The Laser, Laser Radial, Laser 4.7 and Extra Nationals took place at Club Mykonos, Langebaan, this weekend.

There were also three Laser 4.7's sailing. The 4.7 is a relatively new, smaller rig. I think that there are considerably more of these in the country than we saw at this regatta and it will be interesting to see if this set-up gains any further popularity in the next while. The Extras were the biggest and most competitive fleet with 34 boats on the start line while the Radials attracted 24 entries and the full rig Lasers 21.

The regatta started on Saturday in conditions that can only be described as a race officer's nightmare. The wind direction had switched through something like 180 degrees by the end of the day forcing numerous course changes and general recalls as the wind shifted the bias of the line after the start procedure had been started. The races were being sailed on a trapezoid course, which allowed for good separation between the fleets but doesn't make life any easier when it comes to changing the course.

Despite the difficult conditions and more than one general recall three races were sailed. The breeze was mostly light, probably below ten knots, but it did occasionally gust to around 12 or maybe even 14 knots. In all the fleets the racing looked fairly close. In the Lasers Gareth Blankenburg won the first and third races convincingly and scored a second in the middle race only to find that he had been over the line at the start in both the first and the third races. In a regatta that was only going to run to 9 races and therefore only one discard at best this was a fairly big blow. In the Extra class Alex Runciman pitched up late, too late for the first race in fact, but then proceeded to win the next two in fine style while a fairly tight bunch of 8 or 10 boats fought it out for the minor placings.

Day two was a little breezier and a lot colder. With the forecast predicting strong winds and the local paper advising that people stay away from the mountains and sea there was some delay as the race committee assessed the conditions before sending the fleet out onto the water. As it turned out the conditions were great, a little fresher than the previous day with the breeze in the 18-knot region and with a small swell running. It was hard and sometimes cold work but the racing was lots of fun. Certainly I had a great time in the Extra although the legs did take a little strain and I was pretty happy when the fleet headed back home after three races. Runciman again dominated the Extra fleet with Blankenburg doing the same in the Lasers. There was more of a ding dong battle in the Radial fleet though with JJ Provoyeur, Robyn Keen and Peter DuPreez all winning races.

Sunday dawned wetter and colder. Worse still there was now a fairly large swell running with the occasional wave breaking across the harbour mouth and there wasn't really much wind blowing. After a reasonable postponement to give the conditions and in particular the sea state a chance to settle the race committee decided to abandon racing for the day. Their timing wasn't quite up to scratch though and just as everyone went out to pack up their boats so the rain came bucketing down and the wind started blowing. Half an hour earlier and we would have been able to pack up boats without getting wet!