Second title for Hill

3 Sad Old Blokes victorious again at the Laser SB3 Nationals in Largs

Monday June 9th 2008, Author: James Boyd, Location: United Kingdom
The final day of the Laser SB3 National Championship dawned windless and it looked like overnight leaders Jerry Hill and his crew of Joe Llewellyn and Sam Minns on 3 Sad Old Blokes would be announced National Champions without leaving the dock. However the wind had other ideas and by midday a small breeze had developed in the channel off Largs Sailing Club and the postponement flag came down.

Despite going into the final day with a 13 point lead, with the possibility of a further four races and a second discard that would come into play after ten races, 3 Sad Old Blokes couldn’t afford to be complacent.

Starting the first race of the final day under black flag the fleet literally split in half with some boats deciding that the mainland shore would be advantageous and others, including 3 Sad Old Blokes, Baloo (Martin Boatman), Mark Rushall, Team VW Touareg (Jono Shelley) and Doolali (Colin Simonds) all making a quick dash for the island shore. For 3 Sad Old Blokes, it was one of the only tactical decisions that they had got wrong all week and they had to watch as all the boats on the left hand side of the course rounded the first mark in front of them, seeking solace in the fact that many of their closest rivals had made the same choice and were behind them.

The race win went to Bod (Richard Hall) who sailed their best race of the championship to score their first result in the top ten. 3 Sad Old Blokes crossed the line ninth, with Mark Rushall and his team tenth, Team VW Touareg 16th, Doolali 20th and Baloo twenty-third. With the race committee able to sail up to four races on the final day, Hill did not know whether he had the championship sewn up and the only way to be sure was to stay out and sail all the races.

Despite going light towards the end of the first race, the wind picked up enabling the race committee to start a second race. For 3 Sad Old Blokes it was still a case of staying out of trouble, which was helped enormously by the fact that Team VW Touareg and Mark Rushall all started prematurely and were penalised with a black flag disqualification, forcing them to sit out the race. With the pressure alleviated, 3 Sad Old Blokes sailed a faultless race to rack up their fifth win of the championship and, when the race committee signalled that no further racing would take place for the day, the national title by an impressive twenty point margin.

A seventh in the final race saw Baloo take second, four points in front of the Simonds family boat, Doolali, which moved themselves up the scoreboard after scoring a third in the final race. Mark Rushall had to settle for fourth with Team VW Touareg taking the final spot in the top five.

A delighted Hill said: “I am very happy with our results this week. We were quick and sailed very well tactically. I am glad that we managed to sail on the last day as it was pretty tricky conditions and it would have been very easy to lose it but we managed to stay with our opposition and beat them in the first race of the day. Two of our main rivals then got black flagged in the second race which took the pressure off and we managed to win the last race and, with it, the championship.

"I am now looking forward to the rest of the Laser SB3 season with Torquay, Cowes Week and then the inaugural world championships in Ireland in September which will see some great sailors competing and we hope we will be able to continue our form.”

Thanks for a great week must go to everyone at Largs Sailing Club, the Scottish Sailing Institute and Laser SB3 sponsors VW Touareg for their help and support during the championship.
 
Pos Boat Helm R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 R10 Tot
1 3 Sad Old Blokes J Hill 4 1 1 1 8 1 12 4 9 1 21
2 Baloo M Boatman 3 6 11 5 2 3 7 8 23 7 41
3 Doolali C Simonds 2 7 9 22 4 10 4 6 20 3 45
4 M Rushall 1 4 2 9 23 13 1 7 10 BFD38  47
5 Team VW Touareg J Shelley 11 5 3 4 1 4 5 23 16 BFD38  49
6 City of Capetown D Hudson 6 10 6 8 5 26 2 BFD38  8 16 61
7 Sail Laser Scotland D Hepplewhite 14 2 12 12 3 19 6 17 15 10 74
8 Cheeky Monkey I Sullivan 13 30 14 10 27 5 13 3 3 13 74
9 Badger P Lovejoy 8 14 18 DSQ38  9 16 21 9 6 6 86
10 Bod R Hall 5 28 17 16 20 31 18 13 1 2 92
11 Selden Masts C Jennings 22 9 5 11 6 8 3 BFD38  DNC38  DNC38 102
12 Splash Gordon G Patterson 31 17 10 RDG19.3  10 12 15 16 17 11 108
13 Team Maclaren C Summerhayes 15 26 8 3 15 23 20 2 29 BFD38  112
14 Firefly R Burns 28 8 15 RAF38  18 25 27 10 5 5 113
15 Blue Sky Travel I Hunt 9 27 22 20 16 2 16 24 14 18 117
16 Trouble & Strife I Armstrong 16 18 20 21 14 29 25 5 12 14 120
17 Lifting Safety D Atkinson 26 BFD38  7 14 19 9 24 12 26 9 120
18 Wet Nuts C King 17 24 29 13 17 14 10 14 13 22 120
19 Palava S Allen RET38  13 4 2 25 7 11 BFD38  21 BFD38 121
20 Loco D Vetson 21 34 19 15 11 22 31 22 7 4 121
21 Ridgefence.com B Espey 12 21 16 6 7 18 23 27 DNC38  DNC38  130
22 Flash C Galavan 10 3 28 25 13 17 26 21 18 DNF38  133
23 Geronemo S Hume 7 11 27 23 30 27 34 19 11 23 148
24 Taku A Lightbown 25 29 25 29 26 28 17 1 2 25 149
25 Chill Pill S Graham 34 19 23 26 24 6 28 15 25 12 150
26 The Baron B Williamson 19 22 21 19 36 24 14 18 19 20 152
27 Dirty Harry J Whitehead 35 15 33 17 DNC38  DNC38  19 11 4 BFD38 172
28 Duff Beer II M Ennis 20 25 13 18 12 15 35 BFD38  DNC38  DNC38 176
29 R Catchpole DSQ38  12 DSQ38  7 32 11 9 31 DNC38 DNC38 178
30 Ribidium S Cook 27 20 31 31 28 30 8 20 28 17 178
31 Sail Navy M Barham 32 16 30 30 31 21 BFD38  28 27 15 198
32 Triple P C Partington 18 32 24 24 29 32 32 29 24 21 201
33 Royal Signals J Bunce 30 RET38  DNC38  RET38 22 20 22 26 30 19 207
34 Jupiter R Triffitt 33 31 RET38  28 21 34 30 32 31 8 214
35 Whizz Bang N Wright 23 23 26 BFD38  33 36 36 33 22 24 220
36 Laser Performance J Robertson 24 35 34 32 35 33 29 25 DNC38  DNC38  247
37 C Laverty 29 33 32 27 34 35 33 30 DNC38  DNC38  253

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