Laser Qualifier at the Weymouth & Portland Sailing Academy - Standard fleet report

Laser Qualifier at Weymouth © UKLA

A 34 strong Standard fleet greeted the shores of Portland Harbour early on Saturday for the second Autumn qualifier of the year. We also had some foreign sailors joining us from Ireland and the Netherlands, a really good turnout for one of the most hotly contested competitions of the year. The weather was a lot more forgiving compared to the first day of Sunderland, the first Autumn qualifier, as we saw an air temperature above 15 degrees!

The first race of the series got off after a few general recalls but with a starboard bias line and the leaders coming from the left as they were able to hold their lane and be first onto the left shift sending them straight over the fleet and into the first mark. Micky Beckett played this the best and lead at Mark 1 with Finn Lynch close behind. Beckett managed to hold his comfortable lead around the course controlling the fleet well and after a shifty second beat, Elliot Hanson had managed to climb into second position ahead of Lynch. The order at the top stayed like this till the finish.

The second race of the series was under way after the race officer had pulled the pin end boat much further upwind causing a square to pin bias line. Again the guys who came off the line and managed to hold in comfortable lanes until the big lefty came in were the people loving life by the top mark. Was this a trend we would see throughout the day? As it happened the left side, if played well up the second beat again came through, with people hitching further gaining more of a lift. Nick Thompson played this race the best and came through for the victory with Beckett right on his heels.

The final race of the day and the wind had definitely moved further left throughout the day but was it going to keep swinging as the sun was on its way down now? In short, yes. The wind was more unstable in this race which lead to much more of a mix and a tighter fight by the top mark. Lorenzo Chiavarini managed to break away from the pack and finish the day with a bullet, but it was Micky Beckett with the consistency which meant he was the overnight leader. He finished the day with a 1,2,3.

The Sunday brought a cold northerly breeze to the harbour with grey skies. After a few general recalls the PRO had had enough and the back flag was out. After the next general recall, about 6 were cleared from the start. The standards hadn't learned their lesson though and after the next start even though we got away, another few boats were caught. Duko Bos from the Netherlands executed the best first beat strategy of the boats that were behind the line and lead round the windward mark. He kept this for the rest of the race and got his first bullet of the series. Thompson and Hanson followed respectively.

The penultimate race of the series and the standards were starting to respect the line a little more as no one was called over the line in this race. The leaders at the top mark came from the left to begin with and managed to hold until a hundred meters from the mark where the shift frequency increased and it was anyone's game. By the reach mark the fleet had spread a touch but with the patchy and shifty direction, you could never be happy that no one could catch you. After saving his legs from the first race Chiavarini showed up and made good use of shifts and gusts downwind to take his second bullet of the series, followed by Lynch and Beckett.

The final race of the series and some standards felt the need to push the line again, a couple of black flags down towards the pin end would change the outcome of the race for some. Dan Whiteley after jumping the gun slightly sailed a good first and second beat to be leading at both marks however unfortunately was over leaving the win for Lorenzo Chiavarini. The second beat of this race got very funky and unstable on the second beat with big place changes happening all over the course. Over the whole weekend, consistency was the king in the shifty close racing and Michael Beckett comes out on top with just 11 points to count.

Thank you very much to SailingFast and Noble Marine for supporting these series.

Overall Results: