2010 Results
2010 WA State Championship
The Place Getters
2010 WA RC LASER STATE CHAMPIONSHIP REPORT The Maylands Yacht Club on the Swan River very kindly agreed that our Club could base their championships at their Club and use the excellent facilities that they have available for their members – the Wanderers always enjoy this venue with excellent access, sheltered water, and a good jetty from which to sail. Last year the weather was literally a NW winter ‘blast’ with rain and only eight heats were able to be sailed – this year the weather forecast was excellent for both days.
The Saturday afternoon Club ‘training day’ was an opportunity to get the boats tuned up and some racing practice – the afternoon racing was won by Hub Bell in the demo boat with Rod Popham second and David Bedford third with eight boats sailing. This proved to be an indicator of things to come… !!
Sunday morning started in bright sunshine and the Radio Sailing Association of WA provided our Club with PRO, observers and a rescue boat for the whole day. Hamish the ‘once a year RCL sailor’ joined the fleet with Garry and we were up to ten boats for the championship. Courses were set in a B-sail ENE breeze which proved to be a real challenge all day with fluctuating wind speed and direction.
The racing was tight and competitive with excellent race management by Graeme Howie the PRO and his observers Rob and Rodney – with Rosco out in the boat setting the course markers. The breeze fluctuation made for difficult sailing at times with a A-sail needed in the quiet patches and holes – but the very strong ‘bullets’ coming through frequently made an A-sail impossible to carry and even a B-sail hard to handle off the breeze.
By lunch it became very clear that the places could be taken by any one of six boats – with Hub, Dave Pruden, Rod Popham, Fred Webber, David, and Hamish were consistently picking up wins and the places – it was going to be a close call at the end of the day …
After a pleasant lunch the battle on the water resumed - but it became evident that Hub and Dave would be battling for the top place and the others would fight for the minor championship placings. This style of competitive racing was excellent for our newer and less experienced RCL skippers, such as David and Minh, who gained good experience in starting procedures, tactics and rule interpretations.
The new 2010 WA RC Laser Champion is Hub Bell from Dave (2nd) and Rod (3rd). Hub is a very experienced RC sailor (President of the ARYA) and races A Class, IOMs, and 10 Raters. Hub sailed Cliff’s old demo boat 08 with worn and tired sails and showed us very clearly we have a lot to learn and that in one design sailing, such as RC Lasers, experience and skill can be far more important than the condition or age of the boat. Hub was sailing conservatively, skilfully, and very consistently all day and was a very worthy champion against tough competition - as can be seen from the results and photo above where Dave is still trying to work out why and how he didn't win.....! !
Our sincere thanks go again to the RSA WA volunteer PRO and his helpers, the Maylands Yacht Club, and Gerda who (unaided) provided the tea break refreshments during both days and lunches on the Sunday. It was disappointing that we had no RCL visitors from other states this year – we are hopeful that we will see some visitors in Perth when the RC Laser Nationals are held in WA in 2012.
The Saturday afternoon Club ‘training day’ was an opportunity to get the boats tuned up and some racing practice – the afternoon racing was won by Hub Bell in the demo boat with Rod Popham second and David Bedford third with eight boats sailing. This proved to be an indicator of things to come… !!
Sunday morning started in bright sunshine and the Radio Sailing Association of WA provided our Club with PRO, observers and a rescue boat for the whole day. Hamish the ‘once a year RCL sailor’ joined the fleet with Garry and we were up to ten boats for the championship. Courses were set in a B-sail ENE breeze which proved to be a real challenge all day with fluctuating wind speed and direction.
The racing was tight and competitive with excellent race management by Graeme Howie the PRO and his observers Rob and Rodney – with Rosco out in the boat setting the course markers. The breeze fluctuation made for difficult sailing at times with a A-sail needed in the quiet patches and holes – but the very strong ‘bullets’ coming through frequently made an A-sail impossible to carry and even a B-sail hard to handle off the breeze.
By lunch it became very clear that the places could be taken by any one of six boats – with Hub, Dave Pruden, Rod Popham, Fred Webber, David, and Hamish were consistently picking up wins and the places – it was going to be a close call at the end of the day …
After a pleasant lunch the battle on the water resumed - but it became evident that Hub and Dave would be battling for the top place and the others would fight for the minor championship placings. This style of competitive racing was excellent for our newer and less experienced RCL skippers, such as David and Minh, who gained good experience in starting procedures, tactics and rule interpretations.
The new 2010 WA RC Laser Champion is Hub Bell from Dave (2nd) and Rod (3rd). Hub is a very experienced RC sailor (President of the ARYA) and races A Class, IOMs, and 10 Raters. Hub sailed Cliff’s old demo boat 08 with worn and tired sails and showed us very clearly we have a lot to learn and that in one design sailing, such as RC Lasers, experience and skill can be far more important than the condition or age of the boat. Hub was sailing conservatively, skilfully, and very consistently all day and was a very worthy champion against tough competition - as can be seen from the results and photo above where Dave is still trying to work out why and how he didn't win.....! !
Our sincere thanks go again to the RSA WA volunteer PRO and his helpers, the Maylands Yacht Club, and Gerda who (unaided) provided the tea break refreshments during both days and lunches on the Sunday. It was disappointing that we had no RCL visitors from other states this year – we are hopeful that we will see some visitors in Perth when the RC Laser Nationals are held in WA in 2012.