The results demonstrate close competition among the top NZ Laser sailors as we get further into the Rio Olympic cycle.

Laser (39 boats)
3rd Mike Bullot
4th Sam Meech
6th Andy Maloney
11th Thomas Saunders
17th Andrew McKenzie
29th Cullen Le Roy

Laser Radial (30 boats)
11th Susannah Pyatt
18th Ali Nightingale
29th Julia Francis

All 2014 Sail Melbourne Results

The Masters regatta season got underway at Pupuke on Sunday with the North Harbour Masters. An excellent fleet of 28 turned up for the days racing, with big names from the recent Masters worlds, Scott Leith and Mike Keeton both in attendance. With Windguru predicting maximum gusts of 4 knots from the SW for the day all but 4 sailors elected to compete in the Standard rig. As it turned out we got what was probably the first sea breeze of the summer and while it topped out at about 8 knots, probably averaging about 5 knots, and was pretty shifty all day it did provide a good racing conditions and 4 quality races were completed.

Not surprisingly given the very light conditions Radial sailors pretending they could muscle up and sail a standard rig dominated the competition.  Scott, who’s 1,1,2 record enabled him to sit out the last race as his discard, gave us all a bit of a sailing lesson, clearing out at the start several times but then having to out guess the shifts and light patches to keep the fleet at bay to win overall and 1st Apprentice. Mike managed to get past Scott in one race and was pretty consistent in the others to finish 3rd overall and first GM. Second overall and first Master was the Whangarei lightweight flyer Roger Winton, who had a great day with 4 top results giving him a clear second. Top GGM was Ray Beale.

In the Radials Kevin Welsh dominated the small fleet to win overall from local Georgi Yankov and legend Jim Quinn. The main contest of the day, the Rum spot prizes, were however dominated by true Standard rig sailors so order was returned to the regatta at the end of a great day.

The strong turnout at this regatta bodes well for the season and with the North Islands at Napier, Sir Peter Blake at Torbay and the Nationals at Takapuna over the next few weeks we are all looking forward to some more well attended quality masters racing this summer.

Nick Page

4 cubes for NZ. Fantastic.

Full Results

The Day dawned with thunder, lightening and torrential rain which did not look like the formula for racing for the final day. However after a delay of an hour the skies had cleared and we had an 8 to 10 knot Easterly with quite a bit of chop for the final races. Some fleets had 2 races today while others only managed 1. 

There was great competition, sun, and fun on this glorious Spring day at the Inaugural Auckland Women Laser Regatta at Panmure Lagoon Sailing Club (PLSC). 11 participants from as far as Port Ohope came to take part in this keenly contested regatta which even “old Hughie” smiled on, delivering a stunning day graced with tricky trade winds from the South West / East wafting over the Lagoon at 5 to 11 Knots which caused some havoc at times with its fickle nature. Five challenging races were held back to back with the ladies giving no quarter at the starts or for that matter throughout the days racing as battles continually developed around “the track”.

The penultimate days racing had weather pretty much as forecast. We had an Easterly not quite as strong as expected and a bit patchy at times but on average a good 15 knot breeze with waves, very similar to the last few days.

More of the same… really nice +/-15 knot on shore breeze with big waves. More pressure on the Southern Standard course that the Radials to the North and a bit more in the early races on both courses than the later.

Conditions today were similar to yesterday but a wee bit lighter for the Standards. 15 knot Easterly with quite big waves were the order of the day, think Takapuna in a solid sea breeze but with bigger waves.

Finally some breeze. Fleet launching was held until midday with the first starts on both courses at 1pm.

Another long day which finally yielded one race for most divisions. A very light southerly prevented any action until very late in the day, with launching delayed until well after 4pm for all fleets.

Well it did not quite start with a hiss and a roar……………absolute flat calm at the designated start time.