66 Laser Masters competed in the State Masters at Lake Jindabyne Sailing Club over the weekend 8-9 February. With the dire weather prevailing along the coast on the weekend we were fortunate to be able to sail the event at Jindabyne – anywhere else and the series would likely have been run in the bar.

Three races were completed on day 1 in a 12 to 22 knot SE breeze with lots of big shifts to keep the sailors on their toes.

Only one race on was completed on Sunday after the easterly breeze died leaving the Standards a very slow finish of their one race and the Radials somewhat of a lottery in the final stage of theirs.

The results for series day are HERE.

There are some photos taken by the members of LJSC HERE.

The State Masters, which is a cube event, will be held on the weekend 8-9th February 2020 at Lake Jindabyne Sailing Club. This will be a great lead up to the big Masters events following in Geelong.

The LJSC folks are as keen as mustard and offering a great experience and hospitality to all the sailors who make the trip.

There is lots to do in Jindabyne and in the surrounding Snowy Mountains so you can stay a while. They have had a rough time in the Kosciuszko National Park area with the fires. These did not affect Jindabyne and most of the alpine roads are now open again though the scenery may be altered a lot. Road info for alpine travellers is HERE.

There had been some concern about the road access via the Monaro Highway (Canberra to Cooma). A few days ago the highway was closed but now with conditions moderating the highway is open though there are reports of smokey conditions in parts.

Accommodation is plentiful and diverse from camping to fancy apartments. There is a list of links to some accommodation and things to do options HERE.

The club will be running a dinner on the Saturday night and has a twilight race starting at 6.00pm on Friday 7th followed by a BBQ. Breakfast, snacks, lunch and coffee will be available at the club on Saturday and Sunday, with the bar open when the fleet is ashore. A Masters event at the highest sailing club in the land – not to be missed.

A flyer for the event is HERE. The Notice of Race is HERE and you can enter online HERE or up to 11.30am on 8th February at the Lake Jindabyne Club.

The Sailing Instructions for the event are HERE.

A regatta of two breezes Saturday top – Sunday bottom

98 Lasers competed in the Laser Metropolitan Championships at Double Bay over the weekend 1-2 February.

The first three races on Saturday saw a classic Sydney Harbour NE’er around 20 knots with gusts to 30 knots as recorded at the BoM weather station on the west harbour wedding cake.  There was lots of chop from the marine traffic and the wind and a lot of activity on the harbour only some of which was under full control. Three races were completed.

Day two saw a S to SE with the first race run in Double Bay. This proved problematic so  R.O. Andrew McLachlan moved the show to Rose Bay which offered a better breeze. The breeze was quite tricky but as usual the top sailors almost always managed to hit the right side of the big shifts.

In the 4.7′s Ethan Lozevski from Dobroyd Aquatic Club and WSC managed to win in a tight series. Ethan had no wins but a very consistent five second places. Second  was Xavier McLachlan from RSYS and DBSC and a point behind in third was Olivia Williams from RPAYC.

The Radials were dominated by Otto Henry WSC/DBSC/RSYS. Otto had four wins and two seconds. Daniel Costandi RSYS/DBSC/GRSC was a very consistent second from Jack Ferguson RSYS/DBSC/WSC. Evie Saunders was the first female finishing 5th. World GGM Champion Jeff Loosemore was the best of the masters and was 4th Radial overall.

Brett Beyer WSC won five of the Standard rig races and dominated this fleet. Fredrik Westman who is visiting from Finland and sailing from WSC was second in every race except Race 4 in which he beat Brett.  DBSC local Luke Parker had a consistent series beating fellow club mate and Laser State Championship winner Campbell Patton.

The results for the event are HERE.