Laser II World Championships 2003

Seventy Laser2s gathered in Hoorn on the Markermeer in Holland for the 2003 World Championships from 10th to 15th August. The first race day dawned misty and when the sun arrived the wind was extremely light. In Race 1 the reigning world champions Kevin Teborek and Ryan Donahue (USA) showed that they still excelled in the light conditions. However the wind died and the race committee abandoned the race, to restart when the wind filled in. A 6-knot breeze finally arrived and the race was restarted after a couple of attempts. 5 boats were black flagged, unfortunately including practice race winners Martin and Sian Joesbury. Nigel Skudder and Keith Hills (GBR) made it to the windward mark first, but they were unable to keep Teborek and Donahue behind them. The Irish boat of Noel Butler and Stephen Campion pushed through to third place.

Race 2 was started in similar winds and again the black flag was needed. Teborek and Donahue reached the windward mark first, and sped off to win, followed by Marcus Spillane (IRL) and the Joesburys. Skudder finished 4th, to take 2nd place overnight behind the Americans.

Tuesday brought similar weather to Monday. Teborek and Donahue won Race 3, keeping alive their hope of defending their title. Skudder and Hills were 2nd and J Chambers (IRL) finished 3rd. Race 4 became painful as the wind nearly died completely. Rathnait Long and Mark Doneghan (IRL) won, recovering well from their disappointing OCS in Race 3. Graham Bristow and Bryan Mobbs (GBR) sailed the shifts brilliantly to finish 2nd followed by Jurjen Feitsma (NED). The Americans recovered from a bad start to finish 4th. The rest of the competitors had a very difficult last beat as those that had finished were having fun swimming and cooling off, and several boats did not finish within the time limit. A sea breeze arrived and the course was quickly relayed for race 5. The Americans broke a trapeze wire during the first beat, allowing Butler, Spillane and M Ennis to make an Irish 1-2-3.

Wednesday brought force 3-4 winds, rig changes and early launches. The start was clean with John Chapman and Helen Carroll leading from start to finish. Butler and Campion finished 2nd and the Dutch Champions, Robert Janssen and Aletta Luchtenborg were 3rd. Increasing wind brought several capsizes and broken spinnaker poles in the second race. Teborek and Donahue won, demonstrating their all-round speed, with Butler and Campion 2nd, Bristow and Mobbs 3rd.

The heavier crews were happy on Thursday morning, as the wind had continued to build overnight to force five. Bristow and Mobbs set their boat up perfectly to win the first race. Feitsma finished 2nd with the consistent Butler 3rd. Bristow and Mobbs excelled in the 25 knot winds to win the 2nd and 3rd races of the day. Skudder and Hills finished 2nd in the 2nd race and Butler recorded a 3rd and 2nd respectively.

Friday dawned with slightly less wind. The championship was still open with Butler and Teborek very close on points; Skudder and Bristow still had a chance. The race got underway without a general recall and the pin end was favoured. Bristow and Mobbs again won, but the real battle was between Butler and Teborek, neither giving an inch. Teborek came 2nd with Butler 4th, the Irish boat of Ennis showing good speed to split the two. Race 2 of the day was started in slightly less wind and was won by Noel Butler, with Teborek 2nd.

It was still all to sail for in the last race, especially as this race also brought a third discard. Chapman (GBR) reached the windward mark first having played the shifts well. Only on the last reach did the two British boats of Bristow and Joesbury overtake. It looked like being a British 1-2-3 in the last race but the Dutch boat of Feitsma timed the shifts perfectly to take the final beat, pushing Joesbury into 2nd and Bristow into 3rd. Meanwhile, Teborek and Butler were re-sailing the Olympic duel of Ainslie and Scheidt! A protest ended in disqualification for Teborek, Butler and Campion taking 6th place. Both Butler and Teborek discarded this race, resulting in Butler and Campion becoming the new world champions. Teborek and Donahue went home with 2nd place and the British boat of Skudder and Hills finished 3rd. Claudia Roll (GER) was the first lady and Dave Annan and James from University of Surrey were the first university boat.

Special thanks to Edith, Joke, Justien and Wilma for all their organising, the race committee for faultless courses and to the international jury and all at the yacht club for hosting the event.

Overall Results: