RC Laser Series concludes at West Lancashire Yacht Club
by Tony Wilson 17 Mar 2020 14:28 PDT
15 March 2020
RC Laser series finale at West Lancs © Tony Wilson
The forecast was looking kind for us being dry, with an 18 MPH breeze and from a somewhat Westerly direction, so it was all go ahead for RC Lasers at West Lancs. This the last in the series and again a double up but this time finishing again with the larger Dragon Flight 95.
Six entrants for the Lasers and just four for the Dragon Flite, as skippers that sail these probably had a clash with another nearby event. The course set was a Triangle/sausage in anticlockwise direction with a spreader on the windward mark.
The wind was plumb across the clubhouse front which gave us easy site to the square start and the finish line placed a little further along. We had a C/D split on sail choice for the Lasers, while the Dragons all went with B rig and stuck with them for the whole day.
Lasers to start and Shaun and Tony got good starts. Mirroring positions Tony was able to keep up with Shaun for this first race and only got pipped at the finish. This would change as the day went on. John Armstrong struggled with his C rig on the first race and dropped to D rig. Peter, Colin and Neil started small and with Peter's choice it was barely noticeable to whether he had suffered on this first race as the bigger were taking an occasional dip on the run.
Shaun continued to dominate up till lunchtime and with eight complete races he had a complete royal Laser flush with eight wins. Peter had decided to go bigger as the C rigs were starting rule. John had been having a difficult morning and Neil and Colin seemed to be enjoying their own little battles in their world.
Trevor swapped the start order for the first after lunch as the Dragons were a race behind. Laser mutineer Skip was having winch drum issues and also Alan was having some sort of boat difficulty that needed attention during the break. Lasers off again but this time as the wind had veered more towards the bridge, Alan had biased the start and finish lines. Tony tried for a flyer Port start, but then the rest in a fashionable pincher mode shut him out. John was now running much better and was able to improve on his points.
Mid afternoon and Shaun suddenly disappeared with a faulty winch. We couldn't get Trevor to start quick enough, but one race was sailed and with all out to grab for John won this one. Peter, John and Tony knew the points were close for second and third place from run away Shaun. And with no one able to catch him even if he missed out the whole afternoon, we would be guessing right up until the end. We managed 14 races just shy of our 3 discards and with Shaun out for the last race also John was able to score the last goal.
This was the last in the series and Shaun had a clean sweep of 12 wins on this day and two more event days to clinch the title.
Third and fourth position were separated by only 1 point and also fifth and sixth by 2 points.
The local VW Dub fest met for their annual meet along the promenade and along with ourselves also had a good day for it.
Thanks to Trevor's hard work in collating all the scores again ready on time and here's to next year for much of the same.
13 members had taken part in this RC Laser series, with eight qualifying by having three results.
Results for the day:
1 Shaun Holbeche 12 pts
2 Tony Wilson 26 pts
3 John Armstrong 35 pts
The series:
1 Shaun Holbeche 300 pts
2 John Sharman 254 pts
3 Tony Wilson 249 pts
Eleven members took part in the DF95 series, although only Clive Porter had three complete results.
With only four DF95 dates being available and 1 had to be cancelled due to very bad weather it proved difficult for some.
Results for the day:
1 Clive Porter 23 pts
2 Alan Fearnhead 26 pts
3 Skip Reaser 30 pts
Results for the series:
1 Clive Porter 142.5 pts
Sunday 1st March
The event a fortnight ago with the RC Lasers and DF65 had a very challenging day.
The day started as usual with the short delay between races, but after three complete races it was decided to totally separate classes to minimise destruction.
Eight races were sailed for each class and again this was the concluding day for the Dragon Force 65.
Results for Lasers for the day:
1 Shaun Holbeche 7 pts
2 John Sharman 12 pts
3 Peter Isles 16 pts
Results for DF65 for the day:
1 John Brierley 6 pts
2 Alan Watkins 10 pts
3 Garry Benson 16 pts
DF65 series results (Only 2 had completed the 3 race days scheduled, from 9 competitors):
1 John Brierley 272 pts
2 Alan Watkinson 192 pts