Under Dario Motta's coaching guidance, 3 ladies from Point Chevalier and 6 from PLSC sailed the gusty waters on Saturday 2nd August at Panmure. There were certainly capsizes, everybody had a turn, some more acrobatic then the others but then the fleet took Dario's learnings into practice and sailed the course with more confidence. Sailors will be certainly practicing the rabbit drill starts for the big inaugural regatta in October. It was great day, the sun was even out. Thanks so much Dario for all your tips and Andrew for the rescues.

Photos of the day

https://www.flickr.com/photos/plsc/sets/72157646143165955/

Next Women event

The Inaugural Auckland Laser Women Regatta will be on 11th October at Panmure Lagoon Sailing Club. Please make sure this date is all in your calendars, we have some great sponsors, an amazing new trophy up for grabs, it will be a great day. For those coming outside Auckland, some members have offered accommodation, so please let us know if you are interested. More info to come.

Chantal Grass
www.plsc.org.nz

Seven NZ sailors competed in the SPLM at Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron over 4 days - 24-28 July.

Light winds and fine warm weather were generally the order of the day, with only one of the seven races completed having more than 8 knots of breeze. The wind was generally light and fairly shifty on shore breezes, with the exception of one race on Sunday completed in a very shifty SW breeze before this died and the sea breeze filled in later in the day.

It was a very successful regatta for the NZ team with Matt Blakey taking out the Standard Rig overall and Scott Leith victorious in the Radials. Other sailors having good regattas were Bob Blakey, 4th overall in the Standard Masters and first GGM, Nick Page 5th overall and first GM and Greg Wilshire, who had a great regatta but was unfortunate to get score OCS in the last race after another strong result.

RQYS is a magnificent venue and the regatta was excellently run both on and off the water. It was certainly no hardship having to put up with the 24 degree daytime temperature after leaving the wind and rain behind in Auckland and I would recommend it for a mid winter break to anyone thinking of competing in future years.

2014 SPLM Results

- Nick Page

Lachie Grimwade from French Bay YC had a strong regatta at the Australian Midwinter Youth Championships 2014, held at Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron Manly Brsibane. Two firsts on day 1 racing set him up well, finally finishing 4th in the 39 boat fleet. Jordan Makin from Gosford Sailing Club won the event.

Masters sailors will be at the same venue in a few weeks for the South Pacific Laser Masters.

• SailWorld article
• 4.7 Results

Thank you so much Point Chevalier Sailing Club for welcoming us with open arms and organising a successful women sailing event. It was a great day all round, gorgeous weather some nice winds 7 to 12 knots and some friendly competition, finishing off with a yummy spread and some bubbly. What else could you ask for?

Eight women participated in the event, an even split of 4 point Chevalier and 4 Panmure Lagoon ladies. The 3 races were all very close, in the Radial fleet, Shaaron McKee (PLSC) and Susan Town (PCSC) were sailing a tremendous battle on the water. Shaaron won 2 of the races, Susan the other one. They were followed closely by Julie Davies (PCSC), Aleisha Ferguson (PLSC) and Kirsty McDonald (PCSC). In the 4.7 rig, Akemi Izawa (PLSC) and Trish Ware (PCSC) both sailed a great race until Trish realised at the end of the 1st race that she had forgotten the bung and her boat was taking on water. What a pity as that was the end of her racing for the day. Congratulations needs to go to Akemi for sailing her first race at another venue, she did so well! 

Here are some photos of the day.

Thanks so much Kirsty, Julie, Trish and Sue for making this event possible, I definitely had a very enjoyable Sunday on and off the water.

- Chantal Grass

Despite Saturday's terrible forecast for the 24th of May, 17 women sailors from Point Chevalier Sailing Club, French Bay Yacht Club, Panmure Lagoon Sailing Club and even as far as Hamilton Yacht Club braved the elements to participate in the first Women Coaching Day at Panmure Lagoon Sailing Club.
Our coach, Laura Lowther helped boost the sailors self esteem by giving them tips on how to sail in very gusty conditions. There were some capsizes, even a broken mast but everybody came back with a smile on their faces.

The next Women's event is a Women racing start at Point Chevalier Sailing Club on 6th July at 12:00, make sure to be there.

photos of the day

- Chantal Grass

Pupuke Boating Club hosted the 2014 Fresh Water Champs over the weekend of 17 and 18 May.

The regatta was well attended with 40 boats, 26 in the full rig class and 14 in the radials. It was classic autumn conditions on the Saturday with a relatively steady 15-18 knot breeze from the south. With a relatively short start line there was a real emphasis on clear air and having the ability to get on the right side of the first shift in order to stay at the top of the fleet.

Andrew MacKenzie from Kohimarama Yacht Club showed his intensions early in the full rig winning every race on the first day. The competition for the remaining places in the top ten was very tight with many of the sailors exchanging places during the first day.

In the radial fleet Scott Leith continued his dominant form on the first daywith his closest completion coming ftrom James Jennings and Richard Blakey.

Sunday dawned cold, crisp and sunny, had no real breeze to speak of. The race committee was fortunate enough to get away one start late in the day. This was very much a light air affair with thin veins of pressure providing good rewards to those who were able to keep their heads out of the boat.

The final race on the Sunday allowed each sailor to drop one race so in the end it was the results on the Saturday that largely determined the results.

The Pupuke Boating Club again enjoyed very generous sponsorship with a well attended prize giving with great spot prizes up for grabs. All in all it was another great weekend and Pupuke Boating Club is looking forward to hosting the event again in 2015.

- Ben Molloy

Sam Meech has won Gold at the 2014 Delta Lloyd regatta in Medemblik Holland.
And Mike Bullot's bronze vaults him back to the front of the elite Laser sailors after many years away.
But wait there's more;
with Thomas Saunders 5th and Andy Maloney sixth.

Across in the womens fleet Sara Winther was 11th.

A good rundown and video interview with Sam at  www.sail-world.com

Full results at results.deltalloydregatta.org

Andy Maloney has got a Silver medial in the ISAF World Cup in Heyres, France. He had a good chance for gold with a final race battle against Aussie Tom Burton. He comments in the sailworld.com article linked below.
Sam Meech held onto 9th overall. Those top 10 results are important for determinging the support each sailor gets from APRC via Yachting NZ.
Thomas Saunders was 15th and Andrew McKenzie 97th.

Over in the Radials Sara Winther was 18th and Ali Nightingale 64th.

Top results came in other classes

• 470 girls Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie won their 2nd ISAF regatta in a row
• Peter Burling and Blair Tuke another gold in the 49er, with Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski 4th
• 4th for Josh Junior in the Finn and 21st for Andrew Murdoch
• 7th for Natalia Kosinska in the RSX

Great overall result for the NZL team, putting them at the top of the medlas alngside Aussie and Poland

http://www.sail-world.com/index.cfm?Nid=121536&refre=y&ntid=118&rid=6&su...

Congratulations to Lachy Grimwade who has won in the 17 boat Laser 4.7 fleet at Sail Brisbane.
A closely fought battle and nerve racking result, which Lachy won on countback after tying on final points with James Woodhouse and one point back to Noah Taylor.

Full results

Minutes of the NZLA AGM - 17th December 2013

Thanks to all those who attended. Particularly the judges John Bullot and Doug Elder who gave us a very helpful perspective on a number of issues.