2017 Laser Master Worlds - Day 5 and 6

by Pam

Day 5

1, 2, 3, go

There is alot of waiting around for the sea breeze at this regatta. The Standard fleet left the harbor about 1:00 pm and the Radial fleet followed about an hour later. Only one race was to be had and it began about 4:00 pm with the breeze dying and changing at the end.  

As the Standard GMs and GGMs sailed past the Radials, they saw a large pack of the front of the fleet sitting in a dying breeze at the finish with the back of the fleet in the new offshore breeze sailing right past them with many boats losing 20 places or more. The same thing had happened in the Masters fleet on the Standard course but to a lesser degree. Many thought the race should not have counted.

So as the offshore breeze filled in, both fleets were finishing their racing about the same time and both were flying back to the harbor in the best breeze of the day ... all at the same time. In a flash all 4 ramps were completely clogged and the boats began to back up and the light went on for the race committee and they began a frantic effort to hold the fleet back and try to stage the return. Doug had never seen anything like it before. I happened to be sitting at the entrance to small channel into the harbor and witnessed the chaos which drew a crowd onshore with lots of picture taking. I took some videos which I will post later.

Day 6

This was the organized return of the back half of Radial Fleet on Day 6

The Standard fleet in a holding pattern waiting to enter the harbor on Day 6

A glimpse of the big boat line up to the left inserting themselves between the separation in the fleets

Waiting queue at one ramp

By noon, most were convinced there would be no sailing today but those that lost places yesterday or were close to the leader, were quite anxious to sail.  The postpone came down for both fleets and they headed out about 1:00 pm. I watched for a bit and then walked into town for one last bit of gift shopping and when I returned an hour later, the last of the steady stream of Lasers were still exiting the harbor. Even though many large sailboats often mix in with the fleet as they enter and exit, there were about a dozen who had been waiting on the Lasers for an hour outside the channel.   

The fleets bobbed around all day and about 4:00 pm called it a day with no races to be had. Again, both fleets headed into the harbor at the same time. Today, the breeze was lighter so they came in with less speed, the race committee was more prepared, and there was a slight separation in the fleets since the Standards were farther out. The Radials all got held before the final turn into the harbor and the Standards got held at another point farther out.  Still it drew a crowd onshore with lots of pictures being taken.