Fantastic conditions welcomed 8 competitors at Mangawhai for the RC Laser New Zealand 2019 North Island Championship on Sunday 3rd November. A 12 -18 knot SW breeze kept the fleet on “C” rigs all day, where we managed to squeeze off 19 races.
5 different skippers all got a bullet showing the competition was hard fought. Paul Goddard seemed to have a slight edge upwind and sailed well to take out the day and retain the trophy for the second year running. The mid fleet positions were very closely competed for with many photo finishes.
Thanks to our race recorder, Barbara, who was under the pump during those close finishes.
Many laughs and good fun all round made for a most enjoyable day of competition. Most improved skipper award would have to go to Greg McBain who, once he got his confidence in the start box, showed he could grab some good results. The pics tell the story of how lucky we are with a great venue for RC Yachting.
Another great day of RC Laser sailing with lots of laughs and wonderful company.
Dobroyd Aquatic Club hosted the NSW State Championship 2019 for RC Lasers on the first Sunday in November.
Thanks to NSWRYA for providing the medals for first, second and third places and to Steven Crewes, DAC Member, for donating prizes.
Competition came from far afield. Noel Christison set the pace with his four-week journey from Queensland which also took in the SA State Titles. Peter Burton and Alan Griffith came from Forster Tuncurry and David Preece from George’s Basin on NSW south coast.
The success of the event was made possible by a small but dedicated team lead by Noel McPherson, the Class Captain. Thank you again to Paul Martin for his role as Race Officer. The varying wind was an early challenge but Paul still managed to set Courses which provided a fair test. At the other end of the radio was Stephen Deane who spent most of the day in the rescue boat, moving marks at Paul’s request. Stephen suffered from the odd rain shower but also made our sailing a success.
I assumed the role as scorer and with Mark Luland, we were the observers with pads and pens in hand. Not much was heard from Mark and I, as quite often after an infringement, the appropriate boat was already completing the penalty turn.
The forecast was more gentle than advised with only a light shower later in the day and no thunderstorms in our area. The wind eventually settled to a Nor’Easter with a light to moderate chop.
It was interesting to see “B”, “C” and “D” sails in the same race on one or two occasions. The “D”s would take off in a strong gust only to be overtaken by the “B”s in the lulls. Some weed from recent strong winds was shared equally so probably didn’t affect the results much, if at all.
The racing was dominated by Peter Burton and Graham Brown. An early contender was Paul Derwent who suffered more than most from weed. Alan Griffith always seemed the be up the front end and Noel McPherson again showed that consistency is what counts.
Quite a few boats had moments of glory. Apart from the top three, race winners were Alan Griffith, Paul Derwent, David Preece, Peter Close and Rob Lowndes.
Peter Burton and Graham Brown were the early contenders for NSW Champion. Peter and Graham were neck and neck with the greatest margin being only six points. This was the final difference between them.
NSW State Champion 2019 is Peter Burton scoring 23 points.
Second Place is Graham Brown scoring 29 points.
Third Place is Noel McPherson scoring 61 points.
Congratulations to all Sailors on a successful day.
By 9.30am on Saturday morning a swirl of activity had descended on Mawson Lakes Model Yacht Club (MLMYC) with many interstate visitors arriving. With 22 competitors there was a real sense of excitement.
The morning practice session got underway with Peter Burton experimenting with a B rig in the gusty SW winds of around 10-16 knots.
By the time racing began the wind had increased slightly and almost all sailors had opted for C rigs. While Brad Hein and I won the first two races, it quickly became apparent in ensuing races that Peter Burton was sailing very consistently indeed. Not only was he winning races, but often by large margins.
There were several other surprises in store. Len Hearing, who is an experienced sailor, but new to Lasers adapted to the strong winds superbly and finished the day in third place. Phil Clerke, who is the master of tacking to port immediately after the start and picking up wind shifts in the middle of the lake, again showed how successful this tactic is.
Other stand-outs were Stephen Cibich who, after the first five races, looked like he was set for a top three finish. Dean Bonnett, our club president who courageously decided to give Lasers a go, acquitted himself very well. Gary Polomka, also new to Lasers, led most of the second last race of the day before being passed on the last leg by Brad Hein.
Fluky Conditions for Day 2 RC Laser Titles
At the designated start time of 9.30am on Sunday morning, Race Officer Stewart Ross was faced with a highly variable SW-SE wind and a SW course set for the forecast wind direction. The first two races of the day were sailed in fluky conditions and hard luck stories abounded. None worse than John Berry who led B division by a long way for most of the race, only to pick the non-favoured leeward gate mark and finish up in sixth place.
We then changed to Gold and Silver fleets, and Brad Hein recorded his second win for the morning. It looked for a moment as if Brad might rise to challenge Peter Burton’s dominance of the series. Meanwhile, in the silver fleet Gary Hein had a great win followed by Noel Christison. Alex Hayter was also sailing well.
The
next gold fleet race bordered on farcical. Peter Burton, sensing he had to do
something different opted for a B rig and Brad Hein followed him. Everyone else
had kept A rigs. All went smoothly until the second windward work. Most of the
fleet tacked in shore into a windless hole, whereas Kym Stringer, Phil Clerke
and I sailed out into the lake into a good breeze. At one stage I led the fleet
by about 50 metres. However, Kym and Phil stayed further out in the lake than
me and pegged back my lead by the windward mark. It was Brad and Peter’s worst
race for the series. The following silver fleet race was won by Brenton Rowney,
who had had a tough series up to that point.
The
final two races for both fleets were held in moderate SW breezes with all
sailors using B rigs. Peter Burton lapped up the fresher breeze and really
stamped his authority on the series. Phil Clerke and Kym Stringer also sailed
particularly well in the conditions. In silver fleet Don Turnbull had a loudly
applauded win in race 12 and Peter Yates had an important win in Race 13.
Series Place-Getters
Gold
Fleet – Peter Burton, Brad Hein, Phil Clerke
Silver
Fleet – Peter Yates, Gary Hein, John Nieuwenhuizen
Special
thanks go to Stewart Ross as RO and Mario Gulic and Lorraine Berry as scorers
for running such a smooth series. This was especially true considering it was
the first time many of the competitors had raced using the Simple Heat Racing
System (SHRS).
There was also a huge band of MLMYC volunteers. Brian Marshall, Peter Simmons and Nigel Stone ran the recovery boat. Robert Jones and John Dockerill looked after the boat shed. Meredith Reardon, Sylvia Nieuwenhuizen and Gaynor Koewenhoven looked after the registration and food area, Bob Whitehead was measurer, Gerry Geibel and Chris Levi assisted with photography and administration, Peter Trenorden and Wendy Falland assisted as race observers. Dean Bonnett did everything required of a club president. Overall it was a fantastic effort by all the MLMYC mob – you did the club proud.
Only 2 weeks to go until Mawson Lakes Radio Yacht Club hosts the South Australia RC Laser Titles, over the weekend of 19th October.
Last year’s National Titles hosted by Mawson Lakes, was an absolute blast and its expected that the 2019 State Titles will be a whole lot of fun as well.
18 sailors have already registered and will experience, for the first time at a state titles event in Australia, the Single Heat Racing System. This will provide great competition for all levels of sailors.
With a few of the RC Laser worlds top sailors being unavailable for this Titles series, the field has been thrown wide open.
If you are thinking you’d like to participate but haven’t done anything about it, it’s not too late to register. Visit the Mawson Lakes Radio Yacht Club website for more info, contact phone numbers and to register online. http://www.mawsonlakesmyc.com/
As my term as national RC Laser representative on the Australian Radio Yachting Association (ARYA) is soon to end, I thought it would be useful to relate some of the major events and happenings during my term.
Firstly, may I say that serving the RC Laser community in this way has been a privilege and as a fairly novice RC sailor back in 2016, it gave me the opportunity to get to know the national and even international RC Laser community relatively quickly. Initially, Jurgen Luther and I shared the role after Rod Popham’s term ended. Rod had done a great job connecting Australia with the international RC Laser community and in that regard, he created the opportunity for Paradise RYC to run the 2017 Championship of Nations (CON17).
This leads me directly to CON17 held in November 2017 and what was easily the biggest sailing event that I have ever had any involvement in. It was a resounding success and Peter O’Grady, ably helped by many others, did an extraordinary job of running it. All of us who were lucky enough to attend will never forget the week-long gale that descended on southern Queensland at that time and gave us a big lesson in C and D rig sailing. We were treated to some tremendous sailing by the likes of Scott Fleming, Scott Mitchell, Malcolm Kampe and Peter Burford.
The next big event that was to unfold in my time at the post was the Australian amendment to the class rules, and this happened largely due to CON17. I remember that in the NSW State Titles of 2017, which just preceded the CON17, Taco Faber from the Netherlands sailed with what were clearly shortened masts. Some of the State RC reps decided that they did not want the shortened mast epidemic to hit Australia, and after CON17 a variety of teleconferences ensued. Discussions on the matter were not always straight-forward as there were a range of opinions. However, eventually Noel McPherson wrote an Australian amendment to the class rules which included minimum mast lengths for both A and B/C/D masts and also a measurement tolerance for the gooseneck position. This was accepted by the ARYA with the support of the measurer Robert Hales and the secretary Ross Bennett. Unfortunately, the lack of quality control by RC Laser part manufacturers led to the eventual withdrawal of the gooseneck clause, but overall Noel is to be commended for the persistence he showed in this task.
Easily the biggest pleasure in the role is getting to know all the characters of the RC Laser world. A few extroverts stand out – Ian Ritchie, Daniel Bergan and Noel Christison from Paradise RYC, Peter Close from Dobroyd, Don Turnbull and Alex Hayter from Mawson Lakes MYC, Peter Yates from Patterson Lakes RMYC and Gary Hein from Portland YC. The State Laser Reps of Scott Fleming, Peter O’Grady, Graham Brown, David Bedford, Noel McPherson and Noel Christison have been great to work with. At the ‘Big Wet’ national titles held at Yarrawonga Victoria in 2016, Scott Fleming pointed out to me that there had never been a South Australian state championship in the RC Laser class. He said that if I organised one he would get a group to come across from Victoria. Well, it was some group – in August 2017 nine boats travelled from Victoria for our first ever SA titles.
Sadly there has been the loss of a number of Laser sailors of which I will name only a couple. Ray Nasmith from Pine Rivers RYC was a great supporter of RC Laser sailing and he sailed in CON17 when he was clearly quite unwell – an heroic effort. George Fish from Launceston sailed in at least two national titles that I know of, and I got to meet him in the puddles at Yarrawonga. Being Tasmanian he was well equipped for wet weather. He died about 6 months later.
Cliff Bromiley and Beth Powell, the national distributors for the class have been a great support and a great source of information. It was them that put me on to Bob Caldow from the Sunshine Coast. I am still yet to meet Bob in person (roll on 2020!) but he stands out as one of the most dedicated club sailors in Australia. Also, they told me that there were rumours of an RC Laser fleet developing at Portland Victoria. Now having been raised in the South-East of SA, the fact that Portland had a Laser fleet came as a very pleasant surprise to me. Within the month Meredith and I had travelled to Portland and met the whole crew down there with their 15 Lasers.
One thing we need to remember, and my good friend John Berry regularly reminds me of it – we sail the simplest and the best class of radio yacht. It provides the most level playing field of all classes. It exposes your true sailing skill – that is why people either love or hate Lasers!! It will survive the onslaught of other production model classes for this very reason – there will probably never be a simpler boat!
The next challenge for the class will be the implementation of the Single Heat Racing System (SHRS) into RC Laser state and national events. There is a groundswell of support amongst the State reps for this to happen, and the 2019 SA state titles will be the first of a series of events using this scoring system in future. I personally believe the SHRS fits the ethos of our class very well.
In December this year, I hand the baton on to Scott Fleming. Scott and Jayne and great friends, and there is no better exponent of the class than Scott. We will all be in very good hands.
