Laser 2000 Open at Langstone Sailing Club
by Tim Hulley 5 Oct 2005 10:34 BST
1-2 October 2005
The Laser 2000s enjoy the conditions at Langstone © Ethna Haines
Langstone feels like a mixture of open sea sailing on a lake - good clean winds and tidal effects on a large and enclosed water. And it really blew this time, with blasting sailing under big skies.
Saturday was a blusterly North Westerly rising to 25 knots. Eight boats
ventured out, 4 of them reefed. The Hulley seniors, benefiting from a diet
of beer and chips raced unreefed, and stayed ahead for most of the first
race. But as the wind rose the reefed boats made greater gains upwind, and
smaller losses downwind, and eventually Patrick Clark (a newcomer to the
fleet this year who has shown superb speed at WW and Weston) overhauled the
Hulleys on the last lap out of 6. This interestingly demonstrated the break
point for when to reef for speed.
One more race on Saturday, with lots of hard hiking upwind and exhilarating downwind rides - the more you hiked downwind the faster you went, just like the skiffs!
Langstone put on a well needed tea for the bedraggled racers returning ashore, and the forecast overnight was for a little less wind.
Patrick was the leader overnight, but expectations changed on the arrival of Rob Burridge (national champ) on Sunday morning. Initially the wind was a lovely force 3, but this quickly rose to around 20 knots. Rob underlined his nationals win with more superb sailing, winning every race, although Patrick was only just behind for much of the time. The wind dropped for the
final race allowing Amy Hulley, with just 15 stone in the boat a chance to show some good boat speed and record a third. The course was littered with upside down boats for most of the day, and both Patrick and Hulley seniors had a good inspection of their centreboards. (Tim's tip: when you are capsizing with the gennaker up, if the crew can just reach in and release the genny halyard cleat, the halyard runs out allowing the mast to come back slightly, and so the crew can get in and douse the kite, often saving the capsize). Again the sailing was simply superb, just hanging on upwind and then full on planning through the gusts downwind. Grape Gecko (Andrew and young Will Sloper) have been getting faster all season, and they were often challenging hard at the front throughout this event.
A couple of boats have been experimenting with longer genny tack lines, which does have an impact on the boat (Tim is not sure if it is faster but it certainly feels good - see pics). Patrick certainly used this to good effect at Weston. Patrick has been showing good speed by sitting right at the back of the boat downwind, planning just on the very flat back few feet of the hull. However he only had 120kg in the boat, so perhaps this is just fast for light crews.
After 3 superb races the fleet was treated to another superb tea, and prizes from the Commodore.
Overall Results:
1st Patrick Clark and a different daughter each day
2nd Tim and Linda Hulley
3rd Andrew and Will Sloper
4th Rob Burridge and Ant Greenfield