Reflections on Three Years as National RC Laser Rep

by Adrian Heard

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.