This past long weekend saw the Spring e-Nationals and finals of the popular May Laser Lockdown Ladder Series.

After four weeks of Lockdown virtual e-Sailing, Mike O’Donovan (Laser Standard) was on the top of the leaderboard with Max Steele and Keijiro Kikkawa (both from the 4.7 fleet) equal on points in second place, with Sam Whaley (Laser Standard), Scott Forbes (Laser Radial) and Arthur Farley (Laser Radial) not far behind.

The Spring e-Nationals and class selection finals took place at the glorious virtual venue of Cowes, and as always consisted of a monohull, catamaran, and a double hander. All three days had stunning weather, although the virtual world seemed to be a little less sunny and more shifty than the real world, but still ‘champagne’ sailing conditions.

Hot off the heels of his impressive performance at the Battle of the Splashes between GBR and Australia, Sam Whaley also pulled out the stops at the Laser e-Nationals, taking the gold bib at the end of the first day, ahead of Arthur Farley in second and Max Steele in third, with Mike O’Donovan achieving fourth placing. Sam continued his good form and held onto the yellow bib after day 2, ahead of George Sunderland (Standard) in second, Arthur Farley in third with Tim Evans from the Laser 4.7 fleet in fourth.

It was therefore all to race for going into the final day, especially to secure the class selection at the RYA’s Class e-Championships. On the final day, with some tactical wizardry and understanding of the virtual sailing ruleset, Arthur Farley pipped Sam Whaley into second. George Sunderland pulled out another strong performance in third place with Mike O’Donovan again achieving fourth.

Overall, this meant that Sam Whaley (Laser Standard) won the Spring e-Nationals with Arthur Farley (Laser Radial) in second place, and George Sunderland (Laser Standard) taking Bronze. Max Steele (first Laser 4.7) came in 4th place, ahead of Mike O’Donovan (Laser Standard) in 5th. Fellow Scott, Lorna Drummond (Laser Radial) was the first lady, in a very strong 6th place overall.

However, when looking at the performance over the whole of the Laser Lockdown Ladder Series, Mike O’Donovan ended a mere one point ahead of Sam Whaley in second. Max Steele (Laser 4.7’s) ended in third place overall, just two points ahead of Arthur Farley (first Radial) in 4th place.

This means that, although Sam Whaley is crowned our Spring e-National Champion, Mike O’Donovan has won the selection series to represent the Laser Standard class at the RYA Class e-Championships; with Arthur Farley winning the selection series to represent the Laser Radial Class and Max Steele the Laser 4.7’s.