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Light variable
conditions again today after a violent thunder storm last night which left snow
on the mountains above Roses. Mark Page after a
great start at the pin managed to control the Radial Apprentice Fleet and won
his 7th race giving himself a bit more breathing space after the 17th yesterday.
The 2 Mikes had poor starts and struggled in the pack in the light
winds. In the 2nd race the 2 Mikes got better starts and Mike Pasco
(Fighting in the pack below)was leading when the race was abandoned.
In the Radial
Masters Mike Keeton had good race and is currently siting 9th
overall.
In the Radial Great
Grand Masters, Mark Miller shown above left had another good day. In the
last race for this fleet Tom Speed, Sandy Grigg (middle of pack right), & Tony
Park (shown below in 1st race with fully functioning mainsheet)
were up near the front in the 2nd race. Tony Park managed to jam his mainsheet
in his block at the top mark and could not release enough sheet to bear away and
reach so he untied the boom end of sheet and tied it at the forward boom block
and sailed the rest of the rest with no purchase sheeting directly to the
boom. He was lucky that the race
was shortened to the end of the first run so he did well to keep his position at
the front of the fleet and finish 5th. Jim Quinn was a little disappointed after
being up with the leaders at the first mark until he ended infringing on port
and having to do a 720. This put
him back in the light winds and he sat about 200 metres from the finish when the
wind totally died and he and the rest of the pack failed to finish with 20
minutes of the leaders.
Barry Cutfield
(Above) in the Standard Masters had a great race today in the Gold Fleet.
He got a reasonable start and was 15th at the top mark and Barry has great
speed downwind. He managed to pass 14 boats on the runs and
finished 2nd. His best result so far. Colin Caldwell and Wayne
Ferguson sailed one race in the Silver fleet and so now have spent 12 hours on
the water to sail only 2 races.
In the Standard Grand Master fleet Jack Hanson & Bob Blakey had a frustrating day with only half a race sailed for their day on the water. But a least Jack could come home to be consoled by his support group of 6 all in matching T-shirts supporting Jack. This must be a record for any Laser Regatta.
The last day looks very light again and Mark Page only needs to avoid a disaster to win the World Tittle. Tom Speed is 5th in the Radial Great Grand Masters and the rest of us will be trying to improve a few places and not make the mistakes that we have made over the previous 5 days.
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