Chipstead Sailing Club

This year’s Chipstead Laser Open, part of the South East Laser Grand Prix Circuit was blessed with some wind, but regrettably generally from a northerly direction which created some large holes and shifts making conditions difficult for not only the Race Officer in setting courses, but for the record turnout of 15 visiting boats supplemented by 10 Club boats.

The two morning races were sailed in a wind which gusted at times up to 15 knots making for some planing. The Race Officer, Ric Lewis was able to set a course the length of the lake, although finding a decent beat proved difficult.

Race 1 saw an inevitably biased Committee boat end, and despite some testing the muddy shallows of the Lake, the racing was close, resulting in a win for Duncan Lawson (Weirwood) a few boat lengths ahead of David Goddard (Weirwood), with Simon Gillow (CSC) in third place.

Race 2 followed immediately and this time Goddard made no mistake, taking the win, with the Italian stallion, Sergio Messina (Bough Beech) in second, with the consistent Lawson and Gillow in third and fourth.

After a lunch provided by Lucas Catering, the Club’s caterers, the wind unfortunately remained in the same direction as the morning but reduced in strength somewhat, although it did not get any warmer.

Race 3 saw Goddard win again to wrap up the meeting, but this time there was a new face in second, Matt Cox (Bewl Valley), with Meshttp://chipsteadsc.org.uk/index.php/results/2019/open-meetings/laser-opensina managing a third, and Lawson again snapping at their heels in fourth.

The last race of the day saw Messina accelerate off the start line into a lead which was not to be lost, taking the win and securing second place overall, with Cox having another good result in second, and Goddard taking a leisurely third. Lawson was able to discard his result in this race, to take third overall.

Here is video of the start of race 4:

The Radial fleet had 4 entries and was dominated by Callum Sarsfield of the home Club with three firsts.

There was one 4.7 sailor, Ed Rollestone (Newhaven & Seaford) who not surprisingly took home the prize for that category!

Many thanks are due to Ric Lewis and his hard working Graduate fleet team, for once again ensuring a successful and efficiently run meeting which left a number of sailors saying howmuch they had enjoyed coming.

The photos below are of the CSC Laser Class Captain Russell Levermore with the prizewinners:

Hold mouse over image for description and click to enlarge

The full results are available here.