The NZ Laser Association supports racing Laser sailors and regattas at home and overseas. Come and join us.
2019 Tauranga Regatta
Tue 22 Jan 2019 8:52pm- Notice of Race
- Friday 15 Feb at 5.00pm entries close ($40)
- Saturday 16 Feb at 9.30 am late entries close ($45)
- Saturday 16 Feb at 9.45 briefing
- Saturday 16 Feb at 10.55 warning flag for race 1
- Sunday 17 Feb at 15.00 no race to start after this.
Saturday night will be a casual get-together sponsored by Ebbit Motors who will also supply a large BBQ trailer. We will put on salad, bread etc. And the bar will be open.
It would be great to see you down here!
Any questions contact Pete Thomas | petethomasnz@gmail.com
Royal Akarana YC 2019 Thursday Twilight Series
Sun 20 Jan 2019 8:48am- 14th Feb to 18 Apr 2019
- 5:30 pm registration, 6:30 pm first race
- open to members or visitors
- charter boats available from RAYC
- Notice of Race
2019 ILCA Laser Handbook
Wed 16 Jan 2019 4:54pmThe 2019 ILCA Laser Handbook is now available online: http://www.laserinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Handbook_21...
2019 NZ Laser Nationals Report & Results - Final Day
Mon 14 Jan 2019 8:59pmFinal results - 10 am 19th January 2019.
Barfoot & Thompson Laser Nationals Final Day 4 - Snakes and Ladders
The final day of the Barfoot and Thompson NZ Laser Nationals featured some great contests for the final honours. Conditions on the day were gusty and very shifty with an offshore 10 to 15-knot southerly peeling around the cliffs between the bays. This caused problems for many, with frequent OCS's as the wind swung on several occasions as fleets started and many place changes during the beats as the lines of pressure came through. Both the Opens and the Radials sailed an extra race to make up for the races lost on Sunday so all fleets ended with a full complement of races.
In the Open Standard fleet world No 8 Tom Saunders wrapped up the title with wins in the first 2 races. Unfortunately, neither Sam Meech or Phillip Buhl were able to sail the final day, they were both attending former national champ Andy Maloney's wedding (congratulations Andy!). This left Josh Armit and George Gautry to fight it out for the minor placings, with Josh getting the bullet in the final race to take second and the U21 title with George third and consistent Luke Deegan and U21 Alistair Gifford 4th and 5th.
In the Radials youth, Harrison Baker was the star of the day with two wins and a third, more than enough for him to overhaul overnight leader Luke Cashmore (Y) and take the title. Luke held on for second place ahead of leading woman Olivia Christie, who tied on points with Caleb Armit (Y) but took third place on countback thanks to her two wins on Monday. Olivia's Worser Bay teammate Albert Stanley's 3rd in the final race secured 4th overall for him while Scott Leith (O) was a point back in 5th. Samantha Stock had a really consistent day to consolidate her place as the top youth woman.
In the 4.7's Daniel Brodie won a tight battle with Aidan Gordon to take out the title with a strong 2/1 day, with James Goodall from Napier ending up third after a really good contest between the trio. Ryker Green from Manly also had a great day, taking out the first race and following that up with a 3rd in the second race.
In the Masters Standard overnight leader Dave Ridley (A) only needed one decent result to secure the series but had to settle for second after a nightmare day, letting expat Matt Blakey (A) through to take the title. Continuing the expat invasion Gavin Dagley won the last race to finish 3rd overall and leading Grand Master, followed by leading Master Cris Brodie in 4th and defending champ, master Andrew Dellabarca in 5th. Gary Lock was the leading GGM in 13th overall with a couple of good top 10 finishes on the last day securing his position ahead of New Plymouth GGM John Pitman, one of the sufferer of a BFD in the days first race.
Speaking of black flags an unfortunate Richard Blakey, brother of Standards winner Matt, in the Masters Radials crossed the line first in the last race only to find he too had succumbed to the dreaded black, handing the title to defending champ Ed Tam (M) with leading GM Werner Hennig in second and Richard ending up third. GM's Kevin Jenkins from Whangarei and Hamish Atkinson from Christchurch ended 4th and 5th, with Kevin in, particular, enjoying the day with a first and 3rd in the two races.
So another Nationals is wrapped up after superb on and off the water organisation by Manly Sailing Club. Next year we head to New Plymouth, which is sure to offer a whole set of different challenges, with everyone looking forward to surfing the Tasman's ocean swells.
Nick Page
Barfoot & Thompson Laser Nationals Day 3 - Enjoyable Endurance Test
Day 3 of the Barfoot and Thompson Laser Nationals at Manly provided a bit of everything but in the end, delivered a fantastic days sailing for all. The fleet left the beach just after 11am in the rain with a 15 knot NW that then freshened to gusts of 25 knots as they did their pre-race preparation in the strong wind and rain. Come start time at midday things had changed, blue sky and flat calm and everyone wondering if we were in for another frustrating day. But just as depression set in so did a nice gusty, shifty 15-knot offshore breeze and it was all go, with the breeze holding for the rest of the day and fleets eventually completing not only their scheduled race but also a catch up one to make up for yesterday. So after about 7 hours on the water and tons of top quality racing, there were lots of smiles in the boat park, even if half the masters could hardly walk!
In the Standard Opens the 3 top 10 world ranked sailors; Sam Meech, Tom Saunders and Germany's Philipp Buhl, traded the top 3 spots all day, with Sam ending up on top overall, two points ahead of Tom with further two back to Philipp, although Philipp actually had the best of the day with 2 wins and 2 seconds. Fourth overall and leading U21 sailor is Josh Armit, who spent the day battling with Muritai's George Gautrey just behind the 3 leaders.
In the Radial Olivia Christie had a stunner of a day in the first three races (2,1,1) but had a hiccup in the days' last race to lie 4th overall and first Woman. Overall star of the day was Luke Cashmore (Y) who was super consistent (1,4,2,1) to take the overall lead by 4 points from Harrison Baker (Y), who also had a consistent day but could not quite match Luke and Olivia. Scott Leith (O) was his usual solid self to hold 3rd overall while Samantha Stock is the leading Youth Woman in 15th overall. Several other sailors including Annabelle Rennie Younger (WU21), local Matthew Rist (Y) and Bay of Islands James Sheldon (Y) managed one or two top results but found consistency challenging in the conditions, with the big shifts and pressure variations making staying at the top very challenging.
The 4.7's is coming down to a very close battle between Wakatipu's Aidan Gordon and Manly local Daniel Brodie, with Daniel holding a single point lead going into the final day. Jacob Goodall from Napier remains in contention but will need top performances tomorrow to have a chance of unseating the leading pair, while hopefully more moderate conditions tomorrow will be more to the liking of some of those who found todays condition arduous.
in the Masters Standard Dave Ridley (A) continued to show the fleet how its done, with his only blemish being in the first race of the day when he had to settle for second to Aussie expat Matt Blakey. These two sailors have established a significant lead on the balance of the fleet, with defending champ Andrew Dellabarca (M) and ex-World Grand Master titleholder Gavin Dagley (GM) a little way back but having a great tussle for 3rd place. US visitor Mike Matan had a much better day to rise out of the pack and hold 5th overall while many others struggled for top results in a very tightly packed bunch. Leading GGM is New Plymouth's John Pitman, who is narrowly leading Gary Lock.
In the Radial Masters there is a great battle for the title between defending champion Ed Tam (M), and Tamaki's Blakey clan Radial rep Richard (M), who trails Ed by a single point. Hamiltons Werner Hennig (GM) is 7 points back in third but pleased to have navigated the finish line successfully all day after yesterdays masters brain fade moment. The contest for the women's crown is also coming down to the wire, with Hamiltons Lucia Chagas (M) and Napier Gill Waiting (GGM) tied on points going into tomorrows races.
The forecast looks promising for tomorrows final day, with moderate SW offshore winds sure to again provide interesting conditions.
Nick Page
Barfoot & Thompson Laser Nationals Day 2 - Weather Frustrates
Day 2 of the Barfoot and Thompson NZ Laser Nationals dawned with a 10 knot easterly promising a great days sailing. Race 3 started bang on time at midday in a good 8-knot breeze and all 5 fleets completed the race while the breeze held. However, a rainstorm was on the horizon. By the time it arrived and passed through after the first divisions had started race 2, the wind had boxed the compass and then died completely, resulting in Race 4 being abandoned with the fleet becalmed. After a frustrating 3 hour wait, with the breeze repeatedly filling in over parts but not all the course and then dying again, the committee called it a day and the fleet returned to shore.
In the one completed race, the results followed yesterdays form in most fleets. In the Standards Tom Saunders again had the best of a close battle with Sam Meech, giving him a slim 2 point lead over Sam overall. German visitor Philipp Buhl and NZ squad member George Gautrey (U21) were very close behind the leading pair today and now sit 4th and 5th overall as they still carry UFD's from race 1 to sit behind a consistent Luke Deegan in 3rd overall.
In the Radial fleet Caleb Armit (Y) managed to squeeze past Scott Leith (O) right on the finish line to claim the bullet, with a 3rd place for Harrison Baker (Y) sufficient to keep him in the overall lead ahead of Caleb and Scott. The leading woman remains Annabelle Rennie Younger in 4th overall. She was 9th today after taking a dip off the wind but keeps a 6 point buffer from her leading competition for the women's title, Olivia Christie. Luke Cashmore, Albert Stanley and Thomas Mulcahy were all consistent again today to all stay well in contention.
In the 4.7 local Daniel Brodie had a good win to take the overall lead from yesterdays leader, Napier's Jacob Goodall, while Wakatipu's Aidan Gordon also stayed well in contention with a second.
In the Standard Masters Dave Ridley (A) continued his excellent form, taking his third bullet ahead of defending champ Andrew Dellabarca (M), with Matt Blakey's (A) 3rd keeping him in 2nd overall. In the Radial Masters defending champ Ed Tam (M) continues to hold the overall lead after a 3rd today. GM Werner Hennig took out today's race in spite of almost forgetting to go through the finish line, realising his mistake just in time to get back and hold off Richard Blakey (M) in second and Ed in a photo finish. Stew Taylor (M) and Kevin Jenkins (GM) both got top 6 results to round out a closely bunched top 5.
After today's postponement, an extra race is scheduled for all fleets tomorrow so hopefully, conditions will be favourable and allow a continuation of the top quality racing we have enjoyed to date.
Nick Page
2019 Barfoot and Thompson NZ Laser Nationals - Day 1
Three of the worlds top 10 ranked Laser sailors joined 112 others for two great races to kick off the 2019 Laser Nationals at Manly Sailing Club in Auckland. The first race was held in a light SE breeze, which faded and shifted during the race, to be replaced by a lovely 8 to 10 knot NE sea breeze for the second race of the afternoon.
Kiwi Olympic bronze medallist and world No 1 ranked Sam Meech took out the first race of the day, but had to settle for 2nd overall after the days second race, with compatriot and world No 8 Tom Saunders win in the second race of the day going with his second in race 1 to narrowly lead from Meech. Several of the other favourites including World No 2 Philipp Buhl suffered UFD's in race 1 so they will be looking to keep clean for the rest of the contest and get into the mix.
In the Radials, three sailors stood out with consistent results in both races. Youth Harrison Baker had a really strong day, backing up a runaway win in race 1 with a 3rd in race 2 to lead overall. Women's U21 Olympic hopeful Annabelle Rennie Younger, with a win in race 2 coupled with her 6th in race 1, holds second overall by 1 point from 14-year old rising star Caleb Armit, whos pair of 4th put him well and truly in contention. All the others struggled for consistency but it's early days and the likes of Women's Olympic campaigner Olivia Christie, 2nd in race 1, and this seasons leading Youth to date Luke Cashmore are sure to push the current leaders hard in coming days.
The Standard Masters fleet suffered the brunt of the dying breeze in race 1 before the sea breeze filled in, leading to many sailors having at least one dodgy result. Apprentice Dave Ridley, however, mastered the conditions all day and had a blinder with 2 bullets to lead from AusKiwi visitor Matt Blakey (A). Leading Master is Cris Brodie in 3rd overall, leading GM Gavin Dagley in 5th while Gary Lock is the leading GGM in 9th. Defending champion Andrew Dellabarca had a tough start to the regatta with a 16th in the opening race so has some work to do to defend his title.
In the Radial Masters defending champ, Ed Tam (M) carried on from last year with a pair of seconds to lead from Onerahi's Kevin Jenkins (GM), with a consistent Stew Taylor in third. Both race winners, Steve Harris (M) in race 1 and Richard Blakey (M) in race 2, struggled in the days' other race to finish the day a bit further down the order. Leading GGM is Gill Waiting from Napier.
It was great to see a 4.7 fleet on the water for the first time in several years, featuring several graduates from the host club commodore Russell Coutts O'pen Bic initiative, but it is Napier sailor Jacob Goodall who leads after day 1 from Manly's Daniel Brodie while Aidan Gordon all the way up from Queenstown in 3rd.
Tomorrow looks promising but challenging for the race committee with a moderate but clocking breeze forecast.
Complete results are on the NZLA website http://www.nzlaser.org/content/2019-nz-laser-nationals-results
Nick Page
The Barfoot & Thompson 2019 NZ National Laser Champs - Manly
Thu 10 Jan 2019 8:22am
Manly SC at Whangaparaoa turns on some great racing at a beautiful location. We were excited to be there for the 2018 NZ Laser Champs, kindly supported by Barfoot & Thompson.
- 4 days racing Sat to Tues 12th to 15th
2018 Canterbury Laser Champs Results & Report
Wed 19 Dec 2018 3:35pm
On the weekend of 15th,16th December, we had 21 Full rig Lasers, 3 Radials, and two 4.7’s racing on the Christchurch estuary for the Canterbury Laser Champs. The Fleet launched from both CYC and Mt Pleasant Yacht Club.
Saturday and Sunday saw light NE winds of between 5-8 knots. There was a tidal window to get the 3 races in each day. Races were around 35 minutes length and outer 2 courses were sailed.
Competitors were from CYC, Mt Pleasant, and Naval Point.
2018 South Island Laser Champs Report & Results
Sun 9 Dec 2018 5:56pmThe South Island Laser Champs were held at Nelson Sailing Club on December 1st and 2nd.
There were 18 Radials and 4 Full rigs entered from Dunedin, Christchurch, Nelson and Picton.
On Saturday, sailors were held on shore until about noon (beats sitting on a millpond!). We then sailed out to the start line which felt like a race and a half in itself. The winds were 3-5 knots WSW moving to WNW later in the day and then dying away altogether after 3 races were done and dusted.
2018 North Island Laser Champs
Mon 26 Nov 2018 9:21am
Another great North Island laser Champs was held at the Napier Sailing Club as part of their annual Summer Regatta.
There were 149 entrants in the various classes of the regatta. Naturally, the biggest fleet was Lasers with 31 x Radials, 17 x Standards and 2 x 4.7's. But also good numbers of Opti's, Open Bic's, OK's and Piper Tigers - a real old school regatta atmosphere.
With the rain lashing the rest of the upper North Island, we probably had the best spot. Cloudy but warm, a few sprinkles on Saturday, but the worst of the forecast rain for Sunday held off till we were off the water and packed up.
The excellent Napier SC race committee got all 7 races, 4 on Saturday and 3 on Sunday. The Lasers shared the outer Triangle+Windward-Leeward course with the OK's and Paper Tigers. That made for some challenging bottom mark roundings - those Paper Tigers arrive from nowhere and can leave a big hole in the wind.
Saturday was light to medium breeze. One big right-hand shift caught some (well me) on the first beat of the standard fleet in the third race, but otherwise, it generally oscillated and was fair racing.
We were delayed 30 minutes at the start on Sunday when the wind died as we got out to the course. But were entertained by a decent school of dolphins (or maybe porpoises) who paralleled the boats as we warmed up in the filling breeze. We then go a medium strength breeze and busier sea state over the groundswell - making for some energetic sailing.
Josh Armit dominated the standard fleet winning every race. He was generally (but not always) in the front few sailors from the start. But really put distance on the chasers on each reach.
Dave Ridley was the next most consistent standard and leading master. He was followed by Luke Deegan who is recently back in the country and a great addition sailing at Lake Pupuke.
The Radials had a much tighter battle with master Scott Leith getting 4 bullets to Luke Cashmore's 3 bullets. They ended on equal total points, and Scott only one point clear to win after the drops. They were followed by Caleb Armit and Albert Stanley finishing on equal points, Caleb taking 3rd on countback.
Only one point shy of the boys was Annabelle Rennie-Younger as leading female and 5th overall. Second female and first youth female was Samantha Stock in 9th after having to drop a DSQ (there must be a story there).
Two 4.7's were mixing it up with the Radials. Jacob Goodall came out on top in all but one race over Charlotte Gray.
Thanks again to Napier SC and all the volunteers who put on such a slick event each year. And all the local and travelling sailors who made it such a great event.
