The sea breeze returned to St. Margaret’s Bay – and with an early start all fleets got two races in on Day Five of the Masters’ World Laser Championships. Under sunny skies and winds up to 16 knots, it is reported to have been an excellent day on the bay. Our Richard Roberts inched up in the Grand Masters’ Radial Fleet overall standings to 11th, knocking on the door of top 10. Richard had a 23rd in the first race of the day, his drop race, and an excellent 8th in the second race of the day, his best finish to date.
Our friend, Rob Koci had a less good day with a 3rd followed by a 22nd, a finish that he cannot drop because he had an OCS earlier in the regatta, in a race where he had crossed the finish line in first. For Rob this last race of the day was crushing: “The second race of the day shut the door on my hopes of winning the Worlds. I started well, but had trouble again on a tack and was pushed back to about 10. I was then flagged and had to do a turn. I fought back to about 6, but then went to the wrong mark and finished 22, putting me out of the running overall. I don’t think I was as crushed as I have been for the last 12 hours in a long time. I have been working for this for two years, and to lose it like this, with good boatspeed, and good scores, and to OCS, 17, and 22 my way to failure was just too much. I guess that’s sailing, but it is also life. I am not sure what I can learn from this. There is always learning to do. It’s just too early for me to really know what.” Rob has fallen to 8th overall in the Grand Masters’ Radial Fleet, but all hope is not lost for him. Three more races and he will be able to drop that 22 and, with the way he has been sailing, stranger things have happened…
It was also not a good day for Canadian Andy Roy, whose 17th and 12th in the Masters Laser Full Rig Gold Fleet pushed him down from 2nd to 6th overall.
Canadian Ray Davies, 2009 Mid Ontario Masters’ Champion, on the other hand, has moved up in the Apprentice (35 to 44 age group) Laser Full Rig Fleet all the way to 4th overall, with a chance to crack the medals with a good finish to the Regatta, and 70 year old Joe Van Rossem, another of our Mids friends, stands a very impressive 6th overall in the 42 boat Great Grand Master Radial Fleet…those timeless athletes who have found and bathed in the fountain of youth.
With the wind, “there were a lot of smiles out there today,” according to Gerry Giffin; “this is what people came here for”. The Regatta continues for two more days, wraping up on Saturday. Go Richard and the rest of the Canadian masters!