ILCA NSW & ACT

International Laser Class Association ILCA is proposing rule changes to relax or remove previous restrictions in four areas:

• Use of electronic compasses
• Use of boat or body mounted cameras
• Freedom of attachment points for shock cord clew inhauls
• Allow one cleat and one turning block on hiking strap

As of July 10, we are halfway through the voting period on these ILCA rule changes. Voting is open to all  members in our district – one vote per member.

Members of a Laser District can vote on these changes until 10th October 2017.

Click HERE to see full detail of the proposed changes and to vote on them.

The event web site for the 4.7 Youth and Under 21 Standard and Radial Worlds at Nieuwpoort Belgium between 16-24 July (4.7′s) and 26 July to 2 August (Under 21′s) is HERE

Good luck and good sailing to all our sailors in these events.

Youth 4.7′s: Paige Caldecoat, Sylvie Stannage, Kristen Wadley, Michael Compton, Boston Cortis, Daniel Costandi, Axel Fleet, Ezra Kaye, Jack Littlechild, Mark Louis, Finn O’Dea, Michael Parks, Nicholas Smart and Zac West.

Under 21 Radial: Elyse Ainsworth, Marlena Berzins, Annie Eastgate, Casey Imeneo, Mara Stransky and Zoe Thomson.

Under 21 Standard: Lachy Gilham, Harmon Mcaullay and Daniel Self.

There is an event site which covers the two events the Laser Men’s and Master’s Championships to be held in Split Croatia HERE.

There is some information on available accommodation in Split from the event organisers HERE.

For long term planning the 2018 Laser Masters World Championships will be held 7-15th September 2018 in Dun Laoghaire Ireland.

The South Pacific Laser Masters are on again at Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron.

Pencil in 21-24 July, 2017 for great Masters competition and superb sailing.

Early bird discount entry is only $190 including the popular Thursday night Laser Forum and the famous Regatta Dinner.

Don’t miss out – you’ll find the 2017 SPLM NOR and entry form HERE and you can enter online HERE.

Marlena Berzins Radial Winner

Congratulations to Marlena Berzins  and Zac West for their wins in the East Coast Championship held at Georges River Sailing Club last weekend.

Despite the un-cooperative weather Saturday saw four light wind races completed. On Sunday there was no wind to speak of and no races. This saw the series scored over four races with no drops.

Marlena RSYS/DBSC won in the Radials with 1,1,2,2 places from Nathan Bryant RPAYC 2,2,1,4 and Jack Littlechild RSYS/DBSC 4,3,3,1.

In the 4.7′s Zac West RSYS/DBSC was very consistent posting 2,2,2,2 to win followed by Sylvie Stannage RSYS and Archie Gargett KCC (Kurnell Catamaran Club).

The full results for the series are HERE.

The NB Sailsports sponsored East Coast Championships will be held at Georges River 16′ Sailing Club (Sanoni Ave, Sandringham) on the Queen’s Birthday long weekend 10-11 June 2017.

This event is open to Laser 4.7 and Radial sailors of any age as well as Opti and 420′s.

The Notice of Race is available HERE. Online entries can be placed on the NSW Opti web site HERE.

For more information there is a brief for the event HERE.

STOP PRESS

In an effort to encourage a few more registrations to come through before the weekend, the late fee of $100 on this occasion will not be applied if there are any late entries ahead of the weekend for this regatta. We are currently at around 85 boats all up in total across all classes. Would be great to hit the 100 mark!

Finn Alexander at Medemblik

Results from the Grade 1 Delta Lloyd Regatta in Medemblik, Holland are HERE.

There were 100 competitors in the Men’s and 68 in the Women’s.

Well done to Matthew Wearn 3rd and Mitchell Kennedy 4th who were joined by Finn Alexander in the medal race to finish 8th. Not bad with three Aussies in the top 10.

There were 5 Australians in the Women’s event with Zoe Thompson best placed at 37th. DBSC’s Marlena Berzins sailed her absolute best with some great results to come out with 60 out of 68 Competitors in the Women’s fleet.

Finn’s quote from the seat in the A380 on his way home:

” The medal race was intense, to say the least… with the tip 10 best sailors in the world put against each other on a super short course close to shore, it was bound to be a close race. The points were really close, so my plan was to sail the race like any other… The Start went really well and was popped out on the leeward end and ended up crossing most of the fleet… The race went so quickly, a total blur, and was really tricky to find the time to look around and get into the Rhythm of the race… with heaps of boats around, the waves were really choppy and messy (just like Double Bay) so downwinds were quick and require a high degree of precision. I finished 7th in the medal race, overtaking the Cypriot Pavlos Kontides (2012 Olympic Silver medalist) on the final downwind. I secured 8th overall and I am really happy with that result.”

Following is a list of Laser events in NSW & ACT for next season 2017/18.

Masters sailors please note that we have now combined the Open and Masters States to be held at Double Bay 18-19th November 2017. Our traditional February Masters would be very close to, and detract from, the National Masters at Mooloolaba 9-12 February 2018.

The full list of known events including World and National Championships is on the Events Page.

If you have open invitation or inter-club events which you would like us to include on the list please send us a message HERE.

A printable (pdf) summary of the full list of Laser events is HERE.

Laser sailors will go to great lengths to get their boats to regattas to enjoy the racing.

The photo here was taken at the 2017 Adelaide Nationals. It shows a sterling effort.

If anyone has a photo of a larger Laser sandwich we will be happy to publish same or perhaps to create a new Guinness Records classification for the endeavour.

Photos to lasersandwich@laser.asn.au.

PS

Never to be outdone Matthew Blakey reports that 9 Kiwi Laser sailors transported their boats from Melbourne to Adelaide for the 2003-2004 Nationals in the configuration below.

It is a bit hard to see all the boats but we know Kiwis can count and as there are eight Laser sailors in the photo we are assuming that the 9th was the photographer so 9 is the current Laser sandwich record.

PS2

Our European travelling Laser representative Jeff Loosemore sent this hard to beat contribution to the how many Lasers can be packed on a trailer competition.

This is the Spanish team’s Laser trailer complete with 19 Lasers in Gydnia Poland for the Laser Masters Europeans 2015.

Laser legend Mike Mills with wife Jan has sold, serviced and transported way to many Lasers to count. Mike has a good memory and has called for the video ref on the New Zealand effort above while offering his own in the message below.

Great to see one of my old trailers still being put to good use. Jan and I used to load them on our own and they were road legal. The Kiwi effort from 2003 -2004 did get booked for being too wide, so does it count?

From memory our best and biggest load was 25 boats on a semi that brought boats to Royal Brighton for the World Cup, I think in about 2006 . This was hand loaded and unloaded.

These were before I was working for PSA when we did move quite a few boats.

I was always too busy to take any photos.

Michael & Jan Mills
NB Laser Sales
1995-2007

Mike Lee advises that the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron are running their winter series again this year.

Laser sailors are welcome to compete.

There four race days for the series:

• May 28
• June 18
• July 30
• August 27

Racing starts at 930AM each day with up to three races each day (no race after 1130AM).

The sailing instructions are HERE and you can enter online HERE.

Applications for entry will open Tuesday, 4 April 2017 at 00:01 Central US time for the 2017 ILCA World Standard and Masters Championship regattas.

You are encouraged to complete an entry application as soon as possible after it becomes available. Please be aware that if you do not apply by 16 May 2017, you may have little chance of receiving an entry offer.

The links below will take you to the event information sites with access to applications and additional information about each championship, including the Notice of Race and the district entry allocations.

2017 ILCA Laser Standard Men’s World Championship

• Dates: Tuesday, 12 September – Tuesday, 19 September 2017
• Venue: Split, Croatia
• Click HERE for Laser Standard Men World Championship Information & Application

2017 ILCA Laser Masters World Championships

• Dates: Thursday, 21 September – Saturday, 30 September 2017
• Venue: Split, Croatia
• Click HERE for Laser Masters World Championship Information & Application

A word to the wise from our Masters Rep Rob Lowndes follows:

I don’t know how many entries will be allowed but last I heard it will be limited by the amount of rigging space which seems a shame.  It will be the usual thing with limited acceptances to start with.  Our ALCA ranking policy will apply (http://www.lasersdownunder.com/masters-policy/).   It could be quite a while before we know if, for the first time ever, all Aussies who want to go will not get in!  So remember first in, best dressed…..

Final results for the Metropolitan Championship are HERE.

The Laser Metros are on next weekend at Double Bay Sailing Club.

This is always a great event with lots of entries (130 last time). This regatta will also be a great warm up for the Laser State Championship which DBSC will be hosting in November.

The Notice of Race is HERE and  the Sailing Instructions are attached and are available to download HERE.

You can enter online HERE (cost is $60 or $30 if you are under 21). Beach entries will be accepted up to 11.30am on Saturday 18^th March with payment by cash, Visa or Master card.

For sailors rigging at other clubs we will again have sign on and off by SMS available – just send an SMS to 0477 647 537 with the boat number/s and the words “sign on” and “sign off” (SIs 22.4 applies).

DBSC has arranged car parking at the Double Bay Public School just across Steyne Park from the club – entry is off William Street. Cost is $20 for the weekend going to the school’s P&C. Otherwise limited on street parking can be found but it may be a long walk away. Be warned the local parking police are quite vigilant so observation of the parking restriction signs is recommended.

Trailers can be parked on the grassed area near the club. Access for this trailer parking will be via Ocean Avenue where it meets the bay, and not Bay Street. Google map is HERE.

DBSC Commodore Luke Parker has the following message for Laser sailors:

On behalf of all at DBSC, I’d encourage Laser sailors from far and wide to join us at the 2017 NSW Laser Metropolitan Championships. DBSC hosted the Regatta in 2015 and it was a great success.  We’re determined to repeat that performance next weekend.

We’ll be racing on Sydney Harbour, not far from the Bridge, the City, the Harbour Islands and Fort Denison. It’s a spectacular and challenging place to race. Of course, we won’t have the harbour to ourselves, but we’ll be positioning courses to make the most of the prevailing winds with consideration of other traffic.

Our change rooms have ample hot water, you’ll get a DBSC engraved mug (guaranteed to become a collector’s item) and the canteen will be stocked. We have a $2 sausage sizzle after racing on Saturday and breakfast on Sunday.   What more could you want?

We look forward to racing with you on 18 and 19 March.

Applications for entry will open Thursday, 16 March 2017 at 00:01 Central US time for the following ILCA World Championship regattas:

•      2017 ILCA Laser Radial Youth World Championships
•      2017 ILCA Laser Radial Women’s World Championship
•      2017 ILCA Laser Radial Men’s World Championship

For all events, The deadline for receiving paid applications for initial allocation of places is 25 April 2017 at 23:59 Central US Time.

Note: Central US Time is 16 hours behind Australian Eastern Standard Time and 17 hours behind Australian Eastern Daylight Time.

You are encouraged to complete an entry application as soon as possible after it becomes available. Please be aware that if you do not apply by 25 April 2017, you may have little chance of receiving an entry offer.

The links below will take you to the event information sites with access to applications and additional information about each championship, including the Notice of Race and the district entry allocations.

2017 ILCA Laser Radial Youth World Championships

• Dates: Friday, 11 August – Friday, 18 August 2017
• Venue: Medemblik, Netherlands
• Click HERE for Laser Radial Youth World Championship Information & Application

2017 ILCA Laser Radial Women’s World Championship

• Dates: Saturday, 19 August – Saturday, 26 August 2017
• Venue: Medemblik, Netherlands
•  Click HERE for Laser Radial Women’s World Championship Information & Application

2017 ILCA Laser Radial Men’s World Championship

• Dates: Saturday, 19 August – Saturday, 26 August 2017
• Venue: Medemblik, Netherlands
• Click HERE for Laser Radial Men’s World Championship Information & Application

We dress funny and endure pain but we love it!

A great roll up of 114 Masters Lasers sailors enjoyed and endured, in equal measure, the State Masters at Great Lakes Sailing Club on Wallis Lake Forster over the weekend.

Three fronts swept over the venue over the weekend – fortunately none of them during the racing. As it was conditions were pretty challenging on Saturday with an around 20 knot NE and then after the three races a 2 mile work back home into a freshening 20 to 25 knot breeze. None of this dulled the enjoyment of the roast dinner and ales provided from the Great Lakes Sailing Club in the evening.

On Sunday, after a powerful overnight storm, the wind was SW and 5 to 15 knots. The conditions were tricky and the weed kept sailors busy with the centreboard lift and rudder sweep routine.

The competition was pretty intense as expected with four Laser Masters World Champions in attendance. There was none the less the usual good spirit with all rules issues sorted out on the water.

The final results are HERE. The fleet results are HERE.

John Basden took some nice photos on Day 1 which you can see HERE.

Thanks to the Great Lakes Sailing Club and RO Andrew McLachlan and his team for their fabulous organisation of the event.