Pelt dominates

Netherlands Gys Pelt has won the Laser Radial Qualifier in Felixstowe by an impressive margin

For many, the Felixstowe qualifier, which was the last Qualifier of 2005, was an extremely disappointing event but not for the foreign teams who embarrassed the UK sailors with their dominant performance. One sailor in particular stood out: Gys Pelt from Netherland’s (in fact the Dutch took three of the top six places) whose worst result was fourth and who won the regatta with a race to spare, a super performance, considering the difficult conditions and a fleet of almost a hundred boats.

Day one and Pelt stamped his authority on the event with a race win from fellow countryman, Steven Le Ferve whilst several top performers found themselves stuck in the many rafts which formed around the leeward marks caused by the very light winds and strong current.

Race two saw Colette Blair who has had a remarkable return to form score a race win, showing great tactics to keep the chasing Dutch sailors behind. The final race of the day was once again won by Pelt, who unlike most of the fleet managed to get round the windward mark at the first attempt (whilst many of the fleet couldn’t pass the mark due to the strong tide). As a result he overtook all but the top ten standard rigs who had started over 15 minutes before.

The second day and the tide was just as much an issue as the wind stayed light throughout the day. The fleet were very keen to start and the black flag saw many sailors taking an early shower. Not so Pelt who scored another win to secure the event, however in a bid to take home minimum points he elected to stay and sail the next race.

The final race was won by Sari Multala from Finland, who recently took third place at the Europeans in Croatia. Initially coming from the left she got the first shift to cross the fleet, but worked hard to hold the lead to the end.

Overall Pelt was first and first youth comfortably in front of Le Ferve. Blair was first Lady (and first UK sailor) ahead of Karin Soderstrom from Sweden with Mark Brewster the only UK man to feature in the prizes. Top Dutch Lady Gea Jutlens finished sixth overall.

1-Gys Pelt NED KWVL 6pts
2-Steven Le Ferve NED 17pts
3-Colette Blair GBR Bewl 22pts
4-Karin Soderstrom SWE GKSS 29pts
5-Mark Brewster GBR Hayling 31pts
6-Gea Jutjens NED HYC 35pts