Peter Shope on winning the 2018 Master Midwinters

By Doug

Peter Shope (195425) was the fastest at the 2012 Master Midwinters but he did not win because of high-risk starts like this one.

This resulted in an OCS, while the winner of this event cannot be seen because he's hidden in the middle of the line. Peter changed his style to start more conservatively and won the 2015 Laser Master Worlds.

In this video, Peter talks about how he easily won the 2018 Master Midwinters by more conservative starts, his downwind speed to win a race, and other things that have kept him at the top of his game. Thanks to Dave Morton for the great aerial footage.

Al Clark update

A bunch of old geezers are in Florida for the Florida Masters and the Midwinters. On Saturday evening, we had supper with Al Clark and his wife Sharon who had just arrived from Vancouver. Everything was normal.

Then on Sunday, we learned from Andy Roy that Al had suffered a heart attack that morning. Here’s the latest update from Andy.

Good news update for everyone: Allan is improving nicely, although still in ICU. He has had a pretty sore chest from the CPR. Sharon had a long conversation with a Vancouver cardiologist who walked through everything that’s happened (she has been in contact with the Florida doctors). The doctor has an Olympic speed skater as a patient who has a heart arrhythmia condition similar to what has hit Al. The doctor thinks he’ll be ready for discharge by the weekend and be back to coaching and racing Lasers in about 8 weeks. Fabulous news!

Al Clark leading Andy Roy at one of the weather marks.   Christy Usher/Christine Robin Photography  
They would finish the world championship in this order.

2018 Florida Masters

By Doug

I took a five month sabbatical from sailing after breaking my ribs training for the Croatian Master Worlds and am happy to be back on the water again. The final day of the Florida Masters was held in the open water with a strong gulf stream and the biggest waves I’ve sailed in for five years. Note to self: no practice + big waves = a bad result. I was embarrassed to be the top GGM.

Or maybe others are getting faster. Former GM world champion Peter Shope finished 5th. Mike Matan just retuned after training for 2½ weeks in Cabarete and was fast, finishing 4th. Dave Chapin and Ari Barshi were fast and finished 3rd and 2nd respectively. But the event was easily won by Ernesto Rodriguez who finished 3rd at the Master Words in Croatia last year. Ernesto had great speed and explains how he won both races on the final day.