Laser 2 Northern Championships at Loch Ryan
by Mike Croker 12 Jun 2006 08:11 BST
10-11 June 2006
Loads ‘o wind at Loch Ryan
After last year’s drought, the wind gods somewhat overcompensated for this year’s UK Laser 2 Northern Championships at Loch Ryan, with a 30kt southerly keeping prospective competitors on the beach on Saturday. Come Sunday morning, the RO was ready to go at 10:00 with a solid S F5 and Loch Ryan chop to wake up the competitors.
As befits their years of experience, Nigel Skudder and Keith Hills from Starcross powered into an early lead and were clearly revelling in the challenging conditions, airing their kite on all downwind legs as they powered to the first of 3 wins. Behind them, the local team of Jude Baird and Fred Fuller began a contest’ which was to last for all 3 races, with Datchet’s Mike Clapp and Mark Bond for runner up spot. Whilst the former had better upwind speed, the latter benefited from more power on the reaches and an unblemished ‘sunny-side up’ record.
With the cobwebs cleared away, all are looking forward to the pre-European’s warm up at Lancing SC on 8/9 July, before the big event itself at Teignmouth on 12 to 18 August.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Helm | Crew | Club | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | Nigel Skudder | Keith Hills | Starcross | 2 |
| 2nd | Mike Clapp | Mark Bond | Datchet Water | 4 |
| 3rd | Jude Baird | Fred Fuller | Loch Ryan | 5 |