LASER GRAND PRIX AT KILLINGTON LAKE
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Pupils competed in Round 1 of the Rooster Lakeland and Border Laser Grand Prix at Killington on April 16th. Pupils arriving at Killington were greeted with gusts of 25 knots (Force 6) as they got ready to rig their boats –
Most were prudent and chose to sail a smaller rig to cope with the conditions although the forecast was for the winds to drop during the afternoon. Stewart Mitchell from Annandale SC as race officer set a relatively straightforward course for the first race as the sailors set off onto the lake.
An early and definite pattern emerged with Peter Lawson (KSA) with his new model Lasersail led the fleet with Martin Metcalfe (KSA) and Shaw Brown (KSA) following on behind.
It wasn’t until Race three that that pattern broke down partly as people tired and more importantly as the wind sent down some interesting gusts back into Force 5 just to prove that forecasts shouldn’t be trusted! By this time the race officer was setting some more “interesting” courses, which put safe gybing at a premium.
Race 3 saw Chay Turner-Richards (P) get his highest place as he worked his way forward to being highest placed Sedberghian in the regatta. Meanwhile Pier Pello (H) and Julius Staab (P) had a battle in the 4.7 class throughout the day with Julius pipping Pier to 2nd place in the 4.7 rig class.
George and James Thomas (H), while sailing different rigs (radial and full rig respectively) were placed on handicap within one place of each other all day until the last race when fatigue was setting in. George ended up beating James and coming 2nd in the radial fleet but on the other hand James was the only youth sailing a full rig so was placed 1st Youth full rig.
Many thanks to Cameron Dale (W) and Peter Fairbank (SH) for manning a rescue boat all day. We saw sailors from 6 different sailing clubs – Killington, Bassenthwaite, Annandale, St Mary’s Loch, Rossendale and Sedbergh School.
We look forward to the next round at Annandale on Sat April 30th Next week sees us at the RYA Junior travellers’ series at Hollingworth before returning to Laser sailing in a fortnight at Annandale.
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