All Results

Murrays Bay SC hosted the 2016 Auckland Laser Championships this weekend with the 46 Standard and Radial sailors facing a variety of challenging conditions over the 2 days. The fleet included a strong international contingent, who were competing as a prelude to Sail Auckland next weekend, with sailors from Canada, China, Korea, Singapore and South Africa competing in addition to a good cross section of the local Laser fleet.

The start of racing on Saturday was delayed due to an unstable SW breeze fighting a forecast sea breeze that in fact never eventuated. Racing finally got underway in a light and very shifty SW breeze which constantly challenged all the sailors with major shifts and pressure variations from less than 5 knots to an occasional 12 knot puffs which seemed to appear from nowhere. The scheduled 3 races were completed with the cream as usual rising to the top in spite of the challenges. So after day 1 world top 40 ranked sailor Colin Cheng from Singapore led the Standards with reigning Apprentice World Champion, and current MBSC commodore, Scott Leith leading the Radials.

Day 2 provided significantly more breeze, with a tricky & variable 10 knot SW for the first race shifting to the South and strengthening to about 15 knots for the final 2 races, which still delivered plenty of shifts and pressure variations. 

In the Standards Colin Cheng held onto his overnight lead with a strong 1/2/1 record to win convincingly over South African sailor Stephano Marcia with Chinese sailor Jianan Wu in third.  First under 21 sailor was Tim Adair from Murrays Bay in 7th overall while the first master was another local, Dean Drummond in 9th overall.

In the Radials Scott Leith was also able to hold onto his overnight lead, although two bullets for leading NZ women’s sailor Sara Winther did put some pressure on Scott and lifted Sara to third overall. Leading Youth, in 2nd overall, was a consistent George Gautrey, who continues a great streak of form following his excellent results at the recent ISAF Youth Worlds and NZ Laser Nationals. Visitor Kim Da Jeong was the leading female youth sailor.

So following this weekend successful regatta we can look forward to a top quality contest at next weeks Sail Auckland regatta also being held at Murrays Bay, with the NZL Laser team sailors and more international sailors joining the fleet.

Nick Page
NZLA Chairman

Laser Standard

Laser Radial