Barfoot & Thompson Laser Nationals Final Day 4 - Snakes and Ladders

 

The final day of the Barfoot and Thompson NZ Laser Nationals featured some great contests for the final honours. Conditions on the day were gusty and very shifty with an offshore 10 to 15-knot southerly peeling around the cliffs between the bays. This caused problems for many, with frequent OCS's as the wind swung on several occasions as fleets started and many place changes during the beats as the lines of pressure came through. Both the Opens and the Radials sailed an extra race to make up for the races lost on Sunday so all fleets ended with a full complement of races.

 

In the Open Standard fleet world No 8 Tom Saunders wrapped up the title with wins in the first 2 races. Unfortunately, neither Sam Meech or Phillip Buhl were able to sail the final day, they were both attending former national champ Andy Maloney's wedding (congratulations Andy!). This left Josh Armit and George Gautry to fight it out for the minor placings, with Josh getting the bullet in the final race to take second and the U21 title with George third and consistent Luke Deegan and U21 Alistair Gifford 4th and 5th.

 

In the Radials youth, Harrison Baker was the star of the day with two wins and a third, more than enough for him to overhaul overnight leader Luke Cashmore (Y) and take the title. Luke held on for second place ahead of leading woman Olivia Christie, who tied on points with Caleb Armit (Y) but took third place on countback thanks to her two wins on Monday. Olivia's Worser Bay teammate Albert Stanley's 3rd in the final race secured 4th overall for him while Scott Leith (O) was a point back in 5th. Samantha Stock had a really consistent day to consolidate her place as the top youth woman.

 

In the 4.7's Daniel Brodie won a tight battle with Aidan Gordon to take out the title with a strong 2/1 day, with James Goodall from Napier ending up third after a really good contest between the trio. Ryker Green from Manly also had a great day, taking out the first race and following that up with a 3rd in the second race.

 

In the Masters Standard overnight leader Dave Ridley (A) only needed one decent result to secure the series but had to settle for second after a nightmare day, letting expat Matt Blakey (A) through to take the title. Continuing the expat invasion Gavin Dagley won the last race to finish 3rd overall and leading Grand Master, followed by leading Master Cris Brodie in 4th and defending champ, master Andrew Dellabarca in 5th. Gary Lock was the leading GGM in 13th overall with a couple of good top 10 finishes on the last day securing his position ahead of New Plymouth GGM John Pitman, one of the sufferer of a BFD in the days first race.

 

Speaking of black flags an unfortunate Richard Blakey, brother of Standards winner Matt, in the Masters Radials crossed the line first in the last race only to find he too had succumbed to the dreaded black, handing the title to defending champ Ed Tam (M) with leading GM Werner Hennig in second and Richard ending up third. GM's Kevin Jenkins from Whangarei and Hamish Atkinson from Christchurch ended 4th and 5th, with Kevin in, particular, enjoying the day with a first and 3rd in the two races.

 

So another Nationals is wrapped up after superb on and off the water organisation by Manly Sailing Club. Next year we head to New Plymouth, which is sure to offer a whole set of different challenges, with everyone looking forward to surfing the Tasman's ocean swells.

 

Nick Page

 

Barfoot & Thompson Laser Nationals Day 3 - Enjoyable Endurance Test

 

Day 3 of the Barfoot and Thompson Laser Nationals at Manly provided a bit of everything but in the end, delivered a fantastic days sailing for all. The fleet left the beach just after 11am in the rain with a 15 knot NW that then freshened to gusts of 25 knots as they did their pre-race preparation in the strong wind and rain. Come start time at midday things had changed, blue sky and flat calm and everyone wondering if we were in for another frustrating day. But just as depression set in so did a nice gusty, shifty 15-knot offshore breeze and it was all go, with the breeze holding for the rest of the day and fleets eventually completing not only their scheduled race but also a catch up one to make up for yesterday. So after about 7 hours on the water and tons of top quality racing, there were lots of smiles in the boat park, even if half the masters could hardly walk!

 

In the Standard Opens the 3 top 10 world ranked sailors; Sam Meech, Tom Saunders and Germany's Philipp Buhl, traded the top 3 spots all day, with Sam ending up on top overall, two points ahead of Tom with further two back to Philipp, although Philipp actually had the best of the day with 2 wins and 2 seconds. Fourth overall and leading U21 sailor is Josh Armit, who spent the day battling with Muritai's George Gautrey just behind the 3 leaders.

 

In the Radial Olivia Christie had a stunner of a day in the first three races (2,1,1) but had a hiccup in the days' last race to lie 4th overall and first Woman. Overall star of the day was Luke Cashmore (Y) who was super consistent (1,4,2,1) to take the overall lead by 4 points from Harrison Baker (Y), who also had a consistent day but could not quite match Luke and Olivia. Scott Leith (O) was his usual solid self to hold 3rd overall while Samantha Stock is the leading Youth Woman in 15th overall. Several other sailors including Annabelle Rennie Younger (WU21), local Matthew Rist (Y) and Bay of Islands James Sheldon (Y) managed one or two top results but found consistency challenging in the conditions, with the big shifts and pressure variations making staying at the top very challenging.

 

The 4.7's is coming down to a very close battle between Wakatipu's Aidan Gordon and Manly local Daniel Brodie, with Daniel holding a single point lead going into the final day. Jacob Goodall from Napier remains in contention but will need top performances tomorrow to have a chance of unseating the leading pair, while hopefully more moderate conditions tomorrow will be more to the liking of some of those who found todays condition arduous.

 

in the Masters Standard Dave Ridley (A) continued to show the fleet how its done, with his only blemish being in the first race of the day when he had to settle for second to Aussie expat Matt Blakey. These two sailors have established a significant lead on the balance of the fleet, with defending champ Andrew Dellabarca (M) and ex-World Grand Master titleholder Gavin Dagley (GM) a little way back but having a great tussle for 3rd place. US visitor Mike Matan had a much better day to rise out of the pack and hold 5th overall while many others struggled for top results in a very tightly packed bunch. Leading GGM is New Plymouth's John Pitman, who is narrowly leading Gary Lock.

 

In the Radial Masters there is a great battle for the title between defending champion Ed Tam (M), and Tamaki's Blakey clan Radial rep Richard (M), who trails Ed by a single point. Hamiltons Werner Hennig (GM) is 7 points back in third but pleased to have navigated the finish line successfully all day after yesterdays masters brain fade moment. The contest for the women's crown is also coming down to the wire, with Hamiltons Lucia Chagas (M) and Napier Gill Waiting (GGM) tied on points going into tomorrows races.

 

The forecast looks promising for tomorrows final day, with moderate SW offshore winds sure to again provide interesting conditions.

 

Nick Page