Laser 4000 Grand Slam at Royal Lymington Yacht Club

by Lasersailing.com / Hazel Carr 30 Apr 2001 16:35 BST

Laser 4000 Grand Slam Round 2

Forty-nine Laser 4000s gathered at the Royal Lymington Yacht Club on 28/29 April 2001 for the second event in the Grand Slam series. Winds gusting up to 28 knots on day one resulted in a demolition derby. The domino topple of rigs began with Will Gatehouse shortly after rounding the windward mark, with the number of casualties quickly escalating into double figures to present a serious challenge for the rescue crews.

Luke McEwan and Emma Evans in “SP Systems” managed to dodge the carnage to take the race with some pretty hair-raising sailing. From fourth position after the leeward mark, they cruised to the front of the fleet after the three lead boats were hit by a gust and simultaneously flattened.

Twenty-six boats managed to survive serious damage to start race two. The wind picked up and more fell victim to the devastation with only nine boats upright at one point.

The day’s racing was abandoned mid-race to prevent more damage and exhaustion. Those still racing were allowed to finish and credit goes to the thirteen boats who made it round in one piece.

A great evening of food and music was only interrupted by the arrival of the Laser centre truck. The bar and dancefloor were momentarily cleared whilst crews raced to secure new parts to ensure their racing could continue in the morning.

Sunday saw the comparative calm after the storm with winds of around 12 knots and bright sunshine. A relief for the thirty-eight boats who made it onto the water for some competitive and tactical racing. Overnight leaders, “SP Systems” had a poor start, fell foul to poor air and struggled to a disappointing mid-fleet result. A solid performance from Mark Richards in “Whitegrove” gave him his win of the day.

Race two started well with only one boat over at the gun. With a strong easterly spring tide, getting to the shoreline quickly proved important, and those who did took an early lead. A good choice of angles from Pete Nicholas in “Adobe” on the run put them first at the leeward mark and a good second beat consolidated their lead.

Many misread the tide at the windward mark losing them precious seconds. The starboard leeward mark was the most popular, with the whole fleet flocking round like sheep, though the tide favoured the port mark. “Adobe” continued to sail well and deservedly took their first win with Ron Miller in “MGt” taking second and P Harrison in third.

Hugh Watson in “Kongsberg” performed an entertaining 360 penalty turn on the line to finish fourth after been called starboard over the finish and crushed against the committee boat.

It was a feisty start to race three with SP Systems getting off well, although arguably at the wrong end of the line. They hoped to pull it off with a good beat, but it wasn’t quite enough. They overcooked the windward mark, losing them four places.

Local boy, Pete Barton led the decision to round the port leeward mark to good advantage. The clear air and tack gained him one position. Some good sailing from Chris Fox gave him the lead round the windward mark, whilst Barton lost four places on the beat. A fantastic spurt of speed from SP Systems brought them to third round the mark, but difficulty with the hoist lost them all their gained ground. Barton headed for the port mark again, which gained him three places. Fox retained the lead to win with “Adobe” in second and a third for Barton as reward for his hard work.

Over-excitement on the line pushed more than half the fleet over the line before the gun in race four, resulting in a general recall. The second start was ballsy with plenty of shouting on a heavily biased line. “Adobe” flew into the lead at the windward mark whilst the top three from the previous race were nowhere to be seen.

Luke McEwen worked hard to push from sixth into third at the leeward mark, closely followed by younger brother Jamie, sailing well in his first major event.

The strength of the tide had now dropped but only “Adobe” seemed to notice, giving them an advantage to further extend their lead. Mike Matan had a great run in second place, but SP Systems shadowed closely to push him off the lay line and back to third. The course was shortened after lap two to the relief of the fleet. It had been a long and tiring day.

On the final beat, “Adobe” and “SP Systems” broke early leaving Matan to stand on alone. “SP Systems” made good ground, but not enough to catch “Adobe” who took an easy second win, “SP Systems” took second and Mike Matan a well-deserved third.

Thanks to Royal Lymington Yacht Club for another excellent and eventful Grand Slam regatta and to Laser Centre for getting so many boats back on the water for day two.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Boat	Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Pts
1	4138	SP Systems	Luke McEwen	Emma Evans	1	1	15	10	6	2	20
2	4477	Adobe	Pete Nicholas	Lisa Nicholas	3	50	14	1	7	1	26
3	4572		P Harrison	C Clampett	7	9	5	3	2	10	26
4	4422		Andy Peters	Mike Dakin	6	6	16	6	5	5	28
5	4536		Hugh Watson	Helen Lloyd	13	4	8	9	4	6	31
6	4523	Advertise Here	Peter Barton	Simon Knatchbull	49	8	3	4	3	17	35
7	4466		Mike Matan	Pippa Wheeler	4	11	17	12	9	3	39
8	44	ACS	Derek Bretherton	Mathew Reynolds	5	50	10	5	13	7	40
9	4552	Preferred IT	Douglas Baker	Hilary Button	2	50	4	13	20	4	43
10	4544		C Fox		10	2	22	20	1	13	46
11	4201	b.o.b.	Katrina Perly	Susanna Bickford	8	7	6	16	15	16	52
12	4516		Richard Clampett	Grace Clark	11	50	13	7	10	19	60
13	4570		John Reynolds	Fran Howell	9	50	20	8	14	9	60
14	4604	Kalido	Chris Balding	Ben Dutton	14	10	2	11	26	50	63
15	4457		Ian Sanderson	Bird Watson	20	50	9	15	11	8	63
16	4266		Paul Robinson	Fraser hayden	12	5	19	31	22	11	69
17	4059		Iwan Baster	Olly Green	16	3	11	28	21	24	75
18	4556		Chris Anstead	Ellie Haines	22	50	7	17	12	18	76
19	4514	Whitegrove	Mark Richards	Sam Hoyland	21	50	1	14	8	50	94
20	4453	Patch	Jamie McEwen	Jo Sutcliffe	26	50	26	18	16	12	98
21	4591	MGt	Ronald Millar	Peter Taylor	15	50	12	2	23	50	102
22	4082	Aquabatics	Sarah Griffith	Neil Sims	18	12	23	25	27	25	103
23	4518		Alistair Hodgson	Kevin Read	19	50	38	19	19	14	109
24	4410		N Skudder	K Hills	24	50	28	33	18	27	130
25	4539		Peter Scott	Pippa Bickerton	49	50	18	35	17	15	134
26	4179		Richard Newnham	Lucy Newnham	23	50	34	23	32	30	142
27	4565		Fi Ramus	Chris Gould	49	50	30	21	31	22	153
28	4435	Gill/Purple	G Bowman	Dave Reskie	49	13	50	50	24	20	156
29	4264	Mandy	Charlie Thompson	Jane Wilkens	49	50	32	30	30	23	164
30	4307	Big Bird	Paddy Royale	Rob Jack	49	50	24	27	35	29	164
31	4358		Carole Lovesey	Darren Ballard	49	50	36	22	25	33	165
32	4072		C Miles	M Sellers	27	50	31	39	34	34	165
33	4052	Jam	Nick Alp	Jo Morrison	49	50	21	36	39	21	166
34	4582	Onka's Big Moka	Greg Eaton	Emma Heeley	25	50	29	24	38	50	166
35	4593		Andrew Hyman	Veryan Riddler	49	50	27	34	28	28	166
36	4176		Alex Davey	Rosie Brown	49	50	25	32	37	26	169
37	4578	Berti	M Critchly	T Critchly	49	50	33	29	29	31	171
38	4184	Neilson	Simon Davies	Andrew Parry	49	50	35	26	36	35	181
39	4202		Sarah Blades	Ann Marie Wood	50	50	37	37	33	32	189
40	4553		Jon Moden	Kate Walton	17	50	50	50	50	50	217
41	4280		Rich Keeton	Helen Rumbold	49	50	50	38	50	50	237
42	4090	Frederikson	Robin Cross	Janet Sayers	49	50	50	50	50	50	249
42	4147	Helly Hansen	Rory Paton	Nick Thompson	49	50	50	50	50	50	249
42	4209		Adrien Stell	James Nuttall	49	50	50	50	50	50	249
42	4265		Alistair Biggin	Helen Clark	49	50	50	50	50	50	249
42	4313	Top Banana	E Parsons	S Goldfard	49	50	50	50	50	50	249
42	4517		Chris Stevens	Andy Kaiser	49	50	50	50	50	50	249
42	4521		Richard Allen	Jenny Cutts	49	50	50	50	50	50	249
42	4543		Will Gatehouse	Hazel	49	50	50	50	50	50	249