New Zealand Laser Association

The Wellington ILCA / Laser Champs were run as part of the Wellington Centreboard Champs, a total of 114 boats making the most of the fantastic Worser Bay 'stadium racing' venue and typical Wellington winds. 

 

Saturday 27th

Breezy NNW 15 ~ 20 knots with 25 knot gusts.

15 Lasers (9 x Standards & 6 x Radials) lined up to start as one fleet.

For the Standards, Albert Stanley (Open) aced Day One with four bullets, followed by Matt St Armand (Master, Worser Bay) and Simon Beck (Master, Muritai).

Staying up the right way on the downwinds was a challenge for some of us at the rear of the fleet with a few powerful gusts sweeping down the course.

In the Radials, Edmund Tam (Master) lead the way, also with a clean 1-1-1-1 record.

He was chased by Holly Curtis (Women) Chris McCarthy (Master) & Steve Harris (Master).

 

Sunday 28th

Day Two, 18 ~ 20 knot NNW with gusts up in the high 20's.

Some Lasers (and the entire Paper Tiger fleet) decided that Saturdays hard slog was enough and stayed away from Sundays racing.

But with Race Officer Shayne Priddle having sent us out for an extra race on the Saturday, it was good to know that we only had to survive two races on Sundays even breezier day to get a total of six races sailed for the championship.  

For both fleets the order remained much the same, Albert continued his winning Standard ways with two more wins, followed by Matt and then Niall Pearson (Muritai).  

In the Radials, Edmund 'gained' a UFD in Race 5 but bounced back with a another win in Race 6, Chris & Holly chasing behind. 

 

Overall results from the two days were: 

Standards - Albert, Matt then Simon.

Radials - Edmund, Chris then Holly.

• Standard
• Radial

• Standard
• Radial

NO COBWEBS LEFT

After loosing day 2 to 40+ knot gales we were all hoping the forecast was correct and wind would moderate by the 1pm start time today. And it did, a little. So today all fleets completed 2 races in a strong northerly Wellington “breeze” which gusted over 30 knots at times through the afternoon, accompanied by a 1 to 2m waves churned up by the incoming tide. There were plenty of swimmers and a bit of  broken gear but at the end of the day the club was buzzing with tales of survival and recovery. The stadium racing concept, sailing in the bay immediately in front of the club, absolutely came into its own today, allowing spectators a great view of the action and some, like GGM Mike Keeton, the ability to pop into the beach to recover from a wee swim and grab a cup o’ tea between races. 

 

The conditions certainly did not faze the top sailors. In the Standards Sam Meech again nailed both starts and landed 2 bullets, with George Gautry always in hot pursuit in both races. The two Luke’s; Deegan and Cashmore, Eroni Leilua and standout Masters Andrew Dellabarca were again in touch as the chasing bunch, with a gap back to the rest. Rob Woodward and Tony Nicholson had a great battle for the second Masters slot while only 3 points now separate Owen and Doug Anderson at the head of the GGM field, with Owen suffering from getting a bit keen at the start of the first race.

 

In the Radials, Youth sailor Thomas Mulcahy really stamped his authority on the contest with 2 more bullets. Nearest rival Caleb Armit (Y) was unlucky to collect an OCS in race 2, while 3rd placed Matthew Rist handled the conditions exceptionally well to secure a second and third today to stay in touch with the leading pair. His days results were matched by the leading woman, NZL squad member Olivia Christie, who consequently opened up a useful points gap on fellow squad member Annabelle Rennie Younger. Other standouts in the fleet were Blake Wood (Y), who’s 4th and 6th gets him up to 7th overall going into the final day, and Greta Pilkington, who had two top 10 finishes to secure her position as leading female youth.

 

In the Radial Masters today saw the top of the leader board tighten right up. With local Ed Tam winning the first race and Dunedin’s Jenny Armstrong the second only 2 points now separate the top 3, with Phil Wild just holding on the lead. These 3 are followed by a group of GM’s led by Pete Thomas, while 5th placed Mike Knowsley was a touch unlucky to fit in a quick swim while completing a penalty turn for touching the top mark while near the front in race 2.

 

Racing is scheduled to start early on the final day tomorrow, which looks to be fortunate with another gale warning coming into effect at lunchtime tomorrow. Hopefully we will squeeze in some final day racing and complete what has to date been an extremely successful, if rather challenging, regatta.

 

A solid workout

 

The 2021 Catalyst Laser Nationals got underway at Worser Bay BC today, with an excellent fleet of 95 Laser and Radial sailors completing 3 races in 3 separate divisions; Standard (including Masters), Radial and Radial Masters. 

 

All the fancy weather websites predicted a calm morning with a nice light northerly breeze developing in the afternoon.  It sort of worked out, the morning was calm, and the locals called the 20 knot northerly that came in at lunchtime champagne sailing but most of the rest of the fleet called the 3 races in a solid Wellington northerly very hard work.  The breeze was quite gusty and shifty, clocking more to the north as the afternoon progressed. With an outgoing tide and shifts off the land most beats favoured the shore side of the course, while the messy waves proved tricky for most on the runs.

 

In the Standards, where the Open and Masters sailed as a combined fleet, the standout performance was Sam Meech, our 2021 Olympic rep, who got off the start line cleanly every race and dictated from there to win all 3 races. Local club icon George Gautrey, also a member of the NZL squad, chased Sam hard all day but in the end had to settle for a string of 2nd ‘s. While those 2 stood out there were great battles behind them with Luke Deegan, Luke Cashmore, Eroni Leilua (who will represent Samoa at the Tokyo Olympics) and leading Master Andrew Dellabarca trading the minor placing all day. Tim Pitcaithly from Nelson is the leading Apprentice while local GM Owen Anderson had a strong day to lead the Grand Masters is spite of managing a quick downwind dip in the 3rd race.

 

In the Radial fleet youth Thomas Mulcahy had an exceptional day to lead by 2 points overall from last years youth champion Caleb Armit.  To complete the leading trio Manly’s Matthew Rist is not far back in 3rd. In the Women’s it could not be closer with Annabelle Rennie Younger and Olivia Christie tied on points in 6th and 7th overall. Greta Pilkington is the leading youth girl in 11th overall.

 

In the Radial, Apprentice Phil Wild leads overall, but only by a single point from leading Women’s Master Jenny Armstrong, who got off to a fantastic start with a bullet in the first race of the day and showed great consistency with a second and a third in the other 2 races. Pete Thomas leads the GM’s while John Pitman is the leading GGM.

 

While the weather sites tried to lull us all with light wind predictions today tomorrow is a different story, with 30 knots forecast, so we will hope that they end up erring in the opposite direction tomorrow and that conditions allow racing as scheduled.

 

Nick Page