Report From Garry Bromley
The weekend of the 24th & 25th of August saw the running of the NSW State Title for RC Laser class. The event was hosted by Koonawarra Bay Sailing Club at Kanahooka point, Lake Illawarra.
While numbers were low the quality of the fleet was high; with entrants from as far away as South Australia.
The Competition
Saturday saw nine starters, with the fleet losing Bob White at lunch time after sercuming to the flu. Overnight gales threatened to postpone racing but the morning brought a cold light westerly breeze so racing proceeded at 10.00am. Early heats on Saturday saw no clear leader with placings being distributed throughout the fleet. By lunch time Graham Brown began to string together some consistent results. With the breeze rotating slowly through 180 degrees, many course adjustments were made during breaks. Finally lunch was called and the course reset again directly in front of the clubhouse, to the advantage of competitors and spectators.
After lunch Jürgen Luther (SA) also showed much consistency
to move away from the fleet with Graham Brown. The afternoon session saw the breeze settle from the east and featured great open course racing with very little shifting of direction. Neither side of the course was favoured, with the fleet spreading evenly across the beats.
After racing on the Saturday Koonawarra Bay provided a cheese and cold meat platter which went well with wine and beer. Overnight, boats were able to be left fully rigged under security in the clubhouse.
Sunday morning again started with a light off shore breeze, which quickly turned 180 dig, fortunately before the start of the first heat. Cliff Bromiley managed to join the fleet after doing good things with his family Saturday.
With the course set, racing commenced again circa 10.00am with some great close racing being a feature. PRO Garry Bromley and course co-coordinator Jon Pinkerton kept courses reasonably short to allow for a final heat tally approaching 30.
Graham Brown & Jürgen Luther continued to be consistent
throughout Sunday with Graham just edging away after lunch. Rapidly on the rise throughout Sunday was Peter Newman who had some great results mixed with some bad luck.
Final Placings
Final placings saw Graham Brown (64pts) Dobroyd RC Lasers, Sydney, winning the title from Jürgen Luther (72pts) Mawson Lakes, South Australia, and Peter Newman third (99pts) Dobroyd RC Lasers. Peter Newman received PRO sports award for “taking a few on the chin” and picking himself up so well. Interesting to note nearly all competitors won a heat, indicating the close nature of the racing. Also of note was the exceptional behaviour of all competitors. This made running the event a pleasure and showed the standard of this class is up there with the best of them.
Thanks to Koonawarra Bay members and Ted Gay from Kogarah Bay. Also to those who provided great photos.
