Report from Rod Popham AUS 42
This inaugural event, of what will be a World RC Laser Championship in future, was held at the West Lancs Yacht Club at Southport in the UK. Two weeks before the event, the 2013 UK Nationals were held in Gosport in the south of England.
The Fleet
The championship heats were held over six days with a lay day in the middle and another ‘orientation’ day before – five full sailing days. With three RC Lasers from the Netherlands, three from France, one American and two Australians, the international contingent was good. A large number of boats were expected to attend from the UK but the local turnout was poor. The quality of the UK contingent, however was excellent, as the winner of the 2013 UK RC Laser Nationals and some key boats attended.
The Conditions
The lake venue was close to the sea and the yacht club facilities, welcome to competitors excellent, and water access was easy. Winds were variable from light to moderate for most of the days and varied in direction – we only got into C-sails for one day with most days sailing in B-sails and A-sails.
Before the event all boats were weighed fully set up with B-sails and the key dimension between the base of the mast and the bottom of the gooseneck checked on all rigs.
The Competition
From the start competition was very tough but the PRO and helpers set good courses to test every point of sailing. A French protest on the Monday and the events that followed, including involvement of the local Police (another story), delayed things a bit – but everyone settled down happily and cheerfully again and sailing was on in great spirit.
From the start of the heats, current UK Champion David Fowler and the Frenchman Marc Albiges started to dominate with heavy competition from the USA boat, key UK representatives and Taco Faber from the Netherlands. Dave Bedford from Australia sailed very well and consistently to be in contention in most heats.
It was found out later in the regatta that there were two big 2.4Ghz deadspots out on the lake and Rod Popham did not get his boat electronics working properly until the last race of the third day when he was lying 13th in the fleet. With the layday his boat was stripped down and everything replaced and a 29Mhz system installed – Rod was back in action! With so many DNFs from the first three days, Rod had two days to get back into the standings.
The catering for the event by the Club was excellent and after a days sailing it was a very enjoyable opportunity to sit down with the local and international Laser sailors and their wives socially at the bar.
AThe Future of the World RC Laser Championship
meeting was held with the UK distributor to discuss future RC Laser events. It was proposed that the international RC Laser website would be activated to coordinate international events in the future. A
· The Championship of Nations event would be held every two years – the next in Netherlands in 2015 and it was suggested that Australia would host the 2017 series.
· Most representatives agreed that they would be extending the acceptance of the John Tushingham D-sails for all events for extended periods.
The support from the UK RC Laser distributor Peterkin was excellent with a spare boat, sails, electronics, servos, and a full range of spares made available from the start of the regatta. Every competitor also received a C-sail signed by all the competitors at the end of the regatta.
The final results are tabulated below with Australia’s representatives doing well – Rod had moved up to 6th after the last two days sailing and Dave into a very consistent and creditable 7th place. We are waiting for the best photos to come from the UK and will post them when received.
It was a great regatta with lots of good experience in tactics and sailing RC Lasers and meeting old friends and making new ones for Dave and Rod – they are already planning to go to Netherlands in 2015.
