RC Laser Autumn Series and Welch Cup at Fleetwood Model Yacht Club - Week 1
by Tony Wilson 10 Oct 2023 10:09 UTC
RC Laser Autumn Series 1 and Welch Cup at Fleetwood © Steve Mattison
We were now at the back end of a lousy wet weekend weather forecast and again greeted with an average welcomed Westerly. The BBC weather map had arrows pointing from the South, but our windsock was fluttering from the far right wooden steps corner.
The wind strength was for an average 13 MPH which was also good. The lake shouted 'B' rig, but Tony was the only one brave enough to tackle the Big one as the boats didn't seem overwhelmed. There was even a 'C' rig on the water.
Trevor and Ian were busy planning the route and to keep it simple, we had one beat up the lake, and all to be taken anticlockwise. The two top marks were reversed after just two races as the wind crept more Southerly to the cabin top left, so now we were sailing clockwise,
With Tony winning the first race, a handful of bigger rigs joined race two. Ian's small sail was abandoned and never seen again for the rest of the day. Now with a mix of rigs, this was how the day went on, but with folks swapping back and forth between the two.
Eric disappeared for a couple of races leaving his boat in the hands of Trevor. Not wanting to miss out on a gimongast tide of 10m, he went to top up the lake.
Mark appeared just before lunch and was able to show that he wasn't just an IOM one boat specialist and that he could also lead the pack with a lowly Laser. Just to prove it wasn't a fluke, repeated his win for a second race to lead us up to nine races completed, just before lunch.
Peter G. joined us after lunch and with a lake now brimming full with water, we were walking half way up the grass bank.With most of the crabbing folk favouring the far dry side, we were in our stride to complete the magic sixteen races.
Sharon had been showing great progress and had even had a go at tackling the large sail. Ian had also had a good afternoon, with a couple of good leads and wins.. Five Skippers had at least one win, so it wasn't all one way sailing and was all close mid field scores.
YES, three discards and a good day had by all.
Results:
1 Tony Wilson 17pts
2 John Armstrong 35pts
3 Ian Sinclair 36pts