Emmett takes first qualifier win

The Laser Radial fleet held their first Autumn qualifier at Pwllheli SC

On the first weekend of September seventy Laser Radials gathered at Pwllheli sailing club for the first of the UK Autumn qualifiers, to select the team for the World Championships in 2008. Five races (four to count) were sailed in very mixed conditions with the event not being decided until the final race with just two points separating second to fourth place.

Race one was sailed in light winds with the pressure from the left meaning all those from the port end of the line led around the windward mark. David Harper led the one lap race from start to finish. Second place at the top mark was Ian Gregory followed by Laura Baldwin. Most of the leading boats went left down the second reach, which had turned into a run. However Emmett stayed in the pressure on the right and moved into second, with Lizzie going down on the middle also passing the boats on the left to take third, in front of Gregory.

Race two and the breeze increased to hiking conditions. Baldwin made a great start and then led the fleet around the top mark, closely followed by the chasing pack. By the end of the downwind leg Baldwin had extended her lead with Emmett moving into second with Penny Clark in third. Baldwin maintained her lead upwind but was overtaken by Emmett down the run. Emmett then mistook the Pwllheli flag for a shortened course and sailed to the finish followed by Baldwin. However the course was not shortened.

Lizzie Vickers took over the lead, followed by Clark. However, by the finish, David Jessop had moved into the lead, with Clark second, Vickers third and Harriette Trumble, having her best race of the regatta, in fourth. Emmett and Baldwin could not quite catch the lead group.

Race three and the breeze continued to build. Once again Baldwin led the race to the windward mark before being overtaken on the bottom reach by Emmett. These two pulled well clear of the fleet to finish in that order, with Clark third and Andrea Brewster fourth.

Overall Emmett led overnight, but the points behind were close with Vickers in second (5pts), followed by Clark (6pts) and Baldwin (7pts).

Sunday and the wind cranked up a notch. Race four was also a carbon copy of race three! Baldwin led around the top mark before being overtaken on the second reach by Emmett. These two moved well clear of the fleet. Clark and David Jessop had a tussle for third, with a swim on the final run for Jessop, allowing Clark to take her third, third of the series. Going into the final race only Vickers had a top six place in every race…

Race five and the fleet struggled to get away with many, many general recalls and around a 25% of the fleet black flagged, including Vickers and Baldwin. This meant Clark could win over Vickers with fifth place or better.

Bob Cudmore port tacked the fleet and led around the windward mark, before being overtaken by Emmett on the top reach. Emmett extended his lead for a comfortable win. Downwind John Booth moved into second place which he held to the finish. Martin Evans secured himself a top six finish with a third place, and James Spencer took fourth.

Overall just two points separated second to fourth with Vickers taking second place on the most firsts procedure. From here there was a gap of over ten points to the chasing fleet. The penultimate qualifier of the year will be at Paignton, in two weeks time.

Results:

1-Jon Emmett, 5pts
2-Lizzie Vickers, 16pts (1st Lady)
3-Penny Clark, 16pts
4-Laura Baldwin, 18pts
5-Harriette Trumble, 29pts
6-Martin Evans, 30pts (1st Junior & 1st Youth)