The decision to hold the 2013 RC Laser Championships at the Adelaide Radio Control Yacht Racing Club on ”the Pat” proved to be a very popular choice as all States of Australia were represented in the 24 boat fleet entered for the event. With no RC Laser club established in South Australia, Jurgen Luther worked very hard to get the event organised and publicised and was rewarded with six South Australian entries which could form the core of a future SA fleet of RC Lasers.
The regatta was sailed on 5 / 6 October in mostly light/medium conditions using A and B sails and the Pat provided a challenge for skippers with variable wind strengths and directions. Our PRO, ‘Johno’ Johnson and his dinghy team of ‘Gully’ Cameron and Steve Lucas, were kept busy moving the course marks around as the breeze direction varied.
With 24 boats there was an A and B fleet for each race and boats were moved between heats based on their results in the previous heat.
From the start competition was tough with a number of different boats scoring heat wins on the first day – the result was going to come down to consistency over the two days sailing. The fleet contained all National and almost all State championship winners since the first Nationals in NSW in 2009. The result sheet below give an indication of the closeness of the racing and the Recorders Trevor Johns and Ian Whitrod were kept very busy sorting out close finishes !
Early leaders were Graham Brown (NSW) and Jurgen (SA) but as the first day came to a close Scott Mitchell (SA), Scott Fleming (Vic), and George Fish (TAS) started showing good form and tactics as they settled down to the conditions and scored top points. Scott (SA) showed a lot of skill sailing a loaned demo RC Laser into top place at the end of the day.
Pam, Janet and Jenny served the hungry competitors a lovely lunch and, with Greg Peake in charge of the BBQ, a very substantial evening meal on the Saturday evening when events of the day were relived with a lot of good humour.
Sunday morning saw light patchy winds on the Pat and all skippers were looking to stay out of holes on the course. In the early races the two Scotts slowly drew away in the lead with most of the leaders spending some time in the B fleet – Jurgen’s consistent good results in the A fleet slowly moving him up in the standings from the day before. With a late change to stronger winds B sails come out and the regatta was finished in medium southerly winds.
As expected, when Graham Ingerson the Scorer tallied up the points, the results of the championship were very close with single points separating many of the final places and success for the most consistent skippers. The presentation of prizes saw Scott Mitchell as the new National RC Laser Champion followed by Scott Fleming from Victoria and George Fish from Tasmania in third place.
All skippers received mementos of their participation in the championship and they all showed their appreciation of the excellent management of the championship by the ARCYRC and the facilities provided. Awards were made to the leading unplaced skippers from each State and a special award to Jayne Fleming as the leading lady skipper.
Special mention was made of the substantial teams that travelled from NSW and Victoria to Adelaide and in particular, from the Paradise Lakes club in Queensland. Rod Popham and Cliff Bromiley agreed that the 2014 RC Laser Australian Championships would be sailed at the Paradise Lakes Radio Yacht Club in Queensland and another strong fleet is expected to participate next year.
Rod Popham – RC Laser Co-ordinator
AUS 42
