2009 Easter Laser Regatta

This year celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the Easter Laser Regatta at Austin Yacht Club. The father and mother of the regatta, Fred and Sally Schroth continue to pull it all together for the benefit of Laser sailors from around the country.

This year's Easter Regatta was sailed in varied conditions. Saturday was overcast and cool all day with a light to moderate easterly breeze. This wind direction is always challenging (and at times frustrating). There really isn't a good pattern to the breeze and you have to be disciplined to pick a side of the course and stay on the side you pick. It is very difficult to cross over the middle of the course for some reason which in past years has always haunted me.

In the first race, the pin end of the start was quite favored and I managed to get off the line with a decent start and went on to win the race. In the second race, I picked the opposite end of the line and thinking I saw more wind on the right. It looked good at first but it was always hard to get off of the right side of the course. I fought back into the top 5 or so boats and eventually got into a good battle with Eric Faust. We went back and forth passing each other and I managed to get a little left of him got a lane that he didn't get and was able to open up a pretty decent lead to get the win. Brad at one point had been pretty far back but was able to rally strongly back for a 2nd in the race.

The 3rd race of the day called for a leeward end start and I got an average start but was able to get off on to port tack pretty quickly. I eventually was able to work my way back into a good position and again was lucky to pass Brad on the last beat to win the race. I was really quite surprised to have won the first 3 races in conditions that normally don't suit my style of sailing.

The 4th race of the day was more of the same. I recall having an average start again and getting ping ponged around after the start and rounded the first weather mark well behind. In fact, every effort I made to pass boats was resulting in the loss of boats. I think at one point I was in the mid teens during the race. On the last beat, I was able to tack to the left right after the leeward mark and I worked the right side of the course to rally back to a 5th. Brad again had a good race and I was only a few points in the lead over the 45 boat fleet going into Sunday.

Going into Sunday's racing, Brad and I were pretty far in front of past champion and former Master's world Champ Doug Peckover and Bruce Martinson from Minnesota. Doug had started slowly and was starting to string some good races together and Bruce had sailed a very consistent series so far to they could not be counted out. A front came through early in the morning on Sunday and the skies began to clear and the wind had a very westerly angle. Usually this means big left shifts going up the western shoreline near the club with an occassional right shift that could not be ignored. The breeze slowly increased and conditions were perfect.

I was focused on making sure that I stayed near Brad and kept and eye on where he was going. I managed to sail a pretty good first weather leg and was in the top 3 at the first weather mark. Doug and Bruce were both sailing well in the increased breeze and it was difficult to get around them. I tried to stay focused on beating Brad though and didn't gamble too much on trying to win the races. After the first two races on Sunday, I had managed to increase my lead over Brad to about 10 points going into the last race.

This is where it gets interesting!! About 1/2 way up the first beat of what would prove to be the last race, I was in a pretty good position....near Brad and not too far out of the lead. I saw a big puff coming and leaned into the boat to pull on some cunningham and outhaul and the second I did this, I got auto-tacked and I wasn't quick enough to scamper up to the new high side of the boat and capsized. I fell in the water and had to swim around to the other side of the boat to right it. While this was going on, a huge left shift came in which allowed a lot of the fleet to almost close reach into the weather mark. When I finally got situated, I was near last place and Brad was in the top 5.

If the race ended now, Brad would win the regatta. I tried to stay patient and ignore the primal instincts to try and take big gambles to pass a lot of boats at once. Unfortunately, the shift lasted so long that the course was now turning into a game of follow the leader. Eventually, the wind began to clock to the normal direction which gave me a chance to start trying to claw my way back. I had to assume that Brad would win the race and I knew that I needed to get back to at least 10th in order to win with a tie breaker. I started gradually picking up boats at mark roundings, catching a shift here or there. Finally, in the last 100 yards of the race, there was one more pack of boats I had a shot of passing to get me into the top 10.

Luckly, I was able to pull it off and ended up with an 8th in the race and was able to win the regatta by 2 points over Brad. In the final analysis, I was a little ticked off at myself for getting caught off guard by that puff. It was probably a combination of fatigue and a little bit of trying to get comfortable with a new boat, control lines etc. Brad Winslett sailed a great regatta and was fun to compete with. Bruce Martinson had and unbelievably good day as did Doug Peckover. Here are the final results:

Here is the link to the final results:

http://schrothfiberglass.com/easter%202009%20results.htm


And here are the abbreviated results Laser Open:

Scott Young--22 points
Brad Winslett--24 points
Bruce Martinson--32 points
Doug Peckover--40 points
Chris Alexander--51 points

Many thanks to Fred and Sally for the great job that they do and to Barry Bowden and his crew including Claude Welles who loaned his boat to Bruce Martinson and did race committee for the weekend instead of sailing!!