News
UKLA National Championships 2020 garments
We teamed up with the Old Salt Loft and Stitch Print and created a variety of UKLA Nationals Garments for you to choose from.
IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT YOU ORDER YOUR GARMENTS BEFORE THE EVENT!
Take a look and order away!! These t-shirts, hoodies, toodies and zoodies will only be available before and during the Championships. After the event the shop will be turned into general UKLA shop where you will still be able to order other items, but not the ones designed for the National Championships.
Browse and order yours here
UKLA AGM 2020 Notice
This year’s AGM is held a bit later as we were hoping for the covid situation to stabilise. So far, we are planning for the meeting to be online only via Zoom platform, however should Government restriction ease and it will be deemed safe to do so, we will conside a “real” meeting. This is to be confirmed closer to date.
INTERNATIONAL UKLA ASSOCIATION - 48th ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Dear members -
Notice is hereby given that the 2020 Annual General Meeting of the International Laser UK Class Association will be held online via Zoom platform, on Saturday, 26th September 2020 at 7.00 p.m. BST.
Meeting link can be found here
To date, the following officers offered themselves for re-election and further nominations have been received:
Nominations for officers duly proposed by and seconded by a full member may be submitted in writing along with the nominee’s consent to office@laser.org.uk by Sunday 29th August 2020.
Notice of any other proper business must also be given by that time.
UKLA National Championships 2020
As you all know the UKLA Nationals is going ahead at Weymouth in August 2020! Seems everyone wants to do it – the British Sailing Team including our Olympic Representatives, Masters sailors, Youth sailors, Club sailors!
We reached the original capacity very quickly. By splitting the fleets we’ve kept competitor numbers as high as possible – ILCA 7/Full Rigs and ILCA 4/4.7’s now capped at 110 combined will race from 24th-26th August. ILCA 6/Radials now capped at 110 will race from 27th-29th August. Be in no doubt, whichever fleet you’re in, the racing will be extremely competitive!
Everything must be done in a Covid secure way, thus:
No access to showers or changing rooms
Social distancing is essential
Groups of 6 people or less
Make sure you have a mask with you
Registration will be online
Please ensure you follow any directions extremely carefully
We hope to have daily prize givings, question and answer sessions, and prize draws each evening as they have proved extremely popular at the last two Nationals - the difference obviously this year is that they will all be on Zoom and posted online.
Many thanks to our major daily sponsors who will be giving away fantastic prizes at the prize draws: Ovington Boats, Sailingfast, Sailboats, and our other generous sponsors including South East Sailboats and Noble Marine.
There’ll be free pasta pots after racing for all competitors – served in a Covid secure way of course.
Lorenzo Chiavarini - current European Champion - will host a Race Briefing for all on the Sunday night. This will be after the official Competitors’ Briefing from our PRO Paul Jackson, video of which to be released at 6.00 pm. Both briefings will be held on line. Similarly, top coach and UKLA Training Officer Tim Hulse will host a Race Briefing on the Wednesday night for all Radial sailors after the Competitors’Briefing at 6.30 pm. Superstar Nick Thompson has also offered to do us a briefing, so that’s very exciting!- details to follow…
Finally, a very important message from our Chairman Rob Cage:
“Getting excited, only 12 days till the 2020 UKLA Nationals. Absolute sell out, all the great and the good will be there.
Quick reminder - this will be a very different Regatta to any you have sailed before. Being Covid safe means most things at the event have changed.
Please ensure you are up to speed on all the latest Covid statute, Govt and RYA guidance. Please read the rules and guidance of the Organising Authority, UKLA and WPNSA. If you don't think you will be able to comply with these rules please withdraw now and keep everybody safe.
See you afloat,
Rob
UKLA Chair”
Laser Masters Update - 22 July 2020
Save the dates for our Autumn regattas.
We are working with the host clubs to arrange the Masters Autumn regattas. They may look a little different to usual. Please be patient whilst we continue ensure that we organise the best possible events within the COVID 19 restrictions.
Draycote Water Sailing Club 19 - 20 September
Pevensey Bay Sailing Club 10 - 11 October
Chew Valley Sailing Club 07 - 08 November
UKLA National Regatta 2020 - save the date
UK Laser Association National Regatta
What you need to know:
Dates: 23rd-29th August 2020
Location: Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy
The UKLA Committee are working closely with WPNSA to be able to deliver a safe event for sailors to enjoy. It’s been a while (March qualifier!) since a big event like that took place, but we hope that Government restrictions will continue to ease over the next few weeks to enable us to run the event. No doubt, the event will not be like any other we had so far. If you watch the news, you already know how our world has changed since the Lockdown and how difficult it has become to plan anything. Nevertheless, we continue to plan and review, plan and review, plan and review… which is why we are unable to give you more information apart from dates and location at the moment.
Rest assured we are working hard to make it happen so watch this space!
Fingers and toes crossed!
Lasers dominate at the RYA Spring Class e-Championships
Over the last two months, 788 sailors representing 26 classes have been battling it out on the virtual waters, in an attempt to represent their class in the national final of the RYA eSailing Spring Class Championship.
Getting through to the final is no easy feat, not only does it mean beating fellow class racers in a class championship, but it also means beating other class champions to stake claim to a place in the final.
In the case of the UKLA, our spring VR-Sport.tv and V-rigger.com Laser Lockdown Ladder series was used to select the e-sailors to represent our classes. As noted in our May newsletter, our selection process came down to the wire, with Mike O’Donovan defeating our e-sailing national champion, Sam Whaley by one point to represent the Laser Standards. Max Steele, who won the RYA’s ET Junior National e-Championships, and silver at the RYA Youth National e-Championships achieved bronze in our Ladder series, and first Laser 4.7. This was just two points ahead of Arthur Farley who was the first Laser Radial. Sam Whaley also qualified to the RYA’s class e-championships through his performance in the Waszp class.
From the start, the UKLA sailors dominated the event. Mike O’Donovan won the top half of the semi-finals with Max Steele just a couple of points behind, but substantially ahead of the other class sailors. On the same day, Arthur Farley won the other half of the semi-finals, with Sam Whaley also qualifying to the finals.
All four of our UKLA qualifying sailors therefore made it to the finals, together with sailors from RS Aeros, RC35’s, Miracle’s, Firefly’s, Lark’s, Merlin Rocket, Hornet’s, SB20’s, Waszp’s, GP14, RS Tera, and Scorpions. Of note was the virtual-regatta #1 ranked UK e-sailor, Donnie Gillies, from the GP14 class.
The UKLA dominance continued in the final round, although it was much tighter when the two halves of the semi-finals came together. Mike O’Donovan opened the event with a bullet in the first race, but only narrowly defeating Sam Whaley into second. This was then reciprocated by Arthur Farley winning the second race, with Max Steele achieving third. Mike and Sam then went on to achieve second placings in the third and fourth races respectively, putting them in strong podium positions going into the final race.
However, with five races and two discards in the final round, it came down to the last race which lead to position changes on the podium. Arthur Farley pulled out the stops with a phenominal spinnaker reach start to win the final race and claim his spot on the podium, above Sam Whaley in third, but not enough to topple Mike from Gold. Max’s results were more uniform which meant that after discards he ended the event in 12th place overall and first junior, one place ahead of Isabelle Waha of the SB20 fleet, who was the first female.
Mike’s comments:
“The whole event was very competitive and after a good start to the finals I had to work hard to defend an early lead. The racing was really close and my competitors pushed me right to the last race, with Sam right on my heels and Rory and Arthur not far behind. But I thankfully managed to recover from a bad start and I'm so glad I could come through leading a 1, 2 and (de-facto) 3 for the Laser Class. And thanks to my competitors for the great racing and thanks to the organisers and to the sponsors (VRsport and VRigger) for giving us something fun to do during this Lockdown!”
Comments on the revision of the ILCA constitution
EurILCA submits feedback on ILCA constitution review.
More than 400 European sailors have responded to surveys and / or have sent individual feedback. In addition, EurILCA has also received summary feedback from a number of districts. Many thanks to all who have contributed. The EurILCA board has carefully reviewed all responses and prepared a proposal which was sent to ILCA. The main ideas are:
ILCA objectives should be clearly defined and ILCA should be committed to the one-design principle.
The ILCA World Council shall be more representative of the distribution of the sailors world-wide. Only the regional representatives shall have voting rights.
All World Council members shall have term limits.
ILCA shall be more transparent, including full disclosure of finances. A procedure for expense control and regular audits shall be established.
Members shall vote on all important changes of the Laser Construction Manual.
All new and existing builders shall be members of the technical committee.
Click below links for further information:
EurILCA summary sent to ILCA. It is made by the executive committee in coordination with Alexandra Behrens from the German Laser Class (Alexandra as World Council member is part of the working group to review the ILCA constitution).
Progress Report on New Class Builders
JUNE 12, 2020
In a previous article, ILCA outlined the new requirements mandated in World Sailing’s Olympic Equipment Policy for allowing new builders access to markets for Olympic sailing equipment. This article will attempt to summarize the new procedures put in place by ILCA and give a brief status report on the ongoing process to bring on new manufacturers.
In response to concerns over European Union antitrust law, World Sailing has adopted a new Olympic Equipment Policy for its Olympic classes beginning with the 2024 Olympics. Generally, the policy mandates that all Olympic classes allow interested and qualified manufacturers of boats and equipment to gain access to the market through an open process. Recognizing the importance of the 4-year Olympic cycle the idea is that this process occurs early enough to insure equipment from new manufacturers to be universally available well in advance of the Olympic games.
World Sailing’s policy is general, it applies to manufacturers of boats and related equipment such as foils, spars and sails. Obviously, this is a big change for ILCA so the approach has been to first tackle bringing on the new builders (hull manufacturers) and then follow in the coming months to opening to parts manufacturers. More detail will come on that in the future.
It should be pointed out that of the current Olympic classes, ours is the most impacted by this new policy as our class sees the most sales of boats and equipment worldwide each year. This also means our class is the most visible in World Sailing’s efforts to comply with EU antitrust law.
The actual process for opening to new builders has been described in detail in a previous article. The process can be generally summarized as falling into four main Stages:
1. Initial Application – Open to any applicant and reviewed on broad criteria to ensure that the applicant is reasonably likely to be able to meet the detailed requirements and understand fully what is involved in the process.
2. Detailed Submission – All applicants who were successful in passing the first Stage were then invited to submit a fully detailed application covering a full range of information on experience, personnel, manufacturing capability and facilities, marketing experience, a business plan etc. During this process applicants were required to sign non-disclosure agreements and were then provided with full information on all the technical and contractual requirements needed to become a class builder.
3. Pre-Production Samples – If the applicant is successful in satisfying the requirements of the detailed review they are then granted provisional builder status. This allows them to purchase the required moulds etc. from the class and set up for initial production. They are then required to produce 10 hulls as a final approval criterion. If they successfully meet all the construction manual requirements in producing the 10 boats they will then be granted full class builder status.
4. Ongoing Review – All new builders will be subject to regular checks by the class and World Sailing to ensure that they continue to fully meet the requirements of the class construction manual and the World Sailing Olympic agreement.
At the heart of this process is the principle that has underpinned the success of the class for nearly 50 years: that every boat built by any manufacturer is as identical as possible to the boats from other manufacturers, and that it is the sailor who determines the results of any race, not the equipment. ILCA is taking this very seriously and, as previously reported, has recently significantly augmented its technical staff – both to help confirm new builders as they work through the process but, more important, to ensure ongoing compliance with the build manual.
The process is now well underway. Out of over 30 initial applications, seven builders were initially offered the opportunity to become new class builders after Stage 2, as detailed in a previous press article, subject to their signing the required contracts and completing the necessary technical approvals and construction of test boats. To date six of these have elected to proceed and are now in Stage 3. All six are commencing preparations to manufacture boats. A small number of additional builders are still engaged in Stage 2 of the process and may be added to the list of builders over the next few months.
Of the 6 builders currently proceeding three, Ovington, Devoti and Nautivela, have received their moulds while the other three, Rio Tecna, Element 6 Evolution and Zou Inter Marine, have moulds in transport and should receive them in the coming weeks. All three of the European builders have been impacted by issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic and, obviously this has slowed their progress towards becoming approved builders. Still, both Ovington and Devoti have been able to start work on producing their first test boats with Nautivela now also in making progress. Depending on how soon each can get back to full operation they could be producing their first new boats for sale within a couple of months – currently projecting a summer timeline. It is anticipated that the rest of the builders could be producing boats in the early fall. Once again, it needs to be stressed that any predictions on when new boats will become available will depend critically on further impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Once the new builders have completed the approval process and are in full production the ILCA Technical Team will begin the process of bringing on new manufacturers of foils, spars and sails. In addition, they will begin the process of ensuring ongoing compliance with the build manual.
It is important to again stress that ILCA is fully committed to maintaining the strict one-design nature of the class – that all existing boats can compete side-by-side with boats from new builders in tests of sailor against sailor, not equipment against equipment – and, critically, at the cheapest price possible. The first step in that process is for the ILCA Technical Team to work with all of the builders – new and legacy – to ensure strict compliance with the build manual. After that the team will work to make sure of ongoing compliance – through regular inspections of the manufacturers, development of in-field spot tests of boats and equipment and sailor feedback. The one-design principle is critical to our class and its long term future and the class aims to make this the centerpiece as we move forward with new manufacturers.
Obviously, this compliance comes with a cost and ILCA has developed a plan for funding this oversight in a manner which should minimally impact the price of boats and equipment. Future articles will outline this plan in more detail and will also look at the proposed procedure for ensuring compliance with the build manual and maintaining the strict one-design nature of the boats.
2020 - Annual General Meeting
This year’s 48th Annual General Meeting was meant to be held at the Nationals event at Mounts Bay.
Unfortunately, the current COVID 19 restrictions have meant we have had to cancel this event. We are now actively looking at alternative options to enable the 2020 Annual General Meeting and voting process to take place.
The date and format of the AGM is yet to be determined – watch this space. We will communicate via the news item on the website and other channels once details are confirmed.
In the meantime, if you would like to be become part of the team as a committee member or as a non-committee member, we would love to hear from you contact page
The VR-Sport.tv and VR Super Store Spring e-National Championships
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.
Given how the world has become increasingly virtual, it is fitting that we have secured prizes generously sponsored by VRsport TV and VR Super Store
Check out the Sponsor Corner of what other deals are avaiable to UKLA members
Sponsor corner - VR Super Store June offer
VRsport TV - Fleet Special VRsport TV offer
General subscription offer is open to everyone from the UKLA. VRsport TV have arranged for a super discount specially for anyone from the UKLA to take advantage of - 75% off for the first two months and cancellation anytime to access the 1000’s of programmes all in one place - (normally £6.49 per month).
The VRsport TV App can be downloaded on either Android or Apple and can be viewed on your Apple TV box too for the bigger screen experience.
Follow the promotional link and use offer password: RACE
VR Super Store - Fleet Special VR Super Store offer
A special 15% discount off everything on the VR Super Store webstore - this offer is available throughout the whole of June starting today!
Please use cupon code RACE via the Basket and then press Redeem coupon for discount to be applied.
Our gratitude goes to our sponsors and we encourage all members to check out the equipment at the VR Super Store via their website, as well as to #sharethepassion on VRsport TV.
Virtual Racing Week 3 - May 2020
The week saw two main events involving UK Laser sailors:
The Battle of the Splashes
Sailing Chandlery Team Racing e-Championships
UKLA Lockdown ladder
Battle of the Splashes
The biggest of the week was probably the Battle of the Splashes, which was an e-sailing contest between GBR and Australia. This tussle between sailors literally in the hall of fame of sailing including a mix of host of Olympians, America's Cup winners and World and National Champions.
Australia was represented by:
Tom Slingsby, Tom Burton, Kyle Langford, Matt Chew and Ted Hackney.
Team GB on the other hand was represented by:
Luke Patience, Stuart Bithell, Ben Saxton, Jonny McGovern, and our own UKLA Sam Whaley.
There were guest appearances from Andrew Strauss and Sir Ben Ainslie.
In this event, the Brits proved too strong for the Aussies, with the first race going to Stuart Bithell, ahead of Luke Patience in second and Tom Burton of Australia in third. The second race went to Tom Burton, ahead of Sam Whaley in second and Luke Patience in third. There was still a lot to fight for going into race three, which was in F-50 cats.
However, Sam Whaley practically lead the race from the start, to take gold for the GBR, ahead of Matt Chew in second and Tom Burton in third. Congratulations to Sam for bringing the splAshes home.
The event can be relived here
UKLA Lockdown Ladder-3
Meanwhile, the UKLA’s Lockdown Ladder continued as usual.
Mike O’Donovan of the Laser Standard fleet won on the first day, ahead of Keijiro Kikkawa in second and Max Steele in third (both Laser 4.7 sailors). Mike won again on the second day, this time ahead of Scott Forbes in second and Arthur Farley in third (both Laser Radial sailors).
This leads to the Ladder rankings as shown in the table.
Mike O’Donovan is a clear front runner for the Laser Standards, ahead of Sam Whaley in second and Charlie South in a distant third. Scott Forbes, Arthur Farley and Shotaro Kikkawa are battling for the Laser Radial crown, while it is neck and neck between Keijiro Kikkawa and Max Steele for the Laser 4.7 crown, with Tom Williamson in third.
Laser Masters Nationals 3-5th July - CANCELLED
Laser Masters Nationals – CANCELLED.
Unfortunately we have had to cancel the Laser Masters National Championships 3-5 July 20, due to the ongoing COVID 19 outbreak and related restrictions.
We are working hard on the arrangements for the rest of the season, and I will update you as soon as I have further details. Please be aware, that the format may well be different to what we are used to.
Alison
UK Laser Masters Representative
UPDATE - Laser Performance UK Laser Open Championships
2020 UKLA National Championships 25th – 31st July 2020
We are sorry to advise the 2020 Laser Nationals will not be held at Mounts Bay SC.
The National Trust and the St Aubyn Estate control St Michael’s Mount including the harbour, access to boats, the beach and slipways onto the beach. Their Agent has specifically asked that the event be cancelled. The latest RYA information recommends that clubs should abide by the decisions of harbour authorities, land owners and property owners.
The UKLA Committee are therefore exploring alternative venues and dates to see if we can hold a 2020 Laser National Championship.
Clearly if we can host the event it will be different to previous years, but we remain determined to give it our best efforts. We will need more volunteers than in normal years, please contact Ellie if you are able to help us ashore, or afloat, or in any capacity.
Lockdown Ladder w2 report
While the sailing community digests the impact of the Government’s updated guidance on lockdown rules, we have been continuing with our Laser Lockdown Ladder Series. Below is the account of week-2 of the series, and some information on future events.
The number of entrants has been steadily growing and accordingly week-2 of the Lockdown Ladder series had to be flighted. There were a few absentees on the first day, possibly due to the glorious weather in the real world, however turn out was strong on the second and third days.
The blue flight was won by Max Steele, followed by Scott Forbes in second and Malcolm Lee in third. The red flight was won by Mike O’Donovan, followed by Tom Williamson and then Arthur Farley.
The final day brought the top-10 sailors from each flight together in what was a highly charged contest. In the end, Mike O’Donovan (Laser Standard Red), prevailed over Max Steele (Laser 4.7 Blue) in second (who earlier in the day won the Eric Twiname e-Sailing Championships!), Scott Forbes (Laser Radial Red) placed third, with Keijiro Kikkawa (Laser 4.7 Red) just two points behind in fourth.
At the end of each day’s sailing, there is a customary fun race with F-50’s, and there is a separate score board being maintained, as this league is not being used to select our class representatives at the RYA’s Spring Class e-Sailing Championships. The F-50 division of Ladder-2 went to Mike O’Donovan ahead of Sam Whaley in second, and Max Steele in third, although the overall series score board has these three gentlemen ranked in reverse order. Malcolm Lee, Arthur Farley, and Charlie South are all close behind.
Sailors are reminded that performance in our main Lockdown Ladder series will be used to select our representatives at the RYA’s Spring Class e-Sailing Championships.
Entries for Ladder Week 3 close at 5pm on Friday 15 May. Entry is free of charge and is made via our website. For any queries, please email laser47@laser.org.uk
Results for the top-20 competitors who made it to the final round of ladder week 2:
ICLA events 2020
Due to the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, ILCA has mutually agreed with our host organizations that conducting Laser World Championships in 2020 will not be viable as originally planned, and rescheduling for later in the year was not a workable option. So, unfortunately for our sailors and everyone involved in the planning of the Championships, the events are being cancelled.
The cancelled events are:
2020 ILCA Under-21 World Championships - Malcesine, Italy - 17-14 July
2020 ILCA Laser 4.7 Youth World Championships - Arco, Italy - 26 July - 3 August
2020 ILCA Radial Youth World Championships - Dziwnów, Poland - 22 -30 August
Lockdown Ladder w1 report
Race Officer Gary Steele Finkelstein’s Brief Beport
The event was fully subscribed, with competitors from all three fleets, Laser 4.7, Radials, and Standards, and also spanning from Youth to Masters.
A few participants had the customary “equipment” (aka broadband) issues, and the Race Officer was grateful for rule 16 “No redress is available for broadband or other equipment issues.”, which makes his life a lot easier.
The first day saw three races involving J70’s, then 49’ers then Nacras. Bullets were achieved by Josh Morgan in the first race, Tom Williamson in the second, and Sam Whaley in the third. However consistently strong placings meant that the day went to Arthur Farley ahead of Charlie South on countback, both scoring 10 points over the three races. Third place went to Josh Morgan, with Keijiro Kikkawa following in 4th and Sam Whaley in 5th (who had an unlucky broadband equipment issue at the start of the first race).
The second day had a slightly different ordering with the 49’ers opening the racing, followed by Nacras and then Stars. Sam Whaley dominated with two bullets and a 7th, with Charlie South and Keijiro Kikkawa level pegging with 12 points, and Shotaro Kikkawa and George Sunderland (who also had an unlucky broadband/equipment incident in the last race), in distant 4th and 5th placings.
Despite Sam Whaley’s strong comeback, Charlie South’s consistency was just enough to keep him at the top of the leader board after two days, with Sam ranked second; level pegging with Keijiro Kikkawa who is sitting in third on countback. Keijiro’s brother Shotaro is in fourth place with Arthur Farley having slipped into fifth.
Race Officer’s Comment: “The standard is clearly very, very high. This fleet will punish you if you make just a small mistake. But that’s hardly surprising given how good Laser sailors are with tactics. This should not put you off from joining the ladder series, especially if you are a Laser sailor with strong tactical skills. It is very fun, a good test of tactics, and it is very tight, on the scoreboard. It will be even tighter next week when new entrants join the series, and the generous discard system starts to kick in.”
As we have since had even more entrants, and as next week end is a public holiday, the format for Lockdown Ladder-2 will be over three days, and is likely to be flighted, with blue and red flights taking place on Friday 8 May (4pm) and Sat 9 May (4pm), with flight results being computed on Saturday night for a final round on Sunday (at 4pm).
ET e-sailing Championships 8-10th May 2020
Attention 4.7 sailors
Due to Covid-19 and the cancellation of the actual ET Championships the RYA in conjunction with the Eric Twiname Trust have decided to run an e-sailing event through the Virtual Regatta game.
Sailors will be racing against other sailors in their ‘class’ in a race series. There will also be a ‘show down series’ for the top two sailors from each class. Racing will take approximately 1hr so you won’t be on the game all day
If you haven’t played the game before please follow the steps below –
1. Head to the officia VR website
2. Sign up for a FREE account – Not the VIP account which will ask you to pay.
3. Watch this link which will help you set up your profile and top tips for the basics of the game.
4. The game can also be played on an ipad or iphone (download the VR app)
Entry to the e-sailing ET’s is FREE, The closing date for registration is midnight on the 3rd May
Click here to sign up.
You will need to sign up to the game before you register for the ET champs as you need to input your game ‘boat name’.
The event is optional not compulsory, if you have challenges with internet it may be difficult to play.
The Notice of Race with more information can be found here. Start times for each class will be provided by RYA in due course.
Laser Performance UK Laser Open and National Championships 2020
Please take our ONE QUESTION UK Laser Nationals 2020 survey!
Laser Performance UK Laser Open and National Championships 2020
Mounts Bay Sailing Club 25th -31st July
We are still all hoping to run the Nationals this year, provided we are given permission by the government.
Obviously, we may have to alter our plans for the socials as we assume Social Distancing measures will still be in force, but the sailing will be great - and, Laser sailing has got to be one of the best social distancing activities there is!
We will be keeping the entry fee to £150.00 with no late entry penalty up until 17th July.
We may need to limit numbers as MBSC will possibly struggle to find volunteers, so if we do manage to run the event we will need a lot of volunteers to step forward from the class - parents, people with ribs and boats.
Decision will be made beginning of June.
Laser Lockdown Ladder eSailing
Don’t get discouraged by the lockdown. There are plenty of ways to keep busy and if you have had enough of gardening and DIY - get back “on the water” with the virtual regatta!
Our lovely 4.7 rep Gary set up a Laser Ladder series for the Lockdown Period, which we are calling the Laser Lockdown Ladder eSailing Series
Fear not if you are not a 4.7 sailor - you can still join as you will not be sailing a laser anyway! Races will be in mono-hulls, double handers and even catamarans! Ever hoisted a spinnaker? What could possibly go wrong…
Participation is free of charge and open to UKLA members (in any fleet, 4.7, Radial or Standard - adult or youth), although there will be a maximum of 40 entrants (accepted on a first come first served basis).
Simply email 4.7 Rep Gary with your:
name
virtual regatta sail-name
UKLA membership number, and
mobile phone number
by 5pm each Friday to participate in the week-end races, which will be at 4pm each Saturday and Sunday. Your mobile phone number will only be used to join a dedicated whatsapp group.
We will be using the results of the Laser Lockdown Ladder Series to determine the UKLA class representatives at the RYA's Spring Class e-Sailing Championships.
Further details are available on the Laser Lockdown Ladder event page:
Happy eSailing!