Laser Masters South Lake Macquarie
Some of the 130 Lasers ready for battle at Sunshine
131 Lasers contested the NSW/ACT State Masters at South Lake Macquarie ASC on the weekend.
There were 59 Radials and 72 Standard Rigs with cube level entries in all age divisions except for Radial Apprentice.
There were entries from far afield around NSW from Canberra and welcome visitors from Victoria, Queensland and New Zealand. There were three current and five previous Laser World Masters Champions in the fleet so plenty of tough competition.
RO Col Chidgey judged the timing well, holding the fleets back on shore until the breeze steadied. In the end five of the six scheduled races were completed in fair sailing conditions with ENE breezes randing from 7 to 13 knots.
The races were run with single starts for each rig with long starting lines matching the 70 boat fleet.
In the Standard Fleet current World Masters champion Brett Beyer had a battle royal with MHASC master sailor Shaun Atherton-Feeney. Brett took the last three races to win on a countback. Third was Nic Skulander from Woollahra SC.
In the Radials the fleet win went to Georges River Master David Early. Second was Canberra Grand Master Bruce Paine and third MHASC’s Vanessa Dudley. Vanessa also won the cube for the first woman.
The age division winners were;
| Apprentice Masters | Masters | Grand Masters | Great Grand Masters | |
| Radial | ||||
| 1 | Jeffrey Myers GRSC | David Early GRSC | Vanessa Dudley MHASC | Robert Lowndes MHASC |
| 2 | Martin Wilson GRSC | Bruce Paine CYC | Kevin Phillips GSC | |
| 3 | Russell Ford M16SC | Jeff Loosemore GRSC/MHASC | Kerry Waraker RQYS | |
| 4 | Diane Sissingh MHASC | Martin Linsley CYC/RANSA | Tony Ryan CYC | |
| 5 | Murray Walters RPAYC | Martin White DBSC | Timothy Alexander NSC | |
| Standard | ||||
| 1 | Richard Bott DBSC | Brett Beyer WSC | Stephen Gunther KBSC | Mark Bethwaite DBSC |
| 2 | Nicholas Skulander WSC | Sean AthertonFeeney MHASC | Anthony Scali VYC | Stephen Wawn RPEYC |
| 3 | Matt Blakey TYC | Jan Scholten ASC | Rick Longbottom RANSA | Michael O’Brien VYC |
| 4 | Zac Skulander WSC | David Page HHSC | Mark Phillips RANSA | |
| 5 | Chris Caldecoat SLMASC | Ian Young GRSC | Peter Wallace DBSC/MHASC |
The South Lake Macquarie Amateur Sailing Club did a fabulous both on the water and off. Thanks to the race and boat crews and the catering volunteers for their terrific job organising the racing and feeding the Laser sailors. We would love to come back for future events to Sunshine.
The full results are here;
A few finishers were missed due to tight finishes and manouvering at the finish. Please email kevinphillips@teltrsa.com if you can clarify positions which affect your results.
