tony Wilson, 25 pts, Fleetwood