The RC Laser Which Buoy Must I Go Round Regatta was by far the best regatta of the year. The weather was good, the sailing was great, the handicaps were absolutely perfect and the beer in the cool box was cold.

Eighteen boats turned out for the regatta in which nine races were sailed during the afternoon. The wind started out fairly pleasantly from the north east with the fleet out in perfect full rig conditions. It did not stay this way though and the breeze faded away to nothing in the middle of the afternoon. At this stage it looked like there would be no further racing but surprisingly a light easterly arrived on the scene just in the nick of time allowing the racing to continues until just before sunset.

Newcomer to the fleet, but seasoned RC Laser sailor Keith Gerson started off strongly sailing consistently at the front of the fleet. Keith clearly enjoyed his sailing and I am sure that we will see him back for the next event if he can keep his hands on a boat. Norrie Taylor was also sailing well as usual although being the most heavily handicapped in the fleet he did have to sail hard to stay near the front. Chris Rudham also had a good day, winning two races however he did not quite have the consistent day that was needed to win the regatta.

For a change I was able to sail my boat quite fast and near the front of the fleet and am pleased to report that I won my first ever RC Laser Regatta!

The results are as follows:

1st Andrew Heathcote 28 Points
2nd Keith Gerson 30
3rd Norrie Taylor 31
4th Chris Rudham 44
5th Lex Brockbank 50

For more details visit the RC Laser web site at http://www.angelfire.com/hi5/rclaser_world.