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.
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.
