RC Laser Winter Series at Fleetwood Model Yacht Club - Week 1
by Tony Wilson 10 Jan 2022 09:55 PST
9 January 2022
RC Laser Winter Series at Fleetwood kicks off 2022 © Bob Jolly
A few of the locals that hadn't sailed other classes were eager to get out on the water for 2022. A good breeze from the West and the Tall sails should have been left at home. Testing out for sail size, most opted on the 'C', all of except for our Peter. We had a couple of brief visitor's to attend, so a spare boat was kept on the lake side.
Course decided on, was to sail the full length up to a top centred mark taken to Port, return to a centrally placed buoy under the bridge taken to Starboard and finish a third up by the near bench. The wind was fairly plumb all day, so only minor tweaking of the square start and finish adjustment to be needed.
On to race one and Derek was with us for a race until Charles and Chris came for their baptism of fire. Chris had done a spell of full size sailing, so it was just mainly the knowhow of how these 2 channel boats work with a radio in your hands. Derek would have probably won the first race before handing over, had he not sailed round the last mark to how he was told, rather than what he would have expected, had he set the course. Shaun started off his spell of wins with Tony in second place.
Race two and Chris was now on the sticks of GBR 85 borrowed boat, with the occasional kick on the shins from watchful eyes and tutoring Derek. A half reasonable attempt for a first go and room for improvement before handing over to brother Charles to have a play.
Race three with Tony waiting on the start, where he should be waiting, although Shaun managed to squeeze through on the bell and Tony now sandwiched between Peter peril to decide Tony needed help in dislodging his sail. Peter had already down sized from his 'B' sail after the first race. Tony took a discard as it takes a while for your hull to sail to the lake side with the sail dragging along the bottom on a piece of string acting like an anchor.
A short, but long 10 minute break to have a couple of sail changes, as Smiffy went 'D' rig followed shortly after by Eric. Trevor now biting at the Bit as he was on for a beloved 16 races, (in his dreams.)
We shortened the circuit by leaving out the bottom third, the choppy bit by the bridge as the wind started to increase a little. The buoys around the lake were quite evenly spaced and seemed to replicate each other, so we kept a similar pattern for the course.
Two more races and it was lunch.
Following the rest of the fleet, Tony also reached for his small sail. It was only when Shaun lost out a race win, that he also gave in. Apart from two races, he had commanded the lead for the whole day. It's not bad when your 2 discards are second placements.
A good day of sailing was had by all with no visible breakdowns and we were all kept dry for the 10 full races. Seven skippers in attendance plus a couple of visitors, that commented. "We thought you only walk miles when on a Golf course".
On a small side note. It's been noticed that a couple of the numbers on the RC Laser sails around the country are placed wrong. Myself guilty as charged. (GBR 85 on my B rig) To be corrected if I'm wrong. The upper number is visible on the Starboard side. The lower number should be on the Port side.
This maybe with all classes, I don't know, nobody ever told me. Some may have replaced their sails or even bought second hand. The number template is on the website. It helps for the scorer and for calling on right of way. Sometimes good to have a little difference to identify where your boat is but too much colour or otherwise can make you stick out like a sore thumb.
Results:
1 Shaun Holbeche 8 pts
2 Tony Wilson 16 pts
3 Peter Isles 22 pts