Northampton Sailing Club Laser 4.7 UK Ladder Event
30 sailors journeyed to Northampton Sailing Club this weekend for their 2 nd UK ladder event. Unfortunately the club could not maintain their usual standards (last year the wind was force six for both days) and the weary travellers were greeted with light, shifty winds (5-8 Knots). Race officer for this weekend was Ian Castle with the assistance of many generous volunteers. With unpromising conditions the fleet ventured out to begin the first race for 12:00pm. Race one soon got underway with a slight problem for those at the pin end who unfortunately couldn’t cross the line on starboard due to an unfortunate wind shift, but those able to pass through the line enjoyed a close first beat. Tom Rainey appeared to have a convincing lead but unfortunately let Tom Hewitt slip past up a beat. The results for this race were 1 st Tom Hewitt, 2 nd Tom Rainey and 3 rd Julien Shawyer. Race two managed to bring a general recall from the overexcited fleet and the race officer decided to move straight to a black flag, with a lot more caution the fleet soon restrained themselves and managed to make a clean start. After very close tactical racing the results for this race were 1 st Julien Shawyer, 2 nd Tom Hewitt and 3 rd David Harper. Race three saw yet another recall and the dreaded black flag was once again hoisted for the next start. Once again everyone managed to behave themselves and no one was disqualified. The top 3 managed to break away from the rest of the pack with David Harper leading, Julien Shawyer coming second and George Hand coming a close third, during the last beat David Harper managed to break away to increase his already impressive lead and after much close racing Julien came into contact with George and had to take a penalty, thus letting George take 2 nd and Julien finishing 3 rd. Sunday brought very similar conditions to Saturday and competitors still could not control their excitement and once again the black flag was raised due to yet another general recall. Two new faces appeared at the front of the fleet to take first and second place these being Andrew Lis 1 st and Stephen Lloyd 2 nd with Tom Hewitt just snatching 3 rd on the finishing line. The final race began with a black flag from the outset clearly showing the race officer was determined to keep everyone behind the line in at least one race. After a clean start the top four (including another new face; Tom Barford) broke away from the pack and got into a close competition for the top spot. Due to going high on one run Tom Rainey and Tom Barford managed to overtake David Harper and Julien Shawyer. Results for this race were: 1 st Tom Rainey, 2 nd Tom Barford and 3 rd David Harper. Overall the first five couldn’t have been closer with these boats all finishing within three points of each other. Having had five different race winners for all the races sailed this shows how close things are at the front of the fleet. Full results are available at http://www.northamptonsailingclub.org/results/OpenResults2007/Laser4.7LadderResults2007.htm but here is a list of all the prize winners.
Tom Hewitt and Julien Shawyer in close competition on one of the beats. |
