Results

A forecast of 20 to 30 knots freshening for a time in the middle of the day put quite a few off but after a couple of pretty fresh and gusty races to begin with the breeze dropped to around 10 knots for the final 3 races, giving everyone plenty of chances and allowing the fleet to avoid total exhaustion while providing extremely close racing, with many photo finishes right through the fleet.

 

There were quite a few swimmers in the first 2 races, with the very gusty northerly catching many out on the runs. This mixed up the results quite a bit, leading to an early discard for some of the favourites. In the end Cris Brodie (M) was a clear and well deserved winner in the Standards, showing consistent speed and tactics which enabled him to work up through the fleet on several occasions when he got back a bit early. Starting off the carpark with the breeze from the north provided some interesting challenges, with lulls, squalls and big shifts making getting to the first mark near the top of the bunch a bit of a lottery at times.

 

Second overall was GM Nick Page, who was looking good after the first 2 races and managed to be just consistent enough over the final 3 races to hold out Master Tony Nicholson. Tony a couple of great races, getting the bullet in race 2, but struggled for consistency and verticality, ending up 3rd overall. Other race winners in the Standards were GM Mark Hursthouse, who finished 4th overall and Thomas Borrmann, who did a horizon job on the fleet in race 4.

 

In the Radials, who started with the Standards, Apprentice Phil Wild managed a clean sweep, several times also beating almost all of the Standard fleet! Second was GM Werner Hennig who made the drive up from Hamilton for the day, while GM Jeff Coffin just pipped WM Georgina Wooldridge for 3rd spot.

 

Nick Page

The Lake Dunstan BC Special Laser Regatta was held on December 8th & 9th 2018 and continues to build on previous editions.

Over the weekend there was around 25 Lasers in attendance from across the region including Invercargill, Bluff, Dunedin, Queenstown, Te Anau and Auckland.

There was a range of conditions from light to very strong and as always with lake sailing it provided a few shifts calling for tactical skills from everyone.

The event was won by Daryl Parkes who sailed consistently throughout the regatta to add to his wins from previous years.

Lake Dunstan BC did a fantastic job once again and their continued focus on social Laser sailing is doing wonders for the sport in the region. The lake is an excellent sailing destination with scenery to match. The clubhouse is perfect for the social evenings and has plenty of room for camping around it.

The dates for 2019 are yet to be announced but keep an eye on the event calendar and make this a must-do for the upcoming season. We have identified another 15 lasers locally who could be convinced to attend the next one.

Phillip Bennett

More photos of the event on Facebook

 

Results

Over 50 Laser turned up at Tamaki this weekend for the Auckland Laser Champs and Auckland Laser Masters Champs. In a new innovation this years the two events were combined, with the Masters being decided as a one day regatta over 4 races on Saturday as usual, but with a further 4 races on Sunday counting towards the Open Auckland championship, allowing Masters to elect to sail either a one or sail two days and qualify for both contests. This proved a very popular innovation with the sailors, with about half the Masters electing to only sail the Saturday while the other half carried on with the Open event on the Sunday. Unusually we therefore had two prize givings in one weekend, with Saturday's belonging to the Masters and Sunday being the turn of the Open sailors.

 

Unfortunately conditions on Saturday were, to quote one Master, rather sub optimal! Rain for much of the day, cold temperatures and a dodgy very light Southerly breeze that shifted and died regularly throughout the day provided a major challenge for PRO Garth Briden, let alone the sailors. Add to that the legendary Tamaki tide and slop and I think everyone was pleased to get ashore for a hot shower after 4 very testing races.

 

In Saturdays Masters Standards 4 different masters winners for the 4 races showed the quality of the fleet but in the end as usual consistency paid and Apprentice Dave Ridleys 1/2/2/3  was enough to secure the title by 3 points from leading Master Cris Brodie. Home club Masters Richard Blakey and Giles Grigg rounded out the top 4 with leading GM Mike Keeton coming out of retirement (again) to stamp his authority on the GM group with a couple of 3rd places underpinning his results. Gary Lock in 7th was the leading GGM. In the Radial Masters visiting Hamilton sailor Lucia Chagas (WM) took home the Radial Masters title and with it the Masters Womens title, pipping fellow Hamiltonian and leading GM Werner Hennig by a point. Behind them GM Kevin Welsh secured 3rd ahead of 3 sailors who were only split by a count back; club commodore Ross Roberts (M), Tauranga visitor Pete Thomas (GM) and yet another Hamiltonian Scott Mcdougal (GM).

 

So while the Masters trophies were back at the engravers the Open sailors, including about half the Masters who elected to sail both days, hoped for some better conditions on Sunday to complete the Open champs. Sure enough Sunday dawned sunny and with a 10 knot Southerly which, although gusty and shifty as is typical for Tamaki, provided a really great days racing. After day 1 Olympic squad sailor Josh Armit dominated the Standard results with 4 bullets. Unfortunately Josh could not sail Sunday, leaving it for the remaining Standard masters to fight it out with the rest of the open fleet for the title. At the end of the day it was again Apprentice Dave Ridley who took out the first 2 races of the day and followed up with a 3rd to secure the title. Chris Brodie won the last race of the day to secure 2nd overall on count back from an extremely consistent Giles Grigg with Wellington visitor Andrew Dellabarca having a much better day to claim 4th overall.

 

In the Radials the Youths dominated, with the top sailors continuing what has been fantastic season long tussle for supremacy. This weekend Harrison Baker overturned some of the earlier season results with a decisive series victory, including 5 bullets, over this years Youth Rep Luke Cashmore. Youngster Caleb Armit continued to show great promise with a 3rd overall, a point ahead of a consistent Thomas Mulcahy. First Woman was youth rep Sam Stock in 5th, with the first of the 2 day Masters Werner Hennig finding the pace of the Youths a hard act to match as the leading master in 7th.

 

Great prizes thanks to the contest sponsor Smart Marine while this years Laser traveller series spot prize winner was Matthew Rist from Manly, who takes home a new Laser sail courtesy of Dan at Watershed

 

So a very successful weekend and great to see a large Laser fleet out late in the season.

 

Nick Page
 

Barfoot & Thompson Laser Nationals Day 2 - Weather Frustrates

 

Day 2 of the Barfoot and Thompson NZ Laser Nationals dawned with a 10 knot easterly promising a great days sailing. Race 3 started bang on time at midday in a good 8-knot breeze and all 5 fleets completed the race while the breeze held. However, a rainstorm was on the horizon. By the time it arrived and passed through after the first divisions had started race 2, the wind had boxed the compass and then died completely, resulting in Race 4 being abandoned with the fleet becalmed. After a frustrating 3 hour wait, with the breeze repeatedly filling in over parts but not all the course and then dying again, the committee called it a day and the fleet returned to shore.

 

In the one completed race, the results followed yesterdays form in most fleets. In the Standards Tom Saunders again had the best of a close battle with Sam Meech, giving him a slim 2 point lead over Sam overall. German visitor Philipp Buhl and NZ squad member George Gautrey (U21) were very close behind the leading pair today and now sit 4th and 5th overall as they still carry UFD's from race 1 to sit behind a consistent Luke Deegan in 3rd overall. 

 

In the Radial fleet Caleb Armit (Y) managed to squeeze past Scott Leith (O) right on the finish line to claim the bullet, with a 3rd place for Harrison Baker (Y) sufficient to keep him in the overall lead ahead of Caleb and Scott. The leading woman remains Annabelle Rennie Younger in 4th overall. She was 9th today after taking a dip off the wind but keeps a 6 point buffer from her leading competition for the women's title, Olivia Christie. Luke Cashmore, Albert Stanley and Thomas Mulcahy were all consistent again today to all stay well in contention.

 

In the 4.7 local Daniel Brodie had a good win to take the overall lead from yesterdays leader, Napier's Jacob Goodall, while Wakatipu's Aidan Gordon also stayed well in contention with a second.

 

In the Standard Masters Dave Ridley (A) continued his excellent form, taking his third bullet ahead of defending champ Andrew Dellabarca (M), with Matt Blakey's (A) 3rd keeping him in 2nd overall. In the Radial Masters defending champ Ed Tam (M) continues to hold the overall lead after a 3rd today. GM Werner Hennig took out today's race in spite of almost forgetting to go through the finish line, realising his mistake just in time to get back and hold off Richard Blakey (M) in second and Ed in a photo finish. Stew Taylor (M) and Kevin Jenkins (GM) both got top 6 results to round out a closely bunched top 5.

 

After today's postponement, an extra race is scheduled for all fleets tomorrow so hopefully, conditions will be favourable and allow a continuation of the top quality racing we have enjoyed to date.

 

Nick Page

 

2019 Barfoot and Thompson NZ Laser Nationals - Day 1

 

Three of the worlds top 10 ranked Laser sailors joined 112 others for two great races to kick off the 2019 Laser Nationals at Manly Sailing Club in Auckland. The first race was held in a light SE breeze, which faded and shifted during the race, to be replaced by a lovely 8 to 10 knot NE sea breeze for the second race of the afternoon.

 

Kiwi Olympic bronze medallist and world No 1 ranked Sam Meech took out the first race of the day, but had to settle for 2nd overall after the days second race, with compatriot and world No 8 Tom Saunders win in the second race of the day going with his second in race 1 to narrowly lead from Meech. Several of the other favourites including World No 2 Philipp Buhl suffered UFD's in race 1 so they will be looking to keep clean for the rest of the contest and get into the mix.

 

In the Radials, three sailors stood out with consistent results in both races. Youth Harrison Baker had a really strong day, backing up a runaway win in race 1 with a 3rd in race 2 to lead overall. Women's U21 Olympic hopeful Annabelle Rennie Younger, with a win in race 2 coupled with her 6th in race 1, holds second overall by 1 point from 14-year old rising star Caleb Armit, whos pair of 4th put him well and truly in contention. All the others struggled for consistency but it's early days and the likes of Women's Olympic campaigner Olivia Christie, 2nd in race 1, and this seasons leading Youth to date Luke Cashmore are sure to push the current leaders hard in coming days.

 

The Standard Masters fleet suffered the brunt of the dying breeze in race 1 before the sea breeze filled in, leading to many sailors having at least one dodgy result. Apprentice Dave Ridley, however, mastered the conditions all day and had a blinder with 2 bullets to lead from AusKiwi visitor Matt Blakey (A). Leading Master is Cris Brodie in 3rd overall, leading GM Gavin Dagley in 5th while Gary Lock is the leading GGM in 9th. Defending champion Andrew Dellabarca had a tough start to the regatta with a 16th in the opening race so has some work to do to defend his title.

 

In the Radial Masters defending champ, Ed Tam (M) carried on from last year with a pair of seconds to lead from Onerahi's Kevin Jenkins (GM), with a consistent Stew Taylor in third. Both race winners, Steve Harris (M) in race 1 and Richard Blakey (M) in race 2, struggled in the days' other race to finish the day a bit further down the order. Leading GGM is Gill Waiting from Napier.

 

It was great to see a 4.7 fleet on the water for the first time in several years, featuring several graduates from the host club commodore Russell Coutts O'pen Bic initiative, but it is Napier sailor Jacob Goodall who leads after day 1 from Manly's Daniel Brodie while Aidan Gordon all the way up from Queenstown in 3rd.

 

Tomorrow looks promising but challenging for the race committee with a moderate but clocking breeze forecast.

 

Complete results are on the NZLA website /content/2019-nz-laser-nationals-results

 

Nick Page
 

On the weekend of 15th,16th December, we had 21 Full rig Lasers, 3 Radials, and two 4.7’s racing on the Christchurch estuary for the Canterbury Laser Champs. The Fleet launched from both CYC and Mt Pleasant Yacht Club. 

 

Saturday and Sunday saw light NE winds of between 5-8 knots. There was a tidal window to get the 3 races in each day. Races were around 35 minutes length and outer 2 courses were sailed. 

 

Competitors were from CYC, Mt Pleasant, and Naval Point.