The 2019 West Australian Laser State Championships
at Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club
The States are renown for great sailing and this year, sailing at Freshie with their formidable race management team in place its going to be a good weekend. Even more so because they've given us Monday off to recuperate.
I've had a look at the players and we have strong fleets right across the spectrum with a wonderful show from both the 4.7's and the radials. The standards have had some new (old) players come on board with some ex radial rock stars moving up. However my favourite fleet, the Radials has a strong presence and there are a number of ladies out to rock the Kasbah over the weekend. Some of the boys are going to have to look very carefully over their shoulders.
The weather looks promising with a building seabreeze on both days. Look forward to seeing you there.
as usual images will be processed that night.. nothing quick about me !
I've had a look at the players and we have strong fleets right across the spectrum with a wonderful show from both the 4.7's and the radials. The standards have had some new (old) players come on board with some ex radial rock stars moving up. However my favourite fleet, the Radials has a strong presence and there are a number of ladies out to rock the Kasbah over the weekend. Some of the boys are going to have to look very carefully over their shoulders.
The weather looks promising with a building seabreeze on both days. Look forward to seeing you there.
as usual images will be processed that night.. nothing quick about me !
Sunday the 3rd of March
PRO Geoff Brown had looked at the forecasts and pushed the start time back to midday, but the Easterly was a capricious sprite and decided to linger a little longer. We were playing the waiting game and to be honest, there was plenty of shade and food. It wasn't a big chore.
The seabreeze could almost be smelt as it struggled over the ridge behind the club and the senior sailors were already tidying up their boats as the younger set struggled into sailing gear. The AP was dropped and the fleet made it out onto the water for a start at 20 minutes past 2. As per yesterday the standard rigs were away first and Geoff had shortened up the course and put in a two lap race, looking for a quick race to get things under way.
With the first race well underway the top mark was already calling a change in the breeze with both speed and direction and the second race was fired away in a true sou wester with 11 to 14 knots and big gusts coming down the left hand side. True Freshy Bay stuff. By this stage Manami Doi was already pushing to the front of the radials showing that she will be a force to reckon with and even fellow FSC/RFBYC sailor and multiple championship winner Zac Littlewood was seen looking over his shoulder at her.
Zac took the open radials with Manami Doi second, Stephan Elliott-Shircore third and Michael Compton a creditable fourth. In the women's radials Manami Doi took the win, followed by Zoe Thomson and Elyse Ainsworth with sister Jacinta hot on her tail.
Richard Maher had an unusual lapse in the first race with a 5th, with Caelin Winchecombe showing that his move to Standards was good for him by taking a first. But it was to be rectified later on by Richard and he finished with a one and a two in the next two races. Ethan McAullay and James Stewart showed that they are also ready to take the mantle from Richards shoulders should he blink, with solid performances and indeed James could have done better.
However at the finish it was Richards event and Ethan a strong second with James only 2 points away third.
The Masters in both radials and standards were enjoying the day, having sailed the first three of the five yesterday. The results didn't change very much though with the radials having Lloyd Lissiman taking the win with five out of six wins and Ryk Batley and Bruce Utting taking second and third with one point separating them. The standards had Craig Hughes and Grant Lovelady only 2 points apart with Marcel Vos sweeping in with a third place.
The 4.7's are still the fun fleet with the chatter on the water a little more evident today when they weren't having to deal with 20 knots, but I did have the pleasure of photographing one of the McAullay mob on a sleigh ride down the reach to the outer wing mark... only thing was she had her centreboard down.. better safe than flip I guess. But her brother was having all the fun and Lawson McAullay finished with a 2,1,1. to give him a great finish for the regatta. Patrick Scally did well without a win to show consistency wins regattas. Well sailed. Daniel Harford took third 4 points back and our visitor from Darwin; Huw Wiltshire finished a very creditable 6th overall in a fleet of 19 boats.
Many thanks to the WA Laser association for inviting me to photograph the event and I apologise for not being available for the presentations, but I was sagging at the knees by 1800 hrs and chose to retire. My thanks to Chelsea Hall for her excellent work with this regatta and it was notably smooth. To the PRO Geoff Brown, thanks for your consideration and the coffee on Sunday.. my turn next time. To JT and the wonderful bunch on the start and finish boats well done and the girls who ran the canteen my thanks.. To both Rear Commodore Peter Chalmers and Mark Lovelady who drove for me, many thanks you were great but my admiration is still to the sailors who put up with a lot. Just to go sailing.
Enjoy the photos and yes as ever they are for sail. Contact me at [email protected]
PRO Geoff Brown had looked at the forecasts and pushed the start time back to midday, but the Easterly was a capricious sprite and decided to linger a little longer. We were playing the waiting game and to be honest, there was plenty of shade and food. It wasn't a big chore.
The seabreeze could almost be smelt as it struggled over the ridge behind the club and the senior sailors were already tidying up their boats as the younger set struggled into sailing gear. The AP was dropped and the fleet made it out onto the water for a start at 20 minutes past 2. As per yesterday the standard rigs were away first and Geoff had shortened up the course and put in a two lap race, looking for a quick race to get things under way.
With the first race well underway the top mark was already calling a change in the breeze with both speed and direction and the second race was fired away in a true sou wester with 11 to 14 knots and big gusts coming down the left hand side. True Freshy Bay stuff. By this stage Manami Doi was already pushing to the front of the radials showing that she will be a force to reckon with and even fellow FSC/RFBYC sailor and multiple championship winner Zac Littlewood was seen looking over his shoulder at her.
Zac took the open radials with Manami Doi second, Stephan Elliott-Shircore third and Michael Compton a creditable fourth. In the women's radials Manami Doi took the win, followed by Zoe Thomson and Elyse Ainsworth with sister Jacinta hot on her tail.
Richard Maher had an unusual lapse in the first race with a 5th, with Caelin Winchecombe showing that his move to Standards was good for him by taking a first. But it was to be rectified later on by Richard and he finished with a one and a two in the next two races. Ethan McAullay and James Stewart showed that they are also ready to take the mantle from Richards shoulders should he blink, with solid performances and indeed James could have done better.
However at the finish it was Richards event and Ethan a strong second with James only 2 points away third.
The Masters in both radials and standards were enjoying the day, having sailed the first three of the five yesterday. The results didn't change very much though with the radials having Lloyd Lissiman taking the win with five out of six wins and Ryk Batley and Bruce Utting taking second and third with one point separating them. The standards had Craig Hughes and Grant Lovelady only 2 points apart with Marcel Vos sweeping in with a third place.
The 4.7's are still the fun fleet with the chatter on the water a little more evident today when they weren't having to deal with 20 knots, but I did have the pleasure of photographing one of the McAullay mob on a sleigh ride down the reach to the outer wing mark... only thing was she had her centreboard down.. better safe than flip I guess. But her brother was having all the fun and Lawson McAullay finished with a 2,1,1. to give him a great finish for the regatta. Patrick Scally did well without a win to show consistency wins regattas. Well sailed. Daniel Harford took third 4 points back and our visitor from Darwin; Huw Wiltshire finished a very creditable 6th overall in a fleet of 19 boats.
Many thanks to the WA Laser association for inviting me to photograph the event and I apologise for not being available for the presentations, but I was sagging at the knees by 1800 hrs and chose to retire. My thanks to Chelsea Hall for her excellent work with this regatta and it was notably smooth. To the PRO Geoff Brown, thanks for your consideration and the coffee on Sunday.. my turn next time. To JT and the wonderful bunch on the start and finish boats well done and the girls who ran the canteen my thanks.. To both Rear Commodore Peter Chalmers and Mark Lovelady who drove for me, many thanks you were great but my admiration is still to the sailors who put up with a lot. Just to go sailing.
Enjoy the photos and yes as ever they are for sail. Contact me at [email protected]
Saturday the 2nd of March
Principle Race Officer Geoff Brown was caught between a rock and a hard place as the southerly that had been in during the morning switched into the east and an AP was hoisted as it dropped out into a nothing.
Then flick, flick, the first stirring of a west sou westerly reached the dinghy beach at RFBYC and within a minute the mark layers were calling the breeze through to Geoff at the bottom of the course. The Lasers were released and they sailed out onto a 5 to 8 knot west-sou-westerly. The course was set and by 1220 the Standards were released onto the course still under the westerly influence. Following them at three minute intervals were the Radials and then the 4.7s.
Richard Maher was back to defend his title win from last year in the Standards and had a strong group of players all of whom were more than capable of causing strife without counting in the Masters of various grades who have the wiles to get past someone if they blinked at the wrong time.
To the Radials and Zac Littlewood had to return but he had a lot of people chasing him and everyone was looking for a win. The womens representation was very strong and Zoe Thompson has had some strong competition from Fremantle’s Manami Doi.
The McAullay family have no less than 5 competing overall and three in the 4.7 class. Needless to say Lawson should be top of the pile if he continues on in the manner he started today. Welcome to Huw Wiltshire from the Darwin Sailing club, sailing with the 4.7s this weekend.
The tempo lifted a little in the second race with the breeze upping the content and everyone was working a little harder to make those marks. PRO Geoff had the chance to shift the course a little to compensate for the breeze as it shifted into the south before the second race and again before the third as the breeze rotated further.
By now, there were boats beginning to flip and the support boats were moving about the fleet as the wind speed began to hit 18 knots in the gusts. Very wisely, the masters moved off the course ( well the older ones did ) at the end of the three allotted races but some stayed and were treated to a relentless sea breeze that locked into 18 to 24 knots and stayed there.
PRO Geoff Brown sent the 4.7’s home after the 4th race and then fired up the line for one more race to sort out the Radials and Standards giving them only three races for the next day.
At the end of the day, in the 4.7’s it was a clear win for Lawson McAullay of RPYC/FSC who took four wins for the day and stands clear of Patrick Scally of SoPYC in second place and Bryce Taylor of HYC in third.
The Radials had Zac Littlewood FSC/RFBYC leading with a row of pickets to his name, Stefan Elliot-Shircore of FSC/ SoPYC in a solid second and Manami Do FSC in third place and leading the women’s racing in the radials.
In the Standards, Richard Maher SoPYC/FSC took a couple of races to fire up but once the breeze came in, three wins in a row. Ethan McAullay RPYC/FSC followed in second with Conor Nicholas SoPYC just ahead of Jimmy Stewart RFBYC.
Tomorrow’s start has been pushed back to midday with the predicted start of the breeze, but the proactive work of the race management team has left plenty of time to get the races in during the time limits.
We’ll see you out on Freshwater Bay tomorrow.
By the way, many thanks to Peter Chalmers of RFBYC who drove for me today. Exemplary work that had me on the spot in time and on time. He knows where to be and how to get there.
Principle Race Officer Geoff Brown was caught between a rock and a hard place as the southerly that had been in during the morning switched into the east and an AP was hoisted as it dropped out into a nothing.
Then flick, flick, the first stirring of a west sou westerly reached the dinghy beach at RFBYC and within a minute the mark layers were calling the breeze through to Geoff at the bottom of the course. The Lasers were released and they sailed out onto a 5 to 8 knot west-sou-westerly. The course was set and by 1220 the Standards were released onto the course still under the westerly influence. Following them at three minute intervals were the Radials and then the 4.7s.
Richard Maher was back to defend his title win from last year in the Standards and had a strong group of players all of whom were more than capable of causing strife without counting in the Masters of various grades who have the wiles to get past someone if they blinked at the wrong time.
To the Radials and Zac Littlewood had to return but he had a lot of people chasing him and everyone was looking for a win. The womens representation was very strong and Zoe Thompson has had some strong competition from Fremantle’s Manami Doi.
The McAullay family have no less than 5 competing overall and three in the 4.7 class. Needless to say Lawson should be top of the pile if he continues on in the manner he started today. Welcome to Huw Wiltshire from the Darwin Sailing club, sailing with the 4.7s this weekend.
The tempo lifted a little in the second race with the breeze upping the content and everyone was working a little harder to make those marks. PRO Geoff had the chance to shift the course a little to compensate for the breeze as it shifted into the south before the second race and again before the third as the breeze rotated further.
By now, there were boats beginning to flip and the support boats were moving about the fleet as the wind speed began to hit 18 knots in the gusts. Very wisely, the masters moved off the course ( well the older ones did ) at the end of the three allotted races but some stayed and were treated to a relentless sea breeze that locked into 18 to 24 knots and stayed there.
PRO Geoff Brown sent the 4.7’s home after the 4th race and then fired up the line for one more race to sort out the Radials and Standards giving them only three races for the next day.
At the end of the day, in the 4.7’s it was a clear win for Lawson McAullay of RPYC/FSC who took four wins for the day and stands clear of Patrick Scally of SoPYC in second place and Bryce Taylor of HYC in third.
The Radials had Zac Littlewood FSC/RFBYC leading with a row of pickets to his name, Stefan Elliot-Shircore of FSC/ SoPYC in a solid second and Manami Do FSC in third place and leading the women’s racing in the radials.
In the Standards, Richard Maher SoPYC/FSC took a couple of races to fire up but once the breeze came in, three wins in a row. Ethan McAullay RPYC/FSC followed in second with Conor Nicholas SoPYC just ahead of Jimmy Stewart RFBYC.
Tomorrow’s start has been pushed back to midday with the predicted start of the breeze, but the proactive work of the race management team has left plenty of time to get the races in during the time limits.
We’ll see you out on Freshwater Bay tomorrow.
By the way, many thanks to Peter Chalmers of RFBYC who drove for me today. Exemplary work that had me on the spot in time and on time. He knows where to be and how to get there.