Laser 5000 Supercup at Bury Lake Young Mariners
by Craig Johnson 22 Mar 2005 13:35 GMT
19-20 March 2005
The first Laser 5000 event of the season takes place at Bury Lake © Paul Knight
The 19th & 20th March saw the first Laser 5000 race event of the season when Bury Lake Young Mariners hosted their inaugural Laser 5000 Supercup. Saturday arrived with light and fluky winds making it impossible to set a racable course. Undeterred, the fleet went sailing to get used to the venue in the thermal breeze provided by the 20°C temperatures and sunshine.
After a good nights’ entertainment, Sunday dawned with the forecast 5 knots of easterly breeze. Being a supercup, the course for the event was a ‘W’ shape with a downwind start. In race 1 Infocube, sailed by Craig Johnson and Chris Paterson, made the most aggressive start with kite flying before the gun. The advantage was ephemeral however as Dave Watson and Justin Linnell in Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) became impaled on Infocubes’ rigging whilst attempting to cross them on Port causing Infocube to capsize. This left Iain and Matt Lewis chasing LSH, but unable to catch them whilst Infocube clawed past the rest of the fleet to finish in 3rd spot.
Lambert Smith Hampton kept the good form to take race 2, whilst Infocube managed to beat the Lewis brothers to take second place. In race 3 it was LSH who were left behind by the Infocube chasing the Lewis brothers. It looked like a comfortable win for the Lewises until the final mark when Infocube caught them up, but it was too little, too late and the Lewises just pinched the bullet by a matter of inches from Infocube.
Race 4 began with a charge off the line by Sam Flint and Mike Whitby arriving at the first mark in 2nd position having opted not to fly a kite on the first leg. They were however forced to retire leaving Lewises, LSH and Infocube to finish first, second and third respectively. The wind was becoming more blustery in the final race of the day, making for some interesting sailing and superb spectating. The awesome acceleration of the 5000 left crews doing hand stands on the trapeze and helms falling head first from the stern. LSH overcame the conditions victoriously with a win over the Lewises whilst Infocube struggled in 3rd.
The fleet next travel to Broadstairs SC in Kent for the first coastal open meeting of the year on 2nd and 3rd of April.
Overall Results:
1st Dave Watson & Justin Linnell (Lambert Smith-Hampton)
2nd Iain and Matt Lewis
3rd Craig Johnson & Chris Paterson (Infocube)
4th Various helms & Various Crews (Busta)