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GJW Direct 2024 Dinghy

Laser Open at Aldenham Sailing Club

by Martin King-Davies 18 Jun 2016 16:39 BST 12 June 2016

Ignoring the poor weather forecast 14 boats contested this year's Laser Open. 8 were from Aldenham (ASC) & we were pleased to welcome 6 visitors from Papercourt, Wembley, Thorpe Bay & Goring Thames. The wind varied between forces 2-3 with drizzle to start with but the rain soon disappeared and the wind held although it started to fade away by the end of the third race.

Race 1 started with a general recall possibly due to the Race Officer admitting at the briefing he did not have a black flag! However, the restart went smoothly and the fleet was well behaved for the rest of the day. Simon Hamment (Papercourt) together with Mason Woodworth & Steve Fischer from the home club were quick out of the blocks and pulled away from the rest of the fleet. The racing was very close with those managing to read the wind shifts up the beats gaining places. Simon stayed in front coming in ahead of Mason and Steve.

Race 2 was held in similar conditions with the same 3 upfront. However, after a close first lap Mason pulled clear to take an easy win followed by Simon then Steve.

After an excellent lunch the fleet returned to the water for race 3 with the wind having shifted south westerly and becoming more patchy but never completely disappearing. With a first and second each it was a shootout between Mason & Simon for the overall win and indeed Simon rounded the windward mark first closely followed by Mason. At the end of the downwind legs Mason forgot that the course had changed and allowed Colin Carver (ASC) to slip bye at the buoy into second place. A good beat by Colin allowed him to take the lead by the windward buoy which he then held for a number of laps. Steve worked his way past Mason & Simon before finally passing Colin at the downwind buoy and going on to take the win. Colin held onto second followed by Mason and Mark Hayzelden (Goring Thames).

So Mason, a new member of the ASC fleet, had done enough to take the title.

Overall Results:

PosSail NoHelmClubR1R2R3Pts
1st209190Mason WoodworthAldenham21‑33
2nd207591Simon HammentPapercourt12‑53
3rd208998Steve FischerAldenham‑3314
4th209002Colin CarverAldenham‑6628
5th206851Mark HayzeldenGoring Thames‑7549
6th207731Peter HammentPapercourt54‑99
7th160347Andrew Hill SmithPapercourt4‑14610
8th208996Adrian ElwoodWembley‑128816
9th188286Mike WilcockAldenham‑1110717
10th177221Andras SzaboAldenham107(DNF)17
11th200645Antony ColeAldenham8‑131119
12th207080David LambertAldenham9‑111019
13th209005Kelvin JonesAldenham‑1391322
14th154735Jeremy DoranThorpe Bay‑14121224

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