Laser 5000 European Championships at Lake Garda, Italy

Lake Garda threw up some very uncharacteristic conditions for the Laser 5000 Europeans with light winds dominating the competition rather than the normal Ora breeze, which the SB3s had experienced 2 weeks earlier. Racing was abandoned mid afternoon on Day 1 as there was no wind. However the fleet did manage to enjoy the evening’s Miss Italia regional heat in Riva’s main square.

Day 2 finally saw some breeze arrive with the race officer fitting in 4 races in a steady 10-15 knots, which were won by Jim Baldwin and Jonny Backhouse in Team Holt who showed the fleet a clean paid of heels in each race, managing to twin wire downwind when the rest of the fleet were still single wiring. Martin Wadsworth and James Fisher in 5300 notched up 3 2nd places and a 3rd place, with 2nd in Race 3 going to Iain and Matt Lewis.

Tables were turned on Day 3 with Wadsworth / Fisher winning 3 of the 4 races and narrowly missing out in race 7 to Team Holt by only a few boat lengths. Winds were light and shifty all day with twin wiring a rare occurrence, leaving the crews to have plenty of opportunity to top up the sun tan while lying on the foredeck. Special mention must go to Klaus Lindinger and Florian Wohrer who after spending Day 2 swimming, revelled in the lighter conditions to take a 2nd and 3rd place.

This left the final day set up nicely for a real battle between Holt and 5300 with only 1 point separating the two teams at the start of racing. Race 9 got underway in a steady 15 knots, which threatened to build, as the Ora appeared to return to its usual pattern. Ian and Matt Lewis took a well-deserved 2nd place after the “Fat Lads” had struggled for pace in the lighter conditions of the previous day. Racing was not without incident as Holt managed to squeeze out an improbable victory after spending most of pre-race preparation time fixing trapeze lines whilst capsized, and suffering from a broken tiller extension which required a jury rig for the last 2 races. Craig Johnson and Mandy Hindle took 2nd place in Race 10, after taking a well-timed port tack flyer off the startline, narrowly losing out to Team Holt at the last mark. Race 11 was won by Wadsworth / Fisher by some distance as the wind went very light. Florian and Klaus were 2nd equalling their best result of the week.

This left the duo of Jim Baldwin and Jonny Backhouse as worthy winners of the Laser 5000 Europeans after winning 7 races. Racing was highly competitive and enjoyable despite the light conditions, with place changes on all areas of the racecourse – hopefully, next year the wind will return!

Overall Results: