UK WORLD + EUROPEAN SPRING QUALIFIERS

After a busy week at uni with graded presentations it was nice to get out racing again for the second qualifier of the year.  I travelled down a little earlier this time around and flew on Thursday evening – this meant myself and some of the other laser guys could get some training in on Friday.  Racing began on Saturday and we were sent out into Weymouth Bay where we completed 1 race.   After race 1 the visibility became very poor and racing was abandoned for the day unfortunately, but thats the game we play!

Sunday was slow to start with poor visibility again and very little wind, we were held ashore until some breeze filled in from the West.  The fleet eventually got 3 great races sailed inside Weymouth harbour, but me being I me I managed to disqualify myself from the second race for being to punchy on the start line.  Not ideal.

Nevertheless I was very happy with how I sailed over the weekend – especially with my starts (bar the black flag disqualification).  My starts are what I wanted to work on so its great to be able to feel them going well, particularly under some pressure of a very high quality fleet.  Very happy to have finished up 13th overall and 4th Under 21, even with a black flag!

The week following the Weymouth qualifier was testing week in the gym which all went to plan!  The testing led nicely into a breezy qualifier at Stokes Bay, definitely some heavy feeling legs!  Saturday brought 3 races in great conditions with 15 – 20 knots of wind and the infamous solent tides.  I struggled in the breezy conditions to say the least.  My boat handling on the start line felt pretty rusty and that didn’t set me up very well for the rest of the races.  Disappointing to be so far down the results with a  26th, 23rd and 17th but I’m happy its exposed some weaknesses to work on in time for summer!

I arrived at the club on Sunday, rigged up ready to go and tried my hardest to ignore the 30+ knots that was whistling around.  That 30 knots didn’t ease off, and we were left in the hands of a vote – to go sailing or to call it a day.  The vote swayed in favour of staying ashore, and soon after the official flags were hoisted and everyone was sent on their way.  With such an early call off, it left my mum and I with a bunch of time before our flight later that evening, so we decided to spend the day in Portsmouth!

The weekend following was spent back at home, with the next spent in the West coast for a Scottish Keelboat Academy Weekend just before travelling back down South for the Youth Nationals.

Lewis

Weymouth Qualifier:
http://www.kbsuk.com/laser/events/showrace.asp?EventID=94&RaceURL=%5Bresults%5D/wpnsa2std.2017nh.html

Stokes Bay Qualifier
http://www.kbsuk.com/laser/events/showrace.asp?EventID=95&RaceURL=%5Bresults%5D/stbaystd.17nh.html

Standard Ladder 2017:
http://www.kbsuk.com/laser/events/showrace.asp?EventID=95&RaceURL=%5Bresults%5D/stdlad3.2017nh.html

A WEEK IN WEYMOUTH

It’s been a while, time for a wee catch up…

After my training with Alexi at the Royal Forth Yacht Club it was time for my second semester at Edinburgh University to kick off. With Uni ongoing with assignments and deadlines dotted around I spent two of my weekends at home and sailed out of Royal Forth. I had one weekend spent sailing with the university at a team racing event which was a change to the usual laser! Another weekend was spent coaching the current Scottish Laser Development Team and training with the Scottish Keelboat Academy. It was great to get a wide variety of experience on the water in different boats and different disciplines.

After that busy block it was very quickly the middle of February and I was faced with a weeks trip down to Weymouth for the first World and European Qualifier of 2017 and the second Under 21 UK Youth Squad camp for this winter.

After a short wait for wind on Saturday the committee held 2 races in Weymouth Bay, The racing on Sunday was held in the harbour with a nice westerly breeze instead of the southerly breeze like the day prior. Over the weekend we completed 5 out of the 6 scheduled races in nice mild weather! I sailed a relatively consistent series with a 15th, 13th, 15th, 16th and 19th which put me 16th overall and 7th Under 21.

Monday through to Wednesday was a solid block of training with some nice big sessions in Weymouth Bay.  Thursday was blown off due to storm Doris but we had some beneficial land sessions and the time allowed me to get on with some boat prep!

With the week over I was back in the books with two presentations counting towards my grade during the week following the qualifier.

Lewis

Weymouth Qualifier:
http://www.kbsuk.com/laser/events/showrace.asp?EventID=93&RaceURL=%5Bresults%5D/stdwpnsa1.2017nh.html

UK WORLD + EUROPEAN SPRING QUALIFIERS

Back at home this weekend after 3 consecutive weekends on the water competing in the UK World and European Qualifiers.  The first weekend was sailed in Weymouth from the National Sailing Academy, we raced inside the harbour for a change.  A great decision by the race officer considering how cold it was, especially compared to Scotland! The racing was hard fought and I am pleased to have finished near the top of the results despite the very shifty and gusty conditions.  I finished 4th overall and 3rd U19, very happy!

The second weekend was sailed in the waters of Plymouth, we launched from the Mount Batten Centre.  I took the decision to sail a full rig (bigger sail than usual) for that weekend, so that I had the option to compete in the full rig over the summer to aid my transition into the new rig at the end of this year.  It also gave me great experience sailing against the current world champion, Nick Thompson!  I was extremely happy with my performance,  mixing in with the top guys and learning loads along the way.  Happy to have finished 15th overall and 5th Youth despite equipment failure in the last race of the event (kicker snapped!).

Last weekend and the last of the spring qualifiers was sailed in tricky conditions in a North Easterly in Stokes Bay.  The tricky conditions took there toll on my results after day 1 with me sitting just outside the top ten counting a 14th, 13th and 8th.  The Sunday was far better.  Seeing similar conditions with a better understanding of what was going on let me piece together 3 solid results.  A 2nd, 6th and a 2nd leap frogged me up into 4th overall and 1st Under 19! My best UK result to date, supper pleased!

Next week I travel to Pwllheli in North Wales to compete at the RYA Youth National Championships!

Lewis

Radial Youth Ladder:

http://www.kbsuk.com/laser/events/showrace.asp?EventID=84&RaceURL=%5Bresults%5D/radyouthlad.2016nh.html

Plymouth Qualifier:

http://www.kbsuk.com/laser/events/showrace.asp?EventID=83&RaceURL=%5Bresults%5D/plymstd.2016nh.html