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