Cancelled on Sunday

Emmett wins the Tees and Hartlepool Laser Radial Qualifier

64 Radials made the trek up north for the fourth Qualifier, held at Tees and Hartlepool in difficult offshore wind conditions, over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

Saturday and race one was initially led by Jon Emmett and Ben Paton from the left, both tacking early to cross the fleet. However Paton missed his toe strap and the resulting swim dropped him several places. Meanwhile the wind clocked right which gave Laura Baldwin an excellent lead.

However at the leeward mark Baldwin was pulled out of the race for being Black Flagged which gave the lead back to Emmett which he held to the finish. There was a real tussle for second place with several people getting yellowed flagged downwind on the way to the finish. John Booth eventually came out on top in second, with Youth World representative Ali Young in third.

Race two and Paton won the pin end but was initially unable to tack. Vincent Christian led from the right and was first round the windward mark but was overtaken on the first run by Emmett, who went on to win the race. A determined Paton moved past Christian on the final run to grab second place, pushing Christian back to third place.

Race three and the leaders again came from the left. Baldwin went furthest left and was comfortably first round the top mark, followed by Emmett and Paton. Position remained unchanged down the run and Paton tacked off straight after the leeward mark and Baldwin tacked to cover. Emmett stayed with the fleet and when the wind went left Baldwin and Paton were launched. Paton again capitalized on the final run to move past Baldwin to claim the bullet, and Emmett remained in third, well clear of the chasing pack.

Sunday, race four, and Lizzie Vickers showed excellent boat speed to lead at the top mark, but was overtaken down the first run by Emmett. Vickers chased Emmett hard to stay in second with Baldwin pulling through the fleet to third. However with the wind continuing to build, the results were not taken for the final race, much to the disappointment of Vickers, meaning the results from Saturday stood.

Results:

1-Jon Emmett Weir Wood SC 2pts
2-Ben Paton Royal Lymington 3pts
3-John Booth Weston 6pts
4-Laura Baldwin Spinnaker 8pts (1st Lady)
5-Vincent Christian Ely 10pts
6-Ali Young Trimpley 10pts (1st Female Youth)
7-John Beatty East Down 12pts (1st Male Youth)
23-Iain Mckeeman Bowmoor 34pts (1st Male Junior)
30-Peter Whipp Manx (1st Master)
42-Chloe Martin Bough Beech 73pts (1st Female Junior)