Laser Radial UK Masters Championship at Royal Torbay Yacht Club

Laser Masters Championship at Royal Torbay © Guy Noble

In 1904 the GWR created a new train service from London to Penzance called the 'Cornish Riviera Express'; a passenger on that train might well have cast an eye over the 'English Riviera' resort of Torbay where, a hundred and fifteen years later, 37 Laser Radial sailors enjoyed the sort of weather associated with the Cote D'Azure, a rather more well-known 'Riviera'!

Warm, sunny weather with a gradient north-easterly wind might be pleasant for holiday makers but was always going to cause difficulties for competitors and race committee alike. Undaunted by these tricky conditions, Jon Emmett didn't shirk from making life harder by attempting to sail with a short batten inserted into one of the long batten pockets! Sorting that out on the water was one of the event's more interesting moments.

All seven races were sailed in light breezes the constancy of which was about as trustworthy as a politician seeking re-election. This resulted in a high scoring regatta for most entrants. Not so, however, for Master category sailor (in more ways than one) Ian Jones, who won the Radials overall with a total of 14 points with a worst result of fourth place!

In a subsequent interview with Jon Emmett, when asked the secret of his success in this regatta, he felt that 'keeping eyes out of the boat' was of paramount importance. For a while his attention must have been drawn towards Ann Keates (a Grand Master from Parkstone Yacht Club), who won the first two races. Having to count a 13th place rather scuppered her chances, although she did manage to hold onto second place overall nudging into third place two-race winner Jon Emmett (Apprentice Master). That's his last mention, I promise!

Second lady and fourth overall was another Parkstone sailor, Roberta Hartley. This was a significant result since together with Ann's overall finish and that of Standard Laser sailor, Chris Whalley (seventh overall) Parkstone Yacht Club were able to fend off a very strong entry from Queen Mary YC to take the team trophy back to Dorset.

In finishing seventh overall and counting two second and third place results, Mike Kinnear (GWSC) took the award of First Legend, proving to many much younger than him that age, as in the case of a fine wine, does not diminish quality when kept in good condition!

Laser Masters Championship at Royal Torbay - photo © Guy Noble

The final race winner was new to the Masters Circuit: Keith McQuillin (Master Rafsa/Spinnaker SC) was unfortunately unable to sail on Saturday and consequently had to count a DNC which of course had a detrimental effect on his final placing. No doubt we will be seeing Keith at the front of the fleet again in future events.

Although the wind may have caused a degree of anguish amongst the Radial Fleet (which, by the way was very well-behaved compared to their neighbours), the excellent social events were a positive factor in helping sailors to retain their equilibrium, at least for the early part of the evenings.

Finally, everyone in the Radial fleet recognises the fantastic help of the friendly and enthusiastic club volunteers and are very grateful for them.

So, on Sunday evening 37 Radials took their boats home but none of them were on the 'Cornish Riviera' because, as far as I know, GWR won't let you take a Laser on the train!

Overall Results: