A wonderful 2013 Laser North Islands Champs sailed for the second year in succession as part of Napier Sailing Clubs Hawkes Bay Summer Regatta.

Thanks again to the Napier SC staff and volunteers who were as friendly and professional as always. Of course Hawkes Bay turned on trademark warm and sunny conditions.

Sailing conditions varied from very light 7 knot to medium 12 knot ENE on Saturday. And medium 10 knot to 15 knot NE on Sunday - with good waves building in the afternoon.

The Lasers shared the outer course with OK's, which we can at least comprehend, and the the 12 foot Skiffs and Javelins - which come from crazy angles at high speeds with spears attached to their bows.

The results show who does best in the different wind speeds. Local Michael Cressey was clear ahead on the first light day in the Radials before slipping behind Matt Kempkers and Keith Inglis on the stronger second day.

Kent Copplestone dominated the standards, with a very tight battle for second between Peter Kempkers and Greg Wilshire who got his act together on the Sunday.

Radial

Laser Standard

The first Auckland Masters regatta of the season, the North Harbour Masters, was held at Pupuke on Sunday. A strong turnout of 27 boats enjoyed a challenging days sailing, with a 8 – 12 knot shifty southerly providing opportunities for all.  The conditions prompted several sailors who normally sail Radials to step up to full rig for the day, including World Radial Apprentice champion Scott Leith who ended up a convincing winner of the 5 race series after an unfortunate course error in the last race cost Whangarei visitor Kris Decke a share of the points lead.
 
Consistency proved a problem for all in the shifty conditions, as both pressure and direction changes caused significant place gains and losses regularly both on and off the wind in the tightly bunched fleet.  Scott and Kris dominated the Apprentices.  The Grand Masters were won by Nick Page, who managed second overall after both John Showell and Mike Keeton fell foul of the rounds the ends rule in the third race, when race officer Garth Briden sought to impose more discipline on the start line after a couple of recalls. Peter Kempkers was the first Master in 5^th overall while Georgi Yankov led the small group who elected to stay with the Radial . Full results are available through the Pupuke website http://homepages.vodafone.co.nz/~garthb/results/nhm13rsl.htm
 
It was great to see a strong Masters fleet turning out at this stage of the season. Several were using this as a warm up for the Masters Worlds in Oman next month and many in the fleet will be heading to the North Islands in Napier on the weekend of 23/24 November and to the Nationals in Nelson (16 to 19 January), which is looking to have a strong masters turnout.

- Nick Page

The carpark was bursting and the racing tight at the 2103 Auckland Laser Masters Champs at Tamaki on the Saturday 20th April.

We were pleased the boys from Onerahi YC in Whanagarei made the drive South again. They bolstered the contingent from Lake Pupuke, Wakatere and Panmure. As always Ken Atchison came up from Hamilton. Richard Blakey has seen the error of his ways and returned to the Laser after a 4 year break. And Murray Thom came out for the first time in a while. Both proved they haven't gone stale. Thanks to all the competitors for making it the strongest Auckland Masters for a few years.

The light forecast drew some sailors over to the 29 boat Standard fleet at the expense of the Radials with 8. We were also joined by some Phase 2s having their championship event.

The northerly conditions and Tamaki's signature lumpy seaway provided a perfect mixture of challenges. Good shifts exposed tactical options. It was lightish for 3 races and quite breezy for 2, with 17+ knots brought in by menacing rain fronts.

Race officer Garth placed us in our standard spot just off the club south of the shipping lane and nicely clear of Rangitoto. He mixed 2 triangle + windward-leeward races and 3 straight windward-leewards. The windward-leewards seemed more popular.

Both fleets were quite compressed and very competitive. 2 general recalls for the first Standard race was a sign of the attitude. Mark roundings were particularly busy. It was rare to get a comfortable gap to the boats behind on the runs rewarding good downwind technique in the waves. One radial race finished with a 4 way tussle for second that could have gone any way.

Scott Leith stood out in the Standard, dropping one 5th to net 4 bullets. Scott is training for the Open Radial Worlds in Ireland in September. Kris Decke pipped Murray Thom for second in a closer points tussle netting 10 and 12. All 3 leaders were close on the water.

The Radials had a real battle for top spot. Tom Speed and Roger Winton ended up tied with identical total 11 and net 7. But Tom won on count back with 3 wins to Rogers 2. Jim Quinn was 3rd. At the prize giving Bob Blakey pointed out 74yo Tom was the Auckland Masters oldest ever winner. Although Tom is generally more interested in being the winner and less interested in the age.

Thanks again to Garth Briden and his race team and Tony Beckett and his volunteers for putting on a great regatta.

• Standard Results
• Radial Results

The RSA Regatta saw our car park fill rapidly with boats & hawkish competitors ready to mount their steeds for a jolly good day’s battle on the race track. We had sailors coming all the way from Melbourne, Taipa, Lake Ngaroto and many Clubs around Auckland. Weather started with 4 to 6 knots & rain which cleared to fine & winds up to 12 Knots & variable direction which laid down the gauntlet to the sailors. Nearly 50 Lasers hit the start line only to learn that sailing on the Lagoon is for the smart, the brave & the quick as like always the Lagoon had some very tricky winds to negotiate leaving the unweary floundering at the back of the fleet.
 

After racing was completed the club put on a fantastic BBQ with lamb on the spit which was soon turned to bare bones as hungry competitors refuelled. Prize giving followed with the top sailors collecting some fantastic prizes & those who were not quite so lucky in their sailing fortunes participating in a spot draw which saw all sailors come away with a prize thanks to your generosity. Against stiff opposition PLSC’s Dario Motta won the open standard, PLSC Kevin Welsh 1st Radial, PLSC Amy Linford 1st women, PLSC Andrew Coffin 1st Junior. This was all made possible with your very generous sponsorship of our event: Waipuna Hotel and Conference Centre, the Water Shed, Survitec Group, Boat Books, Laser NZ Direct, Boating NZ, Coromandel Cacti, Sugarcraft, Yeehah Fishing Tackle, Joy Adams Sails, Seaspray and Predict Wind.
 

• Resullts
• Photos

Many thanks
Chantal Grass

The 2013 Auckland Laser Champs were held at Tamaki on 23rrd & 24th of February.
Many thanks to Garth and the team for getting all 6 races in the sometimes light and fickle conditions on the other side of the reef between Kohimarama and Rangitoto.
Jack Collinson, George Lane and Kris Decke lead the Standard fleet.
Andrew McKenzie, Scott Leith and Sara Winther lead the Radials.

Results

• Standard
• Radial

Many thanks to the volunteers at Napier Sailing Club
Raced Thursday 17th to Sunday 20th January
Final Results

• Standard Open
• Radial Open
• 4.7
• Standard Masters
• Radial Masters

A report on the 2012 South Island Champs from Hamish Atkinson

Results at
http://www.navalpoint.co.nz/results/LaserSI12.htm

For this years North Island champs we gate crashed the Napier Sailing Clubs summer Regatta. The club ran two courses with Optimists, Trailer Sailers and of Paper Tigers on the inner course, and Lasers sharing the outer course with a good fleet of OK's.
We had 7 races of Champagne sailing in the Hawkes Bay sun. Each day started with a light race then strengthed to around 10 to 13 knots. Classic oscillating sea breeze and compressed fleets meant the slightest mistake was punished.

21 boats in the Standard fleet.
Won again by Andrew Delabarca followed by Kent Copplestone - both from Worser Bay. In 3rd was Stu Fanshaw from Thames who is new to our regattas - but we hope to attract him back for the Nationals.

15 Radials.
Won by master Edmund Tam from Worser Bay followed by youth sailors Matthew Hughes from Murrays Bay and Michael Cressey from Napier Sailing Club.
Kevin Welsh from Panmure and Bruce Jones were 2nd and 3rd masters.
Laura Lowther from Royal Akarana was the leading Radial female. Followed by local sailors Gill Waiting and Jo Morrel.

Many thanks to Mike Shields, Paul Redman and commodore Barry Kerr for having us at Napier.
And to Clive Snow and his on the water team for running very slick races.

• Standard Results
• Radial Results

The regatta was a great teaser for the National Champs when we are back at Napier from 16th to the 20th of January 2013.

Also see regatta report on sail-world.com

There were good SW winds breezes for the North Shore Freshwaters at Lake Pupuke. But cold at times in the rain squalls.
Blair McLay dominated the Standard fleet, leaving the interesting battle for second with Mike Keeton (2012 Radial Grand Master World Champ) pipping Scott Leith (2012 Radial Apprentice Master world Champ).

The Radial fleet was a little depleted this year. Pete Thomas (3rd Radial Master at the 2012 World Champs) won a close battle with youngster Jacob Miller up from Cambridge followed by Jeff Coffin from Panmure.

Thanks to Garth, John Dowsett, Dave Lowe and the Pupuke boys for hosting us.

All results

Winds were light for the Auckland Masters Laser Champs at Tamaki on 21st April.
Garth did well to get us 2 races. But we need 4 for a series.
So to finish off the series racing will commence again for
Round 2 at Tamaki on Saturday 28th - 2:15pm first race.