EACH of the five principal Racing Classes on the Welsh Harp has the lake to itself one Sunday a year in which to hold an open meeting for any boat of that Class, wherever based.
As this is obviously a good recruiting ground for new members it is important that the event is well run and one hopes for warm weather and an exciting wind.
On Sunday it was the turn of the Lasers, and Wembley SC ensured the event would be well run by having John and Judy Gill as Race Officers. With a strong southerly wind blowing up the Welsh Harp there would undoubtedly be exciting sailing for the 40 boats, 34 from the host club but only just six visitors.
The visitors, however, included several who spend their summer racing at the circuit meetings, rather than at their own clubs, and in a testing wind where gusts not only doubled the windspeed but often shifted the direction by 20 degrees, the experience of sailing in such conditions on a variety of waters meant that the visitors did extremely well.
The first of the three races was won by Martin Evans, a visitor from Dabchicks, who followed this with a second in the middle race.
With one race to discard this meant either would have a countable score no worse than three and would both fill the first two places.
Wembley's Ben Elvin was third in the morning and fourth in the middle race but found his light weight such a disadvantage in the vicious gusts, which were capsizing the Lasers like ninepins, that he opted not to launch again and rely on his seven points to keep him in the prize list.
After retiring following a nasty capsize in the morning race Wembley's Paul Beard scored a third in the middle race which gave him the chance to make the top five in the prize list but his chances had gone when he suffered a worse capsize in the final race.
The final race in fact went to the visitors, Evans beating Lund to take the trophy, but third place in the final race went to Wembley's Peter Austin.
