Another one (Frost) bites the dust....

With ice flows drifting in the Estuary sufficient for the lifeboat to abort it's recent exercise for fear of hull damage, the Royal Tay Yacht Club has reluctantly had to cancel the Boxing Day racing.  This is the first time in the history of the Royal Tay Winter Series that it has ever had to be cacelled in advance but then we are having the codest December since records began over 100 years ago.  There will still be a social gathering in the clubhouse but no sailing.

(Just joking with the Polar Bears).  Fortunately for all the visiting penguins!

Winter Racing

Despite the RYA Squad Regatta weekends proving impossible due to the travel situation on Scotland's roads there are still some winter racing events if you have a continued craving for frostbite.

First up is the Boxing Day Regatta at Royal Tay Yacht Club.  Often attended by one or two top Laser squad sailors this might be an opportunity to strut your stuff on Boxing Day.  Details at www.royaltay.org
Please, please, please don't set out without checking the website and the weather forecast.

Then we have the famous Largo Bay New Years Day Race, which is actually a mini regatta of three races at Largo Bay Sailing Club, Lower Largo, Fife.  Again this event has fallen foul of access difficulties due to severe weather in the past so please check for the latest updates in the morning before you set out.

Strathclyde Christmas Regatta falls victim to Scotland's weather

Hi All,

As you will  have already gathered,  the recent weather has created havoc through-out the country, with snow and ice everywhere, Strathclyde Loch is no exception and has succumbed to the elements, as a result the Christmas Regatta planned for Sunday 19th has had to be cancelled.

It is our intention that, should the present weather pattern change and the ice melts, then we would have an event at some later date.

Meantime, may I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and hope to see you sometime in the New Year.

All the very best

Crawford Reid

Winter Squad Regatta Postponed

Sadly, due to the adverse weather and on the advice of local police the planned Winter Squad Regatta on 4th and 5th December 2010 has had to be postponed.  It is hoped it will still run but at some time next year.

The planned second Winter Regatta on 12th and 13th December is still on.

Snow way home for Laser Squad

It was an anxious day for parents as heavy snowfalls rendered roads impassible and stranded several of the squad at Cumbrae this weekend.  An early Ferry was also required as heavy snow and a forecast of 50 mph made the later ferry look somewhat uncertain.  But with a brave show of stiff upper lip and Dunkirk spirit all the boats were packed up by lunch despite the driving blizzard conditions and transferred over to Largs where various lift shares and temporary accommodation arrangements were offered and gratefully accepted.

Well done everyone.  Lets hope everyone is either home or safely tucked up in temporary accommodation waiting for snow gates or snow bound roads to open.

Winter, what winter?

Next up is the first ever multi squad race training weekend at Largs and Inverclyde.

G.

Scottish Laser Radials at the Inlands

Well done Lorenzo for an excellent performance to finish 3rd overall and to Andrew who was close behind in 8th.  Special mention to new boy Jordan Black who posted a very impressive 33 and to Jamie Noyes, Ian Symon and Samantha Foster who also made the gold fleet.

Leading the Scottish charge in silver fleet was Alex "Chuckie" Still in fifth followed by old adversary  "Agnes" (Angus) Gray-Stephens in 6th with Ross Stanley-White in 8th and Calum Tait close behind.  Kyle, Sarah, Ian and Katie completed our FOURTEEN boat team.  Well done to all the drivers too, no driver = no sailing, we could not get there without you.

Full results for gold and silver fleets are now available on the class association results page at www.laser.org.uk


G.

Strathclyde Loch Christmas Regatta Sunday 19th December 2010

Here are details of the Strathclyde Loch Christmas Regatta 2010.  A great social gathering.  Toppers and Optimists will be out in force.  Christmas lunch will be served afterwards. Lets show the Toppers they are not the only "friendly class".

Remember to check the club web site before you travel.  Event is weather dependant due to ice etc.

Laser Inland Championships 2010, 13/14th November 2010.

Good Luck to team Scotland at the Laser Inlands on Grafham Water this weekend.  Looks like light and shifty.

You can follow events on the Grafham webcam
http://www.grafham.org/?page_id=48

and the resulst will be posted on the event microsite when available

http://www.laser.org.uk/Events.php?Action=Results&SessionCRC=-167000084

Sail Laser supports Scottish sailor's Olympic dream

Sail Laser Scotland have announced they will be supporting future Olympic aspirant Samantha Foster to transition into the Ladies Olympic class, the Laser Radial.

Sail Laser Scotland will be following Samantha's progress as she trains over the winter with the RYA Scotland Laser Radial Squad and then competes in the Laser Nationwide Selector Series and the RYA Youth National Championships and Trials 2011 at Hayling Island in April.

Robert Mutlow, SailLaser Scotland Centre Manager said SailLaser's mission is basically to create sailors, that means to teach people to sail, involve them in the sailing community and give them access to sailboats and water activities, regardless of their gender, location, race, religion, economic status or physical ability and we are delighted to be helping Sammi to take the next step towards her Olympic dream.   Samantha will be keeping a diary of her experiences as she moves through the transition and we will be posting her reports on our SailLaser Scotland website to encourage other young sailors who wish to take the next step in their sailing career.

Samantha said I am really pleased to be helping sail Laser in their mission to share this great sport with as many new particiapnts as possible.  I have been lucky enough to have parents who have taken me sailing since I was a baby but only racing seriously for the last three years.  After training hard throughout last winter with the GBR Topper Youth Squad and the RYA Scotland Topper Squad, this year has been my best yet with my personal highlight being finishing 3rd overall and first lady in a World Championship Race on Lake Garda this summer.  Following my Olympic dream is going to take a huge amount of hard work for a lot more years but having the backing of supporters like SailLaser Scotland will be a huge help.

Pictured is SailLaser Scotland Manager Robert Mutlow and Samantha Foster with her new Laser dinghy.  We are not convinced she will be allowed to use that orange jib at the Olympics!

Team GBR

Just a few random pictures of GBR Radial stars to get you in the mood for your next time afloat!

Scottish Laser Radial Squad 2010/11

As the new squad gathered at Inverclyde this weekend for their orientation weekend we can now reveal the successful appliacants for the 2010/11 Laser Radial Squad.

We spotted:-
Sarah Alexander
Jordan Black
Lorenzo Chiavarini
Samantha Foster
Angus Gray-Stephens
Josh Kerr
Andrew McGowan
Katie Milford
Jamie Noyes
Ross Stanley-White
Alexander Still
Callum Tait

The squad will now be training hard for the RYA National Youth Championships and Trials at Hayling Island in April 2011.

G.

Weymouth Qualifier

Weymouth results are now available on the event microsite.  In very challenging conditions it was great to see our very own Charlotte Dobson topping the leader board and very special to have Lorenzo recording two race wins and fourth overall.

Attack of the Killer Shrimps

See http://www.rya.org.uk/newsevents/news/Pages/Killershrimpcontained.aspx
for the full story.

G.

Results from Pwllheli

Results

Click above for Pwllheli Results.  Looks like Andrew was this week's star of the show finishing just ahead of Lorenzo with Angus close behind.  Well done guys.

Royal Tay Winter Series 2010

The Poster below says it all.....

Be there or be square.

G.

Looking forward to winter

For those of you looking forward to Winter training (and for those of you who wish to feel smug that you are not)  check out how the Norwegians do it below.  The video you want is called Laser Seiling Vol 2

The spelling is Norwegian.

And good luck to our Squad sailors who are travelling to the Qualifier at Pwllheli this weekend.  We are on a compulsory rest weekend after 2 weeks at the Topper Worlds, a mega trip back then four race weekends on the trot and school and work etc etc (violoins in the background and so on).

Graham

Laser Class Membership

If you are not yet a member of the UK Laser Association you can join by clicking here.

The cost per year is £27 (£26 by direct debit) and the good news is that if you join on or after 1 October 2010 you wont have to pay again till 2012.

Graham

RYA Scottish Zone Championships 2010

Eighteen Radials gathered at Helensburgh Sailing Club for the RYA Zone Championships 2010 which was also acting as an indicator event for the 2010/11 RYA Scotland Laser Radial Squad.

Race one was started in a promising breeze but rapidly became little more than a drift.  Fearing the worst the Race Officer flew "C" and "S" Flags together which caused some confusion to the leading pack and to the watching coaches too.  Fortunately the leading Toppers must have read the sailing instructions more thoroughly and clicked that the signal meant omit the outer loop and headed straight to the finish as did Josh Kerr and Alastair Kent who secured first and second places but alas this was too late for the leading pack who had already headed off upwind with the result that the leading pack of Lorenzo, Andrew, Samantha and Alexander were demoted to the final four positions.

Races 2 and 3 were sailed in slightly better conditions and normal service was resumed with Andrew and Lorenzo taking one race each.

As the breeze fell again the OOD wisely abandoned attempts to start a fourth race and fleet headed ashore after what had become a very long day afloat.  

Sadly Sunday was even less generous with the breeze and the AP over A signaling no more races today was flying by noon.  On countback it was Lorenzo Chiavirini who was one point ahead making him 2010 Zone Champion in the Laser Radial.  Andrew McGowan was second with Alexander Still third and Alastair Kent in fourth.

Full results are at Halsraceresults.

A gallery of pictures taken by Neill Ross is available on line at www.pbase.com/neillr

Graham
www.halsraceresults.com/

Welcome to Scottish Laser Radials Blog

For some time now I have been regularly updating the Scottish Toppers blog. Scottishtoppers.blogspot.com has become one of the main sources of information on events and results and the number of hits has far exceeded my initial expectations.

Times change however and we are now "transitioning" into Laser Radial racing. A big concern amongst fellow Topper sailors is that the excellent atmosphere we have enjoyed so much in the Topper fleet might not be so easy to maintain in a Youth and Adult class like the Laser Radial. But with so many of the Topper fleet now looking forward to becoming Laser racers next year it is going to be up to us to shape our own future. This new blog will record our experiences as we progress into the world of Laser racing.

So welcome to www.scottishradials.blogspot.com



G.