Standard, Radial and 4.7 Laser Results

We were back at the Napier Sailing Club's Summer Regatta for our 2019 North Island Laser Champs on 23rd & 24th November.

Napier SC always puts on a great event and this year it was the biggest, with over 200 boats across all the classes, from Opti's, Bic's through to the adult classes. Add some Hawkes Bay sun and warmth and it was a great start to the summer sailing.

The Lasers were on the outer Triangle/Windward/Leeward course along with Europes, OK's and Paper Tigers. Managing your position amongst the wider fleet was a big part of the weekend.

Saturday was a real challenge. The breeze was generally light to medium - but very unstable with short lived changes in wind direction and pressure. At times it was quite tricky keeping optimally trimmed and powered up in the small waves. Our RO Andrew had to reset the course before every race, and did well to get our 4 races in. The 3rd race was a bit dodgy for the Standards, crumping out a couple of times before a shortened finish. And the Radials had to abandon that start and were out fairly late getting their 4th race.

Sunday was lighter but actually more stable and we got our last 3 races in and back home fairly smoothly.

Most of us had our ups and downs, but as usual the best guys and girls were consistently at the front. They really earned their results.

Luke Cashmore won the Standards quite convincingly, ahead of the masters Dave Ridley and Andrew Delabarca.

Results were closer in the Radials. Youth sailor Caleb Armit had the measure of master sailor Phil Wild who finished just ahead of the first female Courtney Reynolds Smith. But all 3 sailors had wins.

Nathan Putt from Rotorua represented the 4.7s sailing within the other fleets.

Thanks again to the Napier SC for a well run and enjoyable regatta.