The 2017 WA RC Laser State Titles have been run and won.
A steady south to south westerly breeze greeted WAnderers Radio Sailing Club at the South Perth lake and it stayed in nearly all day.
All boats started with A rigs for the first few races then, as the breeze strengthened, B rigs were favoured by all skippers. With pretty tight racing throughout the day, the last few races determined the places. Various problems hampered defending champion Dave Pruden’s start to the day and he had to call it a day after 5 races.
2017 WA RC Laser State Titles Results
A big congratulations to Rod Popham who came out on top, 3 points in front of Andy Cummins in 2nd with Dave Bedford 3rd, beating Adam Viney onto the podium by 1 point. Rod has been ‘’bridesmaid’’ in 2nd and 3rd places each year since WAnderers first State championship in 2009 – he actually had Dave Pruden’s name engraved on the trophy before the event !!
A big thank you to Dave Bedford for all his hard work behind the scenes, Adam for setting up the courses on the water and a very well run and fun event – and Rod from Sailprizes for supplying the trophies.
Spring visited for the 2017 RC Laser Victorian States bringing with it fine weather, wind coming from every direction and even weed! The event was held at the National Water Sports Centre on the Patterson River and hosted by the Patterson Lakes Radio Model Yacht Club (PLRMYC). Interstate competitors included Adrian Heard from SA and Daniel Burgen from NSW, both keen to get in some championship practice prior to the RC Laser Championship of Nations.
A big thankyou to David Thomas from the VRYA for taking on the PRO job yet again, along with Mike Pender and Tony Smith helping out and doing a fantastic job to make the day flow smoothly.
Sailing was in light A rig conditions for most of the day and all competitors sailed with excellent sportsmanship, which we’ve come to expect within the RC Laser group. The only lady skipper was deprived of a race win, by her husband who stole the race in the last meter to the finish line!
A record fleet competed in the inaugural South Australian RC Laser championships held over last weekend, 19-20 August. The Adelaide Radio Control Yacht Racing Club hosted at the popular Patawalonga Lake (aka “the Pat”) at Glenelg North in Adelaide – considered by many as one of the best RC sailing venues.
Congratulations to Scott Mitchell for becoming the inaugural South Australian RC Laser champion, to Scott Fleming for coming second (on count-back) and to Andrew Reid for taking third place. Here’s the full report from Adrian Heard.
Scott Mitchell wins inaugural South Australian RC Laser Titles
Shifty start to South Australian RC Laser Championships
After a week of rainy days the morning of Saturday 19th August dawned with sunshine and a light north-easterly breeze. In the previous 48 hours an armada of nine Victorian sailors had assembled on South Australian soil, and together with nine local sailors and Mark Luland from Dobroyd in NSW, we had a fleet of nineteen boats for the event. By the listed 10.30am starting time the north-easterly breeze shifted to WSW, and around midday it shifted further to south-westerly and progressively strengthened during the day to a maximum of 7-8 knots. It was A rigs all day, with only Pat Parisienne, Bob Whitehead and John Berry daring to try B rigs after lunch.
After the first race was declared nul, due to the scorers being unable to read sail numbers at the distant finishing line, formal racing got under way. Scott Mitchell and Scott Fleming took first and second place in the first race, and this pattern or the reverse order was to be a regular feature of the day’s racing. Together they won twelve out of the sixteen races and occasionally by large margins. Other heat winners for the day were Andrew Reid (two wins), Rob Nowak (one win) and Jason Shilton (one win).
A real feature of the day’s sailing was the flukiness of the wind at the windward mark. This mark was set near the opposite side of the Patawalonga to the control area, and the distance and constant change in wind direction made judging the mark very difficult at times. We all had a bad moment or two at this mark. John Nieuwenhuizen had a couple of collisions early on, and Jurgen Luther and I had a farcial time trapped at the mark in race eleven. There were many other similar experiences by other sailors.
While the two Scotts were very consistent all day – Scott Fleming had to do only one 360 degree turn; remarkable in the conditions – Andrew Reid started slowly and improved as the day went on, and Rob Nowak could not find the consistency he needed to be able to win the title. Pat Parisienne was often near the front, and of the Mawson Lakes sailors I think Lindsay Sawyer and John Nieuwenhuizen should be pretty happy with their performances. For three of the eight Mawson Lakes sailors this was their first major regatta, and sailing in a fleet of nineteen boats was a potentially life-changing experience.
Scott Mitchell beat Scott Fleming on a count-back, by having one more second place. That’s how close it was. Congratulations to Scott Mitchell for becoming the inaugural South Australian RC Laser champion, to Scott Fleming for coming second and to Andrew Reid for taking third place. Also thanks to our PRO Johno Johnson who ran a great series, to the scorers Graham Ingerson and Bob Dagg and to the rescue boat operator Len Hearing. What a great mob they are at Adelaide Radio Control Yacht Racing Club. Yvonne and Peter Tiss were observers at the windward and leeward marks all day – a very busy job! Meredith Reardon helped with food and photography and John Berry organised the drinks.
All in all it was a very successful day, with smiling faces all around. There was resounding agreement that the South Australian RC Laser Titles are here to stay!
The South Queensland RC Laser Championships was held between 29 – 30 July 2017 at Lakeside Park Dakabin, North of Brisbane. 21 entrants particpated in the event from the Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, and NSW.
The event consisted of a two day regatta and was made up of two RC laser fleets, A & B – the faster yachts being assigned to fleet A.
Saturday started with very light and varying winds causing a certain amount of frustration for some of the entrants. Sunday’s weather did not fare much better, and after a late start the wind remained just as light in the afternoon as it had the day before.
Nevertheless, with conditions being what they were, everyone enjoyed the warm and sunny conditions served up by sunny Queensland.
A shout out goes to Pine River Radio Yacht Club, the hosts of the South Queensland RC Laser Championships, as well as to the volunteers who helped out on the day.
A special mention also goes to the Officer of the Day, Ian Ashe, and scorer, David Black.
The successful place getters of the South Queensland RC Laser Championships were:
1st – Malcolm Kampe Qld
2nd – Jason Rootes NSW
3rd – Daniel Bergan NSW
Best and Fairest – Linton Ward
Overall results of the South Queensland RC Laser Championship are hightlighted below.
Don Turnbull, the newest RC Laser recruit on the main lakeside decking area at MLMYC – Photo Mark Easton
Radio yachting is humming along in South Australia and we are now halfway through this year’s RC Laser series having just completed round 5. This year, three from our last year’s RC Laser fleet have left us and we have gained one, resulting in between four and six regular sailors for the series. The big difference for our fleet this year is that we are a recognised class in the Mawson Lakes Model Yacht Club and we are now having Sunday afternoon sailing at the club once per month.
The 2017 season is proving to be very different to 2016. Last year we had mostly moderate to strong winds, but this year the weather has been much more stable with four of the first five rounds of the series being held in very light conditions.
Mark Easton and I have consistently taken the first two places in all but round 5. This has largely been due to the absence of Jurgen Luther, who won the series in 2016, and Lindsay Sawyer’s temporary absence on a caravan trip. Much of our work this year has been to get John Berry, who is relatively new to radio yachting, and Don Turnbull, who is experienced in radio yachting but new to RC Lasers, to a level where they are competitive in the fleet. This process is well under way with Don Turnbull already finding a place in the middle of the fleet and John Berry having his first ever win during round 4.
The level of enthusiasm has been remarkable as the whole fleet, with the exception of John Nieuwenhuizen, will be attending the Championship of Nations at the Gold Coast in November. There is a great eagerness to learn and to experiment with rigs, and learning how to achieve maximum boat speed in light shifty conditions has been the key task so far this season.
Mawson Lakes is not an easy place to sail, but I suspect it is not dissimilar to Emerald Lakes on the Gold Coast. We certainly hope that there are similarities between the two venues! During round 2 the difficulties of Mawson Lakes were in evidence, with lots of wind shifts around buildings and a struggle between a north-easterly breeze and the south-westerly sea breeze. Round 5 was won by Lindsay in very fickle conditions and featured some of the closest racing between six boats that I have ever witnessed.
South Australia Radio Yachting – RC Laser Series Results
Round No.
Skipper
Sail #
1
2
3
4
5
A Heard
192
1
1
1
1
2
M Easton
165
2
2
2
2
5
J Berry
256
4
3
5
4
4
D Turnbull
55
DNS
DNS
4
3
6
J Nieuwenhuizen
148
DNS
4
3
DNS
3
L Sawyer
172
3
DNS
DNS
DNS
1
We will sail the remaining five rounds of the series prior to the Championship of Nations, and use these rounds as a key part of our preparation for the November championships. My reading of our fleet is that, given the general rate of improvement, all of us should be able to mix it fairly well with the other 50-60 boats attending the Championship of Nations.
Spring visited for the 2017 RC Laser Victorian States bringing with it fine weather, wind coming from every direction and even weed! The event was held at the National Water Sports Centre on the Patterson River and hosted by the 
A record fleet competed in the inaugural South Australian RC Laser championships held over last weekend, 19-20 August. The 
