Please select your home edition
Edition
Leaderboard feb 2025

Medway RC Laser Club Winter Series at Barton's Point Coastal Park - Day 10

by Jamie Blair 15 Mar 2023 10:46 PDT 12 March 2023
Medway RC Laser Club Winter Series day 10 © Fiona Blair

Big waves for little boats!

Always with the wind in a WSW direction and on the puffy side the long fetch of the lake at Barton's Point Coastal Park provides some big waves to contend with. Near the café the rebound off the lake edge stimulates even more wave effect.

For the RC Laser this makes life difficult and exciting. Which sail to choose in 15 - 18 knots? Six racers took to the water with C rigs to race the triangle sausage course.

The start line had some port bias and encouraged the starboard tack boats down the line and out to the left of the beat. This was in to ore choppy water and the dread of trying to tack brought many a moment in irons or back on the same tack. The better option was to tack onto port as soon as and head for some shelter out to the right.

Adrian Tomlinson (30) back from a long lay off hadn't lost any of his speed, even in the rough conditions. Adrian dominated all the races before the break taking all 8 races.

Jamie Blair (51} and Jon Moon (84) tried to break his winning streak with port end fliers but fate intervened with missing marks (the wing mark was directly into the suns and some 50m away!), nose diving and boat interaction. Andrew Nicholls (613), Bob Woolford (76) and Tony Alexander (04) were having their own battles and with gear failure and DNFs adding to their score.

As the frequency of gusts above 18 knots the C rig was beginning to be uncontrollable. By race 8 the D rigs started to filter across the fleet.

By the coffee break Adrian had crafted a 6 point lead from Jon and Jamie a further 5 points on. Adrian continued his winning fest up to race 10 but with he wind now gusting over 20 knots his choice to stick with the C rig proved too much. Jamie took over the winning baton chasing a huge deficit between him and Jon, 6 points ahead.

For the last race (race 15) there was only a point separating the two. Adrian had already won the day. Jon led around the race course with both arriving at the last mark one behind the other. Jamie squeezed some extra height on the beat from the mark up the short beat to the finish.

Both boats were side by side with a narrow gap between the pair. It was only the last six feet that Jamie edged ahead and took the lead and the win by a very short nose.

Adrian led the results with a margin of 11 points. Second place went to Jamie after being calculated on countback.

Our next set of races will be on Sunday 19th March 2023.

Day 10 Results:

PosSail NoHelmR1R2R3R4R5R6R7R8R9R10R11R12R13R14R15Pts
1st30Adrian Tomlinson11111111112‑432‑417
2nd51Jamie Blair3‑433233‑4331111128
3rd84Jon Moon2222‑322222‑3323228
4th4Tony Alexander454(DNF)5(DNF)53645245355
5th76Bob Woolford5355‑64(DNC)5564654663
6th613Andrew Nicholls(DNF)(DNF)DNC4454645DNS566568

Related Articles

Medway RC Laser Club Winter Series week 4
With no race officier, you need an honesty box Five warmly dressed skippers met at Barton's Point on Sunday morning for week five, another gripping episode in the Medway RC Laser Club winter series. There were several absentees, most notably our RO. Posted on 10 Feb
Medway RC Laser Club Winter Series week 4
More light and shifty winds at Barton's Point Coastal Park For today's racing the wind was very much in the lower numbers. The forecast was for 5 knots and direction SE. No question on rig size - the biggest A rig. Another light wind meeting. Numbers were down with folk away and recovering from the lurgy. Posted on 5 Feb
Medway RC Laser Club Winter Series week 3
Light and shifty at Barton's Point Coastal Park For today's racing the wind was very much in the lower numbers. The forecast was for 5 knots and direction SE. No question on rig size - the biggest A rig. Posted on 20 Jan
RC Lasers at Fleetwood
With a race within a race for the Johnson family The wind was blowing from the clubhouse direction for the ten RC Laser entries. It looked to be a stock 'B' rig all-dayer, but with the light patch at the entry point, a bit of extra sail cloth helps you get through the lulls. Posted on 6 Oct 2024
RC Laser Summer 2 Series at Fleetwood week 2
Two multiple National RC Laser champions lead the battle With a forecast predicting rain for most of the day, we were pleasantly surprised to arrive at the lakeside and still not a drop of rain. A westerly breeze and the few remaining large sails were put aside after practice. Posted on 8 Jul 2024
RC Laser Summer 2 Series at Fleetwood week 1
With the wind forever increasing in strength a couple of 'D' rigs were brought out The showers had just about died out on arrival, to leave us with a nice Blowy Westerly. No need for the big sails today and it was a decider for the next 2 sail sizes, giving us a mix for the first couple of races. Posted on 18 Jun 2024
Medway RC Laser Club Winter Series week 13
No question on rig size - the smallest D rigs were chosen For today's racing the wind was very much in the upper numbers. The forecast was for it to drop but with 20 - 25 knits and direction NW. No question on rig size - the smallest D rig. Posted on 27 Mar 2024
Medway RC Laser Club Winter Series week 12
Wet gear didn't stop the whole fleet racing the 15 races After the break for Mother's Day the turnout for the twelfth race day in the Winter Series was well attended with 11 sailors braving the "Ides of March". Was it to be a bad omen for one or all? Posted on 19 Mar 2024
Medway RC Laser Club Winter Series week 11
High winds yesterday but today very light High winds yesterday but today very light. 6-7 knots from the West. The direction was shifting for the course layer through 5 - 10 degrees but ready for the first race at 10.00. Posted on 3 Mar 2024
Medway RC Laser Club Winter Series week 10
Course allows boats to be closer than normal and with more possible infringements The Race Team using the wind direction of SE and 8 knots speed set a narrow course with a wing mark to form the triangle for the triangle sausage format. This effectively gave two downwind legs, a reach along the leeward end of the course and two beats. Posted on 27 Feb 2024
PredictWind - Routing 728x90 BOTTOMRooster SB1 Inshore RangeVaikobi 2024 December