7th & 8th October 2006

Standard Report from James Gray - UK Laser Association

The autumn qualifier series came to Eastbourne Sovereign S.C. for the start of the World and European qualification process. A 15-20 knot WNW breeze accompanied by a vicious current and shifting breeze greeted the sailors on Saturday. Race officer Ken Falcon did his best to set a course given the tricky conditions.

Race 1:
After a few general recalls under a black flag the fleet was reduced by 10 boats. The leaders emerged from the left hand side of the course after making an attempt to win the heavily biased pin end of the line. Dan Ward, fresh from the Worlds in Korea, led at the windward closely followed by the usual suspects Paul Goodison, Mark Powell, and Nick Thompson. Ward was unfortunately overhauled by Thompson and Powell due to their superior downwind speed. On the final run Goodison had moved into contention over taking Thompson who had gear failure and easing past Powell by the bottom on the run. Goodison finished 1st, Powell 2nd, Thompson 3rd, Ward 4th, and Kevin Lim for Malaysia making up the top 5 spots.

Race 2:
Again the leaders emerged from the pin end, with James Royston, Powell, and Goodison seeming to make the best starts. Powell made the most of the tricky conditions to lead at the windward mark closely followed by Goodison and Royston. Positions were closely contended. However with Royston hitting the windward mark it allowed Powell and Goodison to get ahead. Goodison used his trademark downwind speed to overhaul Powell and claim his second concessive victory. Powell finished 2nd, followed by Thompson, Dan Ward andStephen Powell who managed to pass Royston on the final run.


Race 3:
Another start under black flag proved testing for the sailors. Goodison led at the windward mark followed by Powell, Ward, James Gray, and Thompson. However the leaders unable to see the wing mark, lost their bearings and were overtaking by 15 boats. Bruce Keen and Lim led onto the bottom reach. Goodison showed why he is world number one, catching the leader and claiming his third win of the day. Keen held on for 2nd after sailing an impressive race, closely followed by Lim, Mark Powell and Royston.

Race 4:
The first race on Sunday morning started with the strongest tide of the year, making upwind progress slow for the fleet. Stephen Powell used his Hayling roots to make the most of the tidal difference near to shore. He held an unassailable advantage, which clinches his first victory of the competition. Goodison was 2nd at the windward mark closely followed by Will Espinar, who unfortunately later found that he had been black-flagged. With such a strong tide the race became a procession, making it difficult to do much overtaking. It ended 1st Stephen Powell, 2nd Goodison, 3rd Kevin Lim, 4th Royston, and 5th Bruce Keen.

Race 5:
As the tide started to change the leaders emerged from both the right or left side of the 1st beat. Thompson led at the windward mark, with some distance between him and the rest of the pack. After some closely fought racing, Thompson held onto his lead taking 1st place from Goodison. Mark Powell finished 3rd, Lim finished 4th, building to his already consistent series, and Keen made up the top five after an impressive day's racing.

Thanks to all the competitors who helped make for an enjoyable event. Hope to see you all at the next qualifier at Whitstable.
 

Radial Report from Jon Emmett

Over ninety Radials attended the Radial Qualifier at Eastbourne on 7th & 8th October. Perhaps many were put off by the promise of strong winds, but thanks to the many helpers most managed a stress free launch and recovery, although some did struggle. Ken Falcon was principal race officer and had a nightmare of a task getting the fleet to start with three knots of tide under them. Needless to say the black flag was out and many people missed one (or more!) races.

The first race saw Master World Champion Steve Cockerill clearly showing the younger sailors around the course. Something which was definitely required considering the length of the beat and the fact that the course marks were black and due to the wind speed there was spray everywhere!!! However Alison Young did chase hard but could not stop Cockerill from extending his lead. Charlotte Dobson led the chasing pack home in third place.

Race two and Cockerill port tacked the fleet. Emmett chased extremely hard and closed the gap downwind but could not pass, allowing Cockerill his second bullet. Ben Paton who is currently Paige Railey’s training partner (and seems to be looking forward to going to Florida in the near future!) finished third.

The final race on Saturday saw a new winner with Emmett finally getting the better of Cockerill when both had poor starts, and he managed to find clear air first. However Cockerill worked hard downwind and the race was certainly not over until the finishing horn! Third place went to Young who had great pace all day.

Race four and Emmett led from start to finish, bring his score line level with Cockerill making for an interesting final race (Emmett was discarding an OCS and Cockerill sixth, so Cockerill had to beat Emmett or force him to finish worse than sixth to take the event). Second place went to up and coming star Iain Mckeeman with Richard Major recovering from his OCS in race three to take third place.

Race five and Cockerill started under Emmett, holding him the wrong side of the committee boat. However Emmett managed to tack off straight away and clean his wind so when they came together Emmett was leading Cockerill. However Andrea Brewster was now well off in the lead and sailing away from the fleet. Emmett and Cockerill pulled through the fleet to third and seventh respectively which gave Emmett the event. Ben Paton also gained