3 wins for NZL sailors at the 2012 Laser Masters Worlds

NZL Team members with their 2012 Masters Worlds cubes. Pete Thomas (3rd Grand Master Radial), Mark Orams (1st Master Radial), Scott Leith (1st Apprentice Radial), Andrew Dellabraca (4th Master Standard), Mike Keeton (1st Grand Master Radial).

The 3 new world champions were just part of the great form shown by the NZ team at the 2012 Laser Masters in Brisbane.

Scott Leith won the Radial Apprentice for the 3rd year in a row. But this one was sweet as he convincingly beat Richard Bot, a very good sailor from Sydney who had beaten Scott when they first met at the Worlds in the 2009 worlds in Nova Scotia.

In the Radial Masters past open world champion Mark Orams was battling a heavier Greg Adams from Brisbane in the strong winds during the first half of the regatta. But Mark finished with 5 staight wins in the lighter second half to clinch the title by 4 points.
Hamish Atkinson from Christchurch finished 7th.

Mike Keeton will be especially pleased with his first world championship win in the Radial Grand Masters. He has shown us glimpses of good form for years, but this time strung it all together on the international stage to beat Adam French from Brisbane. They were 1 point apart mid regatta, but Mike stayed consistent on the final day to stretch away to a 7 point lead.
Consistency also paid for Pete Thomas who took third, winning the final race to be tied on 34 points with 2 other sailors - then getting the 3rd on countback. Bruce Jones from Wellington will have been happy with his 8th.

Despite being concerned he was too heavy, Bob Blakey came 6th in the Radial Great Grand Masters. So we will ignore that excuse from now on.

Over on the Standard course, Apprentice sailors Kent Copplestone from Foxton Beach and Rob Woodward from Wellington had a epic finale. They were 6th and 5th in the final race, leaving them tied on 53 points. But on countback Kent was 4th overall and Rob 5th.

Andrew Dellabarca had another great worlds to finish 4th in the strong Standard Master fleet.

In the Standard Grand Masters Nick Page had a regatta of two halves. He did well in the heavy half but faded to 10th in the light shifty conditions. Despite training exclusively on Lake Pupuke.