RC Laser Winter Series at Fleetwood Model Yacht Club
by Tony Wilson 29 Feb 2020 16:04 GMT
23 February 2020
RC Laser Winter Series at Fleetwood © Tony Wilson
With rain fizzling out by 11:00 am. and after 3 weeks worth of storms, the weather was looking favourable again for a spot of Club racing. No rain and a draft of about 16 MPH from just North of West was the perfect receipt for our lake up at Fleetwood.
Then when you got there, it was a different story. The direction was right, but add on at least another 10 MPH and dig out your 'D' rig because that's all we'll need if we can even manage that.
With only 3 race days planned for the Winter series and we had already missed the last one, Trevor was keen to make this a double event for a more worth while series, so was looking at getting in about 20 races. Yeh right !
Only five Skippers for the day. Seems we're running short, whether it's a lack of enthusiasm, but the weather certainly isn't helping. A small course of a triangle was set in the central part of the lake, although it all looked similarly rough.
Starting on this nearside we headed across diagonally to the red and white mark. then back towards ourselves at right angles, then diagonally broad reaching down to the yellow and white and making it back up the lake to a finish mark. Steve got the first two marks in the wrong order on the first race and was already heading for the green buoy, but then the following races were to follow that pattern as the wind swept around.
Tony sailing his old hull 985 for the first couple of races and was able to clinch the first. Bob won race two, but it was all quite tight. Martyn was having some rudder jitter bugs so was out for the third race. Tony got race three and then it was in for some tea. A cup of coffee while servo's were being thrust Martyn's way to get the injured party back going again. Before the kettle had even boiled, Trevor's magic fingers had the boat working again. It helps being a lefty.
Three more races and it was already 12:30 time for lunch. Steve had discovered that his new clips would need replacing back for some more of the old, new clips. It doesn't half spoil a good race when you're tangled good and proper.
First race after lunch and Tony had a line caught, so was having to retrim up to the wind ward mark. Keeping well in front, but it wasn't going to help on the run if he couldn't sheet fully out.
Barely being able to bare away for that windward mark made him realise he would just have to drag the boat out quickly for an untangle. Now with all boats past he had some catching up to do. A couple were struggling to tack on the last leg, so Tony came in on third while Bob had taken second and Martyn getting one of his first wins. Martyn couldn't believe it and actually doubted himself thinking he was sailing the wrong course.
One eyed Willy had been sailing well all day and had secured the two wins for the series. Next month is the start of the Spring series up at Fleetwood and already only in a couple of weeks.
With calling the day short, Ian, Martyn and Tony hung on for about an extra hour for some Apres Surf storm sailing. Camera on board and practise for those tacking turns, the only way to tame this beast is to take it by the horns and practise.
Bob noticed one brave soul out with a DF95 and even claimed he still had stock top suit that comes with it out of the box. Having a friendly chat with the guy about joining in, he doubted he would be good enough for racing. Ensuring him, that if he could get out on such a wild day like this, he'd be well equipped for some social racing and be able to gain some more experience.
It did take about 20 tacks with his Dragon to get to the top end, but most of us would have already given up or even sunk.
Winter series 2:
1 Tony W. 3pts
2 Steve M. 6pts
3 Bob J. 7pts
Winter series 3:
1 Tony W. 3 pts
2 Bob J. 6pts
3 Martyn S. 8pts
Series Results:
1 Tony Wilson 200 pts
2 Steve Mattison 138 pts
3 Bob Jolly 133 pts