2016 Mexico Laser Master Worlds - Sail Counts

by Pam

For anyone who is interested, from my informal survey, here is the breakdown of the sails used by the top ten finishers at the Laser Master Worlds:

Fleet	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th
Apprentice	Old	New	Old	New	Old	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Master	Old	New	New	New	Old	New	Old	New	New	Old
GM	New	Old	New	Old	New	New	New	New	New	New
GGM	New	Old	New	New	New	New	New	New	Old	New

And here are the totals for each fleet:

Great Grand Master Fleet (3/13)
Finish	Sail #	Sailor	Country	Points	Sail Type
1st	209260	Mark Bethwaite	AUS	10	New
2nd	195708	Doug Peckover	USA	22	Old
3rd	202729	James Temple	AUS	29	New
4th	210180	Alberto Larrea	ARG	46	New
5th	202817	John Roberson	AUS	48	New
6th	166047	John Dawson-Edwards	CAN	52	New
7th	201747	Poopy Marcon	FRA	53	New
8th	194567	Timothy Millhiser	USA	76	New
9th	132332	John Black	AUS	82	Old
10th	203318	Fernando Rabago	MEX	96	New
11th	208074	David Elliott	CAN	96	Old
12th	206041	Stephen Wawn	AUS	126	New
13th	209410	Chris Fyans	GBR	134	New
Grand Master Fleet (14/38)
Finish	Sail #	Sailor	Country	Points	Sail Type
1st	206384	Gavin Dagley	AUS	25	New
2nd	199262	Cristian Herman	CHI	33	Old
3rd	208054	Allan Clark	CAN	42	New
4th	195867	Tim Law	GBR	50	Old
5th	210483	Steve Gunther	AUS	52	Old
6th	198659	Vann Wilson	USA	69	New
7th	210477	Luke Carter	NZL	82	New
8th	167136	Emilio Castelli	USA	84	New
9th	209268	Anthony Scali	AUS	88	New
10th	171729	Andre Martinie	DOM	96	New
11th	198107	Nick Page	NZL	103	New
12th	209021	Laurent Bernaz	FRA	106	Old
13th	169575	Mark Bear	USA	116	Old
14th	204391	Christopher Raab	USA	125	New
15th	209265	Michael Hicks	GBR	132	New
16th	187366	Peter Drasnin	USA	133	New
17th	206202	Roberto Bini	ITA	152	New
18th	191085	Lance Burger	RSA	163	Old
19th	205869	Jan Larkens	RSA	164	New
20th	197463	Giuseppe Cavalli	ITA	187	New
21st	204450	Alejandro Grunwaldt	URU	208	Old
22nd	191612	Ashley Deacon	AUS	212	New
23rd	202123	Francois Meesemaecker	FRA	214	New
24th	187308	Carlos Eduardo Oetling Ladron De Guevara	MEX	217	New
25th	205005	David Rosenthall	AUS	220	New
26th	203944	James Stanley	CAN	221	New
27th	201846	Luca Braga	ITA	224	New
28th	20359	Antonio Vertiz	MEX	225	Old
29th	204443	Juan Grunwaldt	URU	225	Old
30th	192097	Philip Paxton	CAN	229	New
31st	190815	Grassi Davide	ITA	278	Old
32nd	185926	Richard Quinlan	CAN	280	Old
33rd	191568	Michael Goldfarb	USA	289	Old
34th	202321	Marco Falcone	ITA	295	Old
35th	199218	Gregory Simon	NZL	308	New
36th	196036	Paul Swan	USA	333	New
37th	205512	Adam Glass	USA	352	New
38th	153352	Eugene Towle	MEX	363	Old
39th	100318	Rodolfo Valdes	MEX	364	?
Master Fleet (9/28)
Finish	Sail #	Sailor	Country	Points	Sail Type
1st	199257	Brett Beyer	AUS	11	Old
2nd	207143	Ernesto Rodriguez	USA	26	New
3rd	210488	Andrew Dellabarca	NZL	43	New
4th	199146	Benoit Meesemaecker	FRA	43	New
5th	209289	Peter Hurley	USA	48	New
6th	196812	William Pullen	CAN	67	New
7th	208838	Mike Matan	USA	76	Old
8th	210501	David Whait	AUS	77	New
9th	210102	Niclas Bornling	USA	80	New
10th	187994	Ari Barshi	DOM	81	Old
11th	208367	Stefano Carnevali	ITA	96	New
12th	195323	Luciano Oliveira	BRA	102	Old
13th	208529	Rob Woodward	NZL	107	Old
14th	191910	Ryan Minth	USA	113	New
15th	200378	Andriy Kanyuka	CAN	131.8	Old
16th	197460	Alessandro Castelli	ITA	134	New
17th	197569	Chris Ellyatt	GBR	161	New
18th	208362	Manolis Trigonis	GRE	172	New
19th	195549	Tony Nicholson	NZL	182	New
20th	208369	Massimo Ciano	ITA	188	New
21st	203193	Hector David	ARG	196	Old
22nd	209082	Michael Hooper	CAN	200	New
23rd	196108	Jorge A. Suarez	USA	200	Old
24th	208842	Joseph Berkeley	USA	208	New
25th	209473	Roberto Porter	USA	213	New
26th	208583	Simon Bell	USA	238	New
27th	186681	Kevin Currier	IRL	257	Old
28th	122099	Guillermo Tapia Moreno	MEX	282	New
Apprentice Fleet (3/5)
Finish	Sail #	Sailor	Country	Points	Sail Type
1st	176107	Pablo Rabago	MEX	10	Old
2nd	159795	Guilherme Roth	BRA	18	New
3rd	194210	Alejandro Rabago	MEX	29	Old
4th	209639	Alfonso Aguilar	MEX	38	New
5th	166966	Fabian Gomez-Ibarra	MEX	54	Old

Mexico Laser Master Worlds - Final Day

by Pam

Lots of activity on the final day. Racing, boat check in, awards, good-byes and packing for morning departure. Apprentice Pablo Robago (MEX), Master Brett Beyer (AUS) and GGM Mark Bethwaite (AUS) had already won the championship in their fleet and did not have to sail the final day but all did. The GM championship was still up for grabs and Gavin Dagley (AUS) had to earn it. I observed several times in the regatta that, in true champion style, he seemed to do best when the pressure was on. The final day was no exception and Gavin finally joined the world championship winners club and the folks in Mexico made it memorable.

I don't know if the Mexicans are just a hell of a lot of fun and everyone got this treatment or if this was a celebration of the last of four world regattas or if GGM Bob Blakey (NZL) had a hand in it as he was sidelined from sailing due to an injury and instead helping with race duty ... but, I have never seen this and Doug said he had never seen this. Turn the sound up for the full effect as each of the fleet winners finish their regatta. First is Brett and regrettably, I didn't get the full celebration on video. Next is Pablo, then Mark and finally, Gavin. Congratulations to all!!

Mexico Laser Master Worlds - Day 5

by Pam

Today we got the siesta boat again for the finish line. The GGMs had the first start followed by the GMs and then the Masters/Apprentices. The sailors were misbehaving. We started with three GGMs being UFD. I jumped up from my siesta to make sure Doug wasn't one of them. He wasn't but Mark wasn't either. Horn after horn, recalls, numbers being called and finally I poked my head up and grabbed the binoculars to quickly confirm that Mark was in the lead on the outer loop of the course and Doug was the second boat. Immediately, I was on my feet. Doug had the lead. By the middle of the first run he'd stretched out a bit and I was hopeful.

Doug's lead on the first run of the outer loop

By the second run, they'd run into the back of the GM fleet who were on their first run of the outer loop. It looked messy.  Doug got all mixed into the back and Mark seemed to have clear air.  As they rounded the leeward mark and headed for the finish, Mark seemed to be gaining on Doug but Doug still had a good lead. This is what it looked like at the last mark rounding as they split tacks.

Doug and Mark splitting tacks

Doug in the old sail, can't point with Mark so opted not to cover him and sail for the finish. Mark quickly closed Doug's lead and it came down to seconds between the two at the finish. Keep in mind, we're in a long boat and I'm filming off the back and they are calling the line from the front. 

In the second race, Mark gave Doug a little attention on the start line and Doug couldn't point worth a darn and quickly sailed himself backwards but managed to salvage a 4th. But he wasn't complaining. I believe Mark and Doug have 1st and 2nd secured without having to sail tomorrow but both intend to sail.

On the finish line we see yelling, port/starboards, collisions, tips, turns, incomplete turns, protests, celebrations, congratulations, questions about who got who, committee thank yous, and all the while we start to really rock and roll as the boats come in. It's all fun to witness but doesn't lend itself to good video when the competitors finish with large separations. Here are a couple of finishes without the separation at the front. In the GM fleet Tony Scali (AUS) got his first win.

In the Master fleet, Ernesto Rogriguez (USA) beat Brett for the second time and got his first win.

We have updated our pictures (not the best but they can be downloaded for free):
https://picasaweb.google.com/115638611171755254663/6288996217652860305

Mexico Laser Master Worlds - Day 4

by Pam

Today, we were treated to a much larger finish line boat. It had siesta (nap) written all over it. We had our lunch after the finish of the first race and then all on board had a good nap before the start of the next race. It was a hazy day with alot of slop out there that made for great napping but frustrating sailing.

In the first race, the GMs were misbehaving. The call from the pin boat was "Too. Many" and the committee boat called the fleet back. The offenders were all in the middle of the line. The next start was clean and the rest of the fleets behaved themselves. 

While we were busy snoozing on the finish line boat there were lots of horns and I just assumed the second race had started until I started hearing the pin boat calling out numbers. I sat up and realized no one was sailing and shortly thereafter six GMs began the sail of shame, leaving the race course after a black flag and looking a little bewildered. Behave near the pin boat guys.

Al Clark, (CAN) who won the first race with a nice lead got black flagged, Luke Carter (NZL) who had his best race of the regatta with a 2nd, also got tagged, plus 4 others. It hurt to watch.

As you can see in the results, except for the GGM fleet, the leaders in the other fleets had a little competition today. Mark Bethwaite (AUS) in the GGM decided to raise the bar on separation. Mark was a good distance ahead of Doug who was also a good distance ahead of the rest of the fleet. There was so much separation that it is impossible to capture it in a picture. So here's a video.

Insult to injury, Mark arrives at the finish line looking refreshed and relaxed as if he's just had a leisurely afternoon sail. Doug says that Brett says that Mark is doing something called precision steering. He sits perfectly still, doesn't shift his body weight around and simply steers through the waves and doesn't slow down. Something worth learning. 

So there was a meeting this evening among the sailors to discuss ideas for building Laser sailing. I didn't attend but listened to Eric Faust talk with Doug for about 5 minutes afterwards. As I understand it, Eric would like to see the entire Master class start together and sail together and then work out the handicap at the end. Personally, details aside, I think it's a good idea and would love to see everyone sail in the same race but the scoring to be done on handicap by age. If you have ideas, send them to Eric Faust (he's going to love me for that suggestion). 

Mexico Laser Master Worlds - Lay Day

by Pam

The lay day was kicked off with an evening social the night before. Lots of sailors relaxing, enjoying the free drinks and having a good time. The very talented GGM Alberto Larrea (ARG) grabbed the entertainer's guitar and started playing and singing and brought everyone to their feet.  

Here's a bit of what he sound like ...

After our party wound down, we noticed that Alberto had moved over to the next party and grabbed another entertainer's guitar and was singing and playing for the other group.

Folks scattered everywhere for the lay day. The hotel helped everyone plan the perfect day off. We talked with several as they returned. No one had a bad trip. Everyone thought they'd picked the exact right thing for them. Some went to the beach and surfed. Some swam with the dolphins. Mark Bethwaite played golf and got beat. Doug and I did Los Veranos with 12 zip line courses, the last of which was a race. I got a good shove and Doug was left simply using his weight. He passed me at the end for his first win since the regatta began. This was after we did the banana split run where you had to make monkey noises along the way for 7 years of good luck. Doug came in hot with a 'ee ee ooh ooh ... oh shit." Maybe, just maybe, the lay day will be a turning point in Mark and Doug's luck.

We have outstanding media coverage and pictures at this event. Here is a clip with Doug's interview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUd_NvBVPE4

My pictures pale in comparison but they are royalty free:

https://picasaweb.google.com/115638611171755254663/6288996217652860305