LASER FLEET
RESULTS SHOW THE STRENGTH OF OUR FLEET
CENTREBOARD
Our Laser fleet is leading the way in what appears to be a nationwide growth in the number of Laser sailors getting out there and doing their thing . Club Champs this year were won by Boston , Lauren and Will in their respective fleets , but the highlight really must be the amount of RPA Laser sailors attending Laser regattas around the country . Junior sailors are regularly moving up from the Optimist fleet , boosting numbers and competition . Here is a brief resume of the major regattas during the season :
2016 AUSTRALIAN LASER MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIP ( PORT STEPHENS - FEBRUARY )
No kids this time , just the old buggers doing their thing up in Port Stephens and what a regatta it was . The first 3 days produced classic sea breezes that allowed us to slot in 8 races . Although , after the first day , we didn ’ t expect to get that many in , with one of the Radial fleets racking up a massive 6 restarts in one of the races ! A fantastic place to sail , great weather , great team , great fun and great results
2015 LASER NSW STATES AND MASTERS ( WANGI – NOVEMBER )
Twenty one RPA Laser sailors made the trip up the freeway in November to Wangi to compete in the NSW / ACT State Championships incorporating NSW Masters ( out of a total 142 entries ). For most of us , it was probably the wettest regatta we had ever attended , from the drive up on Thursday evening through to the trip back down the freeway on Sunday night . Rain , rain , rain .
Three races were held on both days . Saturday had a great wind forecast which didn ’ t quite live up to its promise . Some big shifts , especially in the 2nd race , made for a tricky day on the water and RPA boats finished the day filling the top spots in the 4.7 fleet . Sunday brought more rain and more wind and once again , more shifts . At the end of the day and with a drop coming in to play , the final places shifted around , with Nathan coming out as top RPA boat in 2nd , matching his Cube from last year ’ s regatta . As Traks always says , second sucks and I guess a 2nd second sucks even more . The race committee had decided to run the Open and Standard Masters together which gave them a highly competitive fleet . Stuart Holdsworth did a great job to finish 3rd in the Masters fleet , giving RPA their 2nd Cube for the weekend . Another Pittwater local , Jan Scholten won the Masters . The Radial fleet had all the squad sailors in it , making it a tough day at the office for our sailors . The Radial masters were run separately to the Open Fleet and again , the quality of racing was very high with a number of ex World Champions entered
The results show how strong our fleet is , both in numbers and quality .
2016 LASER NATIONALS ( BELMONT – JANUARY )
Four Standards , Four Radials and nine 4.7 kids at the Nationals ! What a great week and what a great last day to wrap it all up . I haven ’ t done the maths but with nearly 10 % of the entries all from RPA , I reckon we must have been the biggest club representation of the lot .
2016 LASER METROS ( BYRA – MARCH )
Having recently attended the Masters up at Port Stephens , the remainder of our Laser fleet joined us oldies on home territory for the Metros , run by BYRA up in the big pond . We had expected a very busy race course , given the mix of other regattas being held on Pittwater over the weekend but RO Col Chidgey managed to keep us clear of most boats and with an almost classic north-easter blowing on both days , we managed to complete the full 6 scheduled races . RPA entries were spread throughout the 70 strong fleet , with 23 of our boats making it out onto the race course , showing just again how strong we are currently in the Laser community . Best club results over the weekend were again dominated by our young 4.7 fleet , with Nathan and Anthony taking out 2nd and 3rd respectively – Nathan ’ s port tack start at the pin under a Black Flag was memorable ! The Radials unfortunately did not perform quite as well . Following on from their Black Flag practises up at the Masters , the Radials yet again showed the way with several restarts . Over in the Standard fleet , RPA sailors were spread throughout the fleet , with Chris and Will leading the way in 4th and 5th respectively .
STEVE BRYANT
56 YACHTSMAN