Author: Cliff Bromiley

Brad Hein retains SA RC Laser title at Mawson Lakes

Report by Adrian Heard

The South Australian RC Laser titles were conducted over the weekend of October 19/20 in light conditions. Saturday afternoon featured a 7-10 knot south-westerly breeze of reasonable consistency, whereas on Sunday morning the winds were 0-5 knots from variable directions.

Brad Hein and Adrian Heard both had consistent results on the Saturday, Brad sailing a B rig for most of the day and Adrian slogging it out on an A rig. There were a number of incidents of boats getting tangled up with each other and this particularly affected the last race of the day where 6 boats did not finish. Peter White scored two wins and Garry Polomka was pleased to win race 2.

Tony White, who was in third place overnight was leading the first race (race 12) on Sunday before he had problems with his receiver and abandoned the race. He also had problems with a servo on race 16 which really dented his chances of getting a podium position. Meanwhile Peter Elverd notched up three wins in the light conditions. Brad Hein sailed very consistently again in the trying conditions, whereas Adrian Heard had variable results which were not helped by failing to cross the finish line in race 17. Gary Hein and Bob Whitehead both had wins which they will long remember, with Gary winning in emphatic style.

After two days of racing the final score was Brad Hein 32 points, Adrian Heard 52 points and Peter Elverd 70 points. Congratulations go to Brad Hein in successfully defending his 2023 title.

Many thanks to Steve Arthur for officiating at the event. The scorers were Lorraine Berry and Stewart Ross. The recovery boat crew who had a pretty active weekend included Brian Marshall, John Moore, David Woods and Lindsay Sawyer. Lindsay Sawyer and Stewart Ross both acted as observers at various times. Also, a big thank you to Chris Levi, Gerry Geibel (photographer), Gaynor Kouwenhoven and a heap of other club members who did so much to make the weekend successful.

Congratulations Daniel Bergan – 2024 RC Laser National Champion

After two sunny days of B rig sailing in fluky 8-15 knot south westerly breezes at Wallaroo, Daniel Bergan and Scott Fleming were tied on 21 points. Scott was not about to relinquish his title as national champion easily. However, he was having the odd difficult race compared with Daniel’s amazing consistency and ultimately this left him slightly vulnerable going into day 3.With a lengthy start line to accommodate 22 boats choosing a place to start was difficult. Scott said that there was no obvious favouritism at either end of the start-line so he settled for trying to find an open patch in the middle. Daniel sailed with a tighter leech than Scott and said that for him this was the key for keeping his boat moving in the calm patches.Day 3 saw Daniel do just enough to keep Scott out and Brad Hein worked his way back to beat Peter Burton for third place on a countback.Other performances of note were Garry Polomka’s 7th place and Mark Stockhausen’s 13th place. Vanessa McCallum, who is very new to RCLs, finished all races bar the last and had a best result of 10th place in a great display of persistence. The whole event was sailed on the fun first competition second principle and the Laser class continues to be very supportive of new sailors at state and national events.The major placings were-:1st Daniel Bergan 2nd Scott Fleming 3rd Brad HeinMaster Peter Burton Grand Master Gary HeinA big thank you to Wallaroo Sailing Club for hosting us for a long weekend. Peter and Julie Elverd did an amazing job. Also, thanks to John Berry for his role in organising the event and thanks to the other Laser sub-committee members Garry Polomka and Bob Whitehead.Our observers included Aaron Jenkins, Alan How, David Woods and John Berry. Thanks to our scoring team of Lorraine Berry, Rose Ross and Gaynor Kouwenhoven. The rescue boat crew for the whole event were Colin Bridgeland and John Orchard. Food and drinks were provided by Julie Elverd and Warwick. Stewart Ross was our guiding hand as race officer. All in all, an excellent group of helpers. A happy bunch of the sailors at the end of the series, taken at Wallaroo Sailing Club

Dave Pruden – 2014 RC Laser WA State Champion

The 2014 RC Laser  WA States were held at the South Perth lake in near perfect sailing conditions – bright sunny day and the morning races in about 5-8 knots and after lunch filling in to 12 -15 knots. It was great to have a really competitive fleet of seven RC Yachts with Graeme Howie (A Class champion), Andy Cummings from Rockingham (ex UK RC Laser sailor), and Linton Ward all the way from Cairns in Queensland.

2014_WA State Title_Results

The morning races were sailed on A-rigs and the current State Champion Dave Pruden was almost unbeatable with eight straight bullets and Graeme and Rod picking up most of the minor placings.

As happened at the last Nationals in Queensland, Dave’s ancient and ‘’well crinkled and slept on’’ A sail was in devastating form ! Dave Bedford was unfortunately out for the rest of the day when he consigned his keel to the murky depths after only two races ! Andy and Garry Mason sailed very well to get into the placings as well and the sailing was tight, fast and a lot of fun.

After the lunch break it was into B-rigs for a perfect moderate southwesterly breeze and we opted for a simple up and return course for the length of the lake where picking the shifts became the main test and challenge. Dave Pruden found the going a bit tougher on B-rigs and the placings were well mixed through the fleet with Graeme and Rod getting better places and Garry and Linton much more competitive.

A total of 16 RC Laser races were held by the conclusion of the day and while the event was won by Dave Pruden who successfully defended his title, the other results were relatively close – Rod Popham finished in second place with Graeme Howie in third place.

The event was sailed in the happy and friendly RC Laser way and everyone had a really great day. A big thank you to Linton for making the effort to join us all the way from Cairns. The WA sailors will be looking forward to the next Australian Nationals to be held at Dobroyd in Sydney next year.

2014 RC Laser Championships Trophy Winners
2014 RC Laser Championships Trophy Winners, Steve and Dave

2014 NSW State Title

Congratulations Graham Brown (1st), Jurgen Luther (2nd) and Peter Newman (3rd) for hanging in though two days of tough competition to pick up the major placings.

Another outstanding RC Laser event – great sailing and happy banter throughout the two days.  Well done to all the sailors for competitive sailing and sportsmanship at all times.

Thanks to Paul Martin (PRO) and Rhys Withers (Scorer) for smooth organisation that helped greatly to make it such an enjoyable two days.  Very special thanks also to Jill, Janet and Silvia for catering and helping out with the scoring.

Full report to follow

2014 NSW State Titles RC Laser
Congratulations Graham Brown (1st), Jurgen Luther (2nd) and Peter Newman (3rd) for hanging in though two days of tough competition to pick up the major placings.

2014 NSW State Title RC Laser
Gusty winds for 2014 NSW State Title

RC Laser 2014 National Championship

RC Laser 2014 National Championship competitors
Australian RC Laser Champion 2014. Congratulations Graham Brown, NSW.

The 24 skippers enjoyed an outstanding event, hotly contested throughout the 2 days of intense competition for the RC Laser 2014 Championship. Graham was lying in 3rd position at the end of Day 1 and 2nd position at lunch on Day 2.  His win was assured by taking out top position in each of the final 4 races.

Second position was awarded to Jurgen Luther from Adelaide on a count-back from Paul Derwent who sails with Graham at Sydney’s Dobroyd club.

Local Gold Coast sailor Peter Burford was a popular choice for the RC Laser Sportsmanship Award and rounded out a great regatta with 6th position on the leaderboard

Congratulations to all the competitors – the regatta was sailed in the best of spirits as is the custom with RC Laser events.

Thanks also to the hosts, Paradise Radio Yachting Club, for the superb organisation.

Watch this space for a full RC Laser 2014 National Championship race report.

 

Jurgen Luther (2nd), Graham Brown (1st), Paul Derwent (3rd), Peter Burford (Sportsmanship Award)