RC Laser Open at 2 Islands, Milton Keynes

Action from the RC Laser open at 2 Islands, Milton Keynes © RC Laser Association

Action from the RC Laser open at 2 Islands, Milton Keynes © RC Laser Association

Twenty eight skippers gathered for round four of the Marine Modelling International RC Laser TT series held at 2 Islands, Milton Keynes.

It was late June, but it felt more like October under grey skies and a fresh north easterly breeze. So it was on with the fleeces and warm coats and on to the water for the seeding heats. The wind direction enabled a good start line and a long beat to help spread the fleet before the fun started at the, hard to judge, distant first mark - a true test of the skippers distance judgement.

John Arundell got away to an early lead in race one but was overhauled by Chris Jackson after he picked up some weed on the last lap and just managed to hold onto second place on the line from Liz Tushingham.

In the second seeding race John Tushingham lead from start to finish but had to work hard to keep Gosport's Alec Powell at bay with David Hivey a close third.

After a short break to work out the seedings the skippers faced the added headache of rig choice, the gusts were coming through with a bit more bite to them and opinion was divided on which rig to use, with many taking the safer option of the C Rig, but it was a close call.

David Hivey held on to his B Rig and survived the offwind legs to hold off John Arundell, Alec Powell and Chris Jackson to take race two. John Tushingham chalked up another win in race three before John Arundell struck back with three straight wins. This gave him a slender one point advantage over John Tushingham with two races to go, but any one of the top six still had a realistic chance at this stage. Alec made the wise choice, opting for C Rig in race seven and lead handsomely after the first lap, but as the wind eased the last run must have seemed like an eternity as the rest of the fleet, lead by John Tushingham, bore down on him rapidly. He got round the leeward mark but his lead was down to three boat lengths with just the short beat to the finish, but he stayed cool, picked the shifts and held on, taking the gun from John, who had his hands fending off the fast finishing Ricky Tagg.

Overall, it looked like a tight finish between the two Johns, Arundell and Tushingham, but points were still tight for the top five. Chris Jackson finished the day as he started, with a win, Ricky Tagg held second all the way round only to stall out on a tack just before the line and loose out to John Tushingham and Alec Powell.

It might have been cold and a bit damp, but the racing was hot, the fleet was big and the live backing music by McFly, Rachel Stevens and a host of other bands greeted by thousands of screaming teenagers at the nearby Milton Keynes Bowl, gave the event a unique atmosphere.

It is clear that things have got a lot closer at the top of the fleet, and in general, standards have improved throughout, thankfully what hasn't changed is the friendly spirit of the racing and a willingness to do penalty turns. We nearly had a protest! But that was quickly settled 'out of court' without holding up the racing.

Special mention must go to our two lady skippers, Liz Tushingham finished an excellent eigth overall (and coming 'oh so close' to beating husband John in race six) and Claire Jones beat husband Peter to finish twentieth.

Another superb event, and our thanks to the race team at Two Islands for keeping the day moving. It's now onto the south coast summer season with events at Weymouth/Portland, Poole and Gosport - bring on the sun - please! See you there. For more information see the class association website www.rclaser.org.uk

Overall Results: