2014 Laser Masters World Champs - Hyères, France
4 cubes for NZ. Fantastic.
Reports from Nick Page
Final Day
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.
Today bought success for Mike in the GM Radials, winning his second World title cube. Congratulations to Mike on an incredibly consistent performance to clean up in his fleet.
Congratulations also to our other cube winners Scott, who ended up second in the AM Radial after a fantastic battle with John Emmett from the UK and the Blakey clan Matt, third in the AM Standards and Richard, 4th in the Masters Radials.
Other standout performances were Chip’s 8th in the Masters Standards in the largest fleet of 116 and Bob second in the GGM Standards and Ed 5th in the AM Radial.
In the GGM Standards I ended up a satisfying 21st in our fleet of 87, with Pete just behind in 26th after a 5th in one of todays gold fleet races and Paul 5th in the Silver fleet. In the GM Radials Bruce Jones was a very solid 18th and Richard was happy with his 56th after a challenging day today. In the Legends GGM Steve stuck to coaching today, not fancying taking on the thunder, even though it had disappeared by race time.
So the worlds is over for another year after a really enjoyable regatta. This evening everyone was talking of next years Masters worlds in Kingston on Canada’s Lake Ontario next July which is set to be a standout regatta again. So mark it in your calendars and start planning a trip for an event not to be missed. There is no other regatta with the numbers, fleet depth and challenges offered by a Masters worlds and it is more than worth the effort just to compete against so many legends of the sport at every level of the regatta.
So on to our summer season. Standouts on the program are the NI and SI champs at the end of November and of course the Nationals in January so I look forward to seeing you all at whatever events you can make this summer.
Day 6
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.
It was Gold fleet time for the Masters Standard and GM Standards and pressure time for the leaders in all the classes. The Standards all get a second drop in todays results having completed 10 races while the Radials have to wait for tomorrow for their 10th race, having missed out on racing on the first day.
In the AM Radial Scott and John Emmett from the UK continued to slug it out with a 1/2 each, leaving Scott two points off the lead. However with the second drop to come and hopefully two more races it will be a winner take all contest tomorrow. Ed again had a consistent day to hold 5th overall. In the Masters Radial Richard had a great day to be 4th overall but with no chance of toppling the top two, Steve Cockerill (UK) and Mark Kennedy (AUS) who are having a real battle for the title.
It is similar in the GM Radial where Mike had a bit of a tough day, getting nailed on the start line both races, to record a 4/6 against his main oppositions Jeff Loosemore (Australia) 1/1, leaving Mike hanging onto a 2 point lead but with everything to sail for tomorrow. Bruce and Richard both had good days to consolidate their fleet positions
In the AM Standard Matt got two thirds to virtually lock up third overall but with no chance of displacing the two Olympians from the top two spots. Chip had another really consistent day for the first Gold fleet races to consolidate his top 10 position in the Masters Standards, which is being dominated by Brett Bayer, the Aussie Olympic coach.
In the GM’s I managed an 18/15 in the two gold fleet races and with the second discard coming in improved my overall placing. Pete had a difficult day in the water with several swims on the runs when in good positions. Paul just missed out on qualifying for the Gold fleet but was near the front in the Silver fleet races. In the GGM’s Bob lies equal second going into the last day.
So after 4 days of 15 knot + winds the forecast for tomorrow is 5 to 8 knots from the SE with thunder and rain in the morning, clearing later, so it is sure to be a challenging day for all, race committee included. Speaking of the race committee I should acknowledge our own Doug Elder, who is chief judge here as he has been for several years at our Nationals and at other worlds so we can be sure that we are getting absolute world quality judging at our contests.
One of the benefits of sailing at the Masters Worlds is the variety of sailors and personalities you meet. I think its worth noting that while the racing has been incredibly close much of the time the quality and spirit of the racing here, the rule compliance etc has been excellent and it has been an absolute pleasure to compete. There have been many instances of multiple boats rounding marks or finishing within inches of each other on opposite tacks yet sailors with no language in common have managed to negotiate all the situations with very few disputes.
Final report after racing tomorrow, hopefully with good news on the cube front!
Day 5
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.
Due to safety and timing issues the organisers changed the format today so that only the first 2 divisions on each course were sent out for the scheduled 11am start while the other 3 divisions were held on shore and started at about 1.30 pm after the first set of races were complete.
Many of the sailors, in particular the Southern Europeans, are finding the conditions more than a little challenging, being used to lake or sheltered water sailing. One of the Swiss guys rigging near me said that until this week the only place he had seen wave like this was on U tube! Also many of the GGGM’s had the day off for recovery and contemplation, including apparently our own star coach, Steve Phillips (refer previous reports!).
The conditions however seemed to suit our guys with excellent results for the Kiwis pretty much across the board.
Mike Keeton continues to be our standout performer, recording a 4/1 day to remain in control of the GM Radials where Bruce Jones and Richard Dreverman continue to battle to achieve consistent results in the conditions.
Scott’s battle continues to be incredibly close with both he and his English rival recording 1/2 finishes today in the AM Radial. It really looks like that contest is likely to come down to the last race. Ed continues to hang in well, being 5th overall after todays races in the AMR.
Richard Blakey in the Masters Radial had a blinder today to cap a great day for Team Blakey , moving up to 4th overall. This was matched by Matt who managed to finally split the two Olympians (Greece and Poland) in the Standard Apprentice with a second in one race to go with a 4th to hold a convincing 3rd overall and Bob with a pair of deuces but still to break Aussie Mark Bethwaite’s run of victories.
In the Standard GM’s both Pete and I had strong days with me getting among the real action with a 3/5 and Pete just behind with a 9/7 after showing a conservative streak on the downwind legs so we both qualify for the Gold Fleet. Paul Thomas just missed out on the GM Gold fleet so is set up to clean the Silver fleet up over the remaining two days of racing. In the Standard Masters Andrew again had a really solid day to hold on to 9th overall in the biggest division of 116 sailors.
So two days racing to go. Tomorrow is forecast to again provide similar but slightly fresher on shore winds up to 20 knots but Saturday is looking lighter at this stage, still on shore, but with the forecast being under 10 knots to provide a new set of challenges for the last day of the regatta.
Day 4
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.
The conditions brought another good day for the Kiwi team overall.
The Radial squad had a particularly solid day. Scott is up to second in the Apprentices with a 1/2 scoreline to put him second overall 2 points behind Jon Emmett from the UK in a “who’s going to blink first” battle for the rest of the series. Ed is also having a great series to lie 4th with a 5/5 scoreline today. The Team Blakey Radial rep Richard had a great day with a 3/6 to lie 6th overall in the Masters Radial fleet of 73 who are starting as a single division………..long start line! Mike Keeton had another fantastic day in the GM Radials with 2/2, now dropping a 2nd as a discard to be in an extremely strong lead in his fleet. Bruce and Richard had mixed days in the GM Radial fleet. I did not see them after sailing but suspect that swimming may have been the fitness activity for the day.
Disappointing aspect of the day…..For those of you who followed yesterdays report you will know that Steve Phillips managed a swim free day and offered some others of us coaching as a consequence at the bar last night. I have to report that while the coaching may have had excellent results (I managed to stay in the boat) his swim free record suffered a blemish today.
In the Standards Team Blakey was again strong. Matt looked like he had another strong day in the Apprentices although the results have yet to be posted. In the GM’s we finally started to put it together with one day left in the qualifying series. To quote Pete "by the end of the regatta I will just about be ready to start a competitive series". He scored approx 20/5 to consolidate his position heading for the middle ranks of the gold fleet but the 5th showed just how competitive he can be in the conditions when he gets it right. I managed to stay in the boat, not hit anyone or any thing and stay upright ( thanks I am sure to Steve Phillips coaching last night) to get two top 10 finishes, which should considerably improve my overall standing. Paul Thomas had a couple of solid races, but still has a slightly mystified look in his eye as to how, at about 17 feet tall, he isn’t blowing the fleet asunder. Bob in the GGM Standards continues to closely pursue his nemesis, Aussie Mark Bethwaite, and will no doubt get the better of him at some stage over the remaining 3 days.
So we are now at the half way point of the contest with great prospects for several of the team. Tomorrow and Friday are forecast to be more of the same, fresh onshore breezes, but it looks like the final day could be rain with lighter winds which may well provide a different test ahead of the final results if Windguru is to be believed.
Day 3
Finally some breeze. Fleet launching was held until midday with the first starts on both courses at 1pm.
On the Standards course to the South of the bay the wind was a 12 knot easterly, rising by 3pm for the second race to 15 to 20 knots with quite big seas. On the Radial course to the North the breeze was lighter all day, with 8-10 knots for the first race rising to 12 to 15 knots for the second. The bay we are sailing in is quite shallow so even this on shore breeze generated good sized waves which caught out many sailors downwind, with capsizes on the runs quite common in all fleets.
All divisions were able to complete 2 races and all sailors were back on shore by about 4.30 which made a change from the very late races on the first two days.
With the huge fleet on both courses it is often difficult to determine exactly where you are in your fleet as the front of later fleets are often catching the rear of the fleet in front. Results have yet to be published but the talk at the bar after racing was that several Kiwis had a good day while other (read me) managed to generate disaster from apparent success.
The star of the day was GM Radial Mike Keeton who scored a first and second to lead overall after 3 races. Scott Leith had a challenging day in the Apprentice Masters, loosing 8 places on the last short beat of the first race when he became entangled with the GGM fleet ahead but made amends in the second race with an all the way win. Ed also had a much better day with a couple of 4th. In the Standard apprentices Matt Blakey had a good day with a third and a fifth in spite of taking a dip in the second race. His excuse…."I am a Master now after all”. Ancient Steve Phillips in the Great Great Great Great ...Grand Masters showed up many by completing both races without a capsize and was tonight offering coaching to his less skilled junior compatriots.
Other who apparently had a good day were Andrew Dellabarca with a couple of top 5’s in the Standard Masters and Bruce Jones in the GM Radials while in the GM Standards Pete Van Ryn showed significant improvement with the extra breeze with a couple of top 10’s. After finishing 8th in the first race, only to find I was OCS, I managed to cap a disastrous performance for the day with a collision, 720 and two capsizes in one downwind leg to justify my evening coaching session from Steve Phillips. Paul Thomas also had a challenging day in the GM’s and was later seen seeking out wisdom from Steve. This was closely matched by Richard Dreverman in the GM Radials who’s recount of how to go from mid fleet to DFL in one capsize held his audience captivated for several minutes. The balance of the Blakey clan avoided the after match function so their form will be revealed with the results in the morning.
Tomorrow was originally to be the lay day but will be a full race day because of the races lost on the first 2 days. It looks like another good on shore breeze forecast so hopefully those who were successful today will repeat the performance and those who stuffed up will have benefitted from Steve’s wisdom at the bar.
Day 2
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.
By that time the breeze had clocked around to the SE and just got up over the 5 knot minimum requirement. All classes except the GGM Radial were able to complete one race in the very unsteady breeze, with lumpy onshore conditions and many pressure and direction changes. Racing finished at sunset for the later starters on both courses, with the last boats getting to shore in the late twilight and the GGM Radial start apparently being abandoned due to it getting too late for them to complete a race before dark.
So far only provisional results are available.
Provisionally the best Kiwi results of the day were Mike Keeton, second in the GM Radial, Matt Blakey third in the Apprentice Standard and Scott Leith 4th in the Radial Apprentices. The balance of the Kiwis had a mixed day in the challenging conditions, particularly the three of us in the Standard GM’s who failed to shine, all getting results in the 30’s!
Pete Van Ryn loosing about 30 places at the top mark when underlaying illustrated the closeness of the racing, as well as a certain lack of judgement at critical moments on his part!
Tomorrow we have a 12 knot onshore breeze forecast so hopefully racing will get away on time and really kick the regatta into action. Current forecast is for similar but slightly freshening conditions for the rest of the week so it continues to look promising for the series in spite of the difficult start.
Day 1
Well it did not quite start with a hiss and a roar……………absolute flat calm at the designated start time.
The venue is great with a large marina surrounded by lots of restaurants, temperatures in the mid 20’s, clear blue Mediterranean waters and a lovely bay to sail in. All we need is wind. There has not been much of that for the last few days and today was no exception.
This is the largest Laser fleet ever to be assembled for a single regatta and 500 Lasers is an impressive sight. Everyone sat on shore until 3pm when a light north easterly developed and much to everyone surprise the postponement flag was dropped and away we went.
There are two courses for this regatta with 5 divisions on each course and with the 500 entries in total it was not a two minute exercise to get everyone on the water. Anyway by start time around 4pm there was an 8 to 10 knot Northerly breeze on both courses for the first starters. Unfortunately this dropped soon afterwards to a patchy 3 - 8 knot breeze with plenty of holes, puffs and shifts.
On the full rig course to the west of the bay all the divisions were able to complete a race. The Masters and GM’s have each been split into two fleets so there were 5 starts with the Apprentices, 2 x Masters and 2 x GM’s. The breeze held just long enough for everyone to finish. With the pressure variations and shifts, as well as the challenges of 250 boats in 5 fleets on the trapezoid at once, it was not easy racing and there were a lot of place changes throughout the races.
The best Kiwi performance of the day was in the Apprentices, with Matt Blakey happy with his 5th given the conditions after being as high as third at times. In the Masters Andrew Dellabarca had a challenging day, finishing with a 25th. In the GM’s I managed a bit of a mid race recovery on the second beat, getting part of a big right hand shift that reshuffled the fleet mid race in the second flight to finish 15th. Pete Van Ryn and Paul Thomas were not so fortunate, both having tough races.
On the easterly course the Radials plus GGM Full rig were not so fortunate. While they were able to start, none of their races were completed so they are back up tomorrow to try and get their contests going.
The forecast is again light tomorrow morning but then some breeze late in the day and building from there for the rest of the week. The committee has already advised that they intend to race on the lay day, Wednesday, so if the forecast holds true we might just be lucky and get pretty much a full set of 12 races for the series. Here's hoping!