PLSC held the 36th annual RSA Laser regatta, in the club's 50th year, on Sunday, 3-3-13.
The day dawned overcast with some gentle rain, but still almost 50 lasers, comprised of 30+ Standards, and several smaller Radial and 4.7 rig boats.
The wind did not want to play ball early on, and in the very light, shifty and patchy breeze, several boats got caught out on the wrong side of the start line in the first race.
This caused a lot of congestion, with short start sequences meaning that by the time the last standards got to the start line, the following mixed fleet were starting.
Panmure Basin is not a very large expanse of water, and with fifty boats, it was very hard for anyone to get a decent break on the fleet. Downwind, the blanketing effect of the following boats meant that the leeward mark was often very congested.
The competition was hot throughout the fleet, and no one boat dominated the days racing. In the four races, only one of the top ten boats finished in the same position twice.
The breeze gradually built and settled during the day, and the final race was held in a nice 15 knot consistent breeze, which saw a few of the tail-enders capsize.
Race three had the days only protest, as the course was shortened at the windward mark, and several boats crossed the finish line in the wrong direction. This did not effect the end result much, as the boats affected were all able to discard this result.
In the last race, there was absolute chaos at the top mark first-time around, as one boat failed to quite lay the mark, and ended up stalled right on the layline, just feet from the mark. Twenty-odd lasers charging in nose-to-tail on the starboard layline then had to take evasive action, meaning that those brave enough to try a port-tack approach (including me) had to avoid the whole fleet, and with that boat stalled, we just had to spin around and look for another gap.
Personally, I finally found a gap in 28th place, having originally been in the top five before the mark.
As the breeze was quite strong by this stage I managed to pass a few boats downwind, by pushing hard at the time when they were backing off to avoid a capsize. A good rounding at the bottom mark and a short hitch to the left put me into a slightly lifted shift, and I managed to work the boat up into around 15th place by the top mark for the last time. I managed to get past another few boats downwind, and then sailed over the top of one more boat right before the finish line in 11th place.
Why can't I find that pace everyday????
