May 31, 2016

2016 Mexico Laser Master Worlds - Sail Counts

by Pam
For anyone who is interested, from my informal survey, here is the breakdown of the sails used by the top ten finishers at the Laser Master Worlds:

Fleet 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Apprentice Old New Old New Old n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
Master Old New New New Old New Old New New Old
GM New Old New Old New New New New New New
GGM New Old New New New New New New Old New


And here are the totals for each fleet:


Great Grand Master Fleet (3/13)
Finish Sail # Sailor Country Points Sail Type
1st 209260 Mark Bethwaite AUS 10 New
2nd 195708 Doug Peckover USA 22 Old
3rd 202729 James Temple AUS 29 New
4th 210180 Alberto Larrea ARG 46 New
5th 202817 John Roberson AUS 48 New
6th 166047 John Dawson-Edwards CAN 52 New
7th 201747 Poopy Marcon FRA 53 New
8th 194567 Timothy Millhiser USA 76 New
9th 132332 John Black AUS 82 Old
10th 203318 Fernando Rabago MEX 96 New
11th 208074 David Elliott CAN 96 Old
12th 206041 Stephen Wawn AUS 126 New
13th 209410 Chris Fyans GBR 134 New
                                                                                     
Grand Master Fleet (14/38)
Finish Sail # Sailor Country Points Sail Type
1st 206384 Gavin Dagley AUS 25 New
2nd 199262 Cristian Herman CHI 33 Old
3rd 208054 Allan Clark CAN 42 New
4th 195867 Tim Law GBR 50 Old
5th 210483 Steve Gunther AUS 52 Old
6th 198659 Vann Wilson USA 69 New
7th 210477 Luke Carter NZL 82 New
8th 167136 Emilio Castelli USA 84 New
9th 209268 Anthony Scali AUS 88 New
10th 171729 Andre Martinie DOM 96 New
11th 198107 Nick Page NZL 103 New
12th 209021 Laurent Bernaz FRA 106 Old
13th 169575 Mark Bear USA 116 Old
14th 204391 Christopher Raab USA 125 New
15th 209265 Michael Hicks GBR 132 New
16th 187366 Peter Drasnin USA 133 New
17th 206202 Roberto Bini ITA 152 New
18th 191085 Lance Burger RSA 163 Old
19th 205869 Jan Larkens RSA 164 New
20th 197463 Giuseppe Cavalli ITA 187 New
21st 204450 Alejandro Grunwaldt URU 208 Old
22nd 191612 Ashley Deacon AUS 212 New
23rd 202123 Francois Meesemaecker FRA 214 New
24th 187308 Carlos Eduardo Oetling Ladron De Guevara MEX 217 New
25th 205005 David Rosenthall AUS 220 New
26th 203944 James Stanley CAN 221 New
27th 201846 Luca Braga ITA 224 New
28th 20359 Antonio Vertiz MEX 225 Old
29th 204443 Juan Grunwaldt URU 225 Old
30th 192097 Philip Paxton CAN 229 New
31st 190815 Grassi Davide ITA 278 Old
32nd 185926 Richard Quinlan CAN 280 Old
33rd 191568 Michael Goldfarb USA 289 Old
34th 202321 Marco Falcone ITA 295 Old
35th 199218 Gregory Simon NZL 308 New
36th 196036 Paul Swan USA 333 New
37th 205512 Adam Glass USA 352 New
38th 153352 Eugene Towle MEX 363 Old
39th 100318 Rodolfo Valdes MEX 364 ?

Master Fleet (9/28)
Finish Sail # Sailor Country Points Sail Type
1st 199257 Brett Beyer AUS 11 Old
2nd 207143 Ernesto Rodriguez USA 26 New
3rd 210488 Andrew Dellabarca NZL 43 New
4th 199146 Benoit Meesemaecker FRA 43 New
5th 209289 Peter Hurley USA 48 New
6th 196812 William Pullen CAN 67 New
7th 208838 Mike Matan USA 76 Old
8th 210501 David Whait AUS 77 New
9th 210102 Niclas Bornling USA 80 New
10th 187994 Ari Barshi DOM 81 Old
11th 208367 Stefano Carnevali ITA 96 New
12th 195323 Luciano Oliveira BRA 102 Old
13th 208529 Rob Woodward NZL 107 Old
14th 191910 Ryan Minth USA 113 New
15th 200378 Andriy Kanyuka CAN 131.8 Old
16th 197460 Alessandro Castelli ITA 134 New
17th 197569 Chris Ellyatt GBR 161 New
18th 208362 Manolis Trigonis GRE 172 New
19th 195549 Tony Nicholson NZL 182 New
20th 208369 Massimo Ciano ITA 188 New
21st 203193 Hector David ARG 196 Old
22nd 209082 Michael Hooper CAN 200 New
23rd 196108 Jorge A. Suarez USA 200 Old
24th 208842 Joseph Berkeley USA 208 New
25th 209473 Roberto Porter USA 213 New
26th 208583 Simon Bell USA 238 New
27th 186681 Kevin Currier IRL 257 Old
28th 122099 Guillermo Tapia Moreno MEX 282 New
                    
Apprentice Fleet (3/5)
Finish Sail # Sailor Country Points Sail Type
1st 176107 Pablo Rabago MEX 10 Old
2nd 159795 Guilherme Roth BRA 18 New
3rd 194210 Alejandro Rabago MEX 29 Old
4th 209639 Alfonso Aguilar MEX 38 New
5th 166966 Fabian Gomez-Ibarra MEX 54 Old

Mexico Laser Master Worlds - Final Day

by Pam
Lots of activity on the final day. Racing, boat check in, awards, good-byes and packing for morning departure. Apprentice Pablo Robago (MEX), Master Brett Beyer (AUS) and GGM Mark Bethwaite (AUS) had already won the championship in their fleet and did not have to sail the final day but all did. The GM championship was still up for grabs and Gavin Dagley (AUS) had to earn it. I observed several times in the regatta that, in true champion style, he seemed to do best when the pressure was on. The final day was no exception and Gavin finally joined the world championship winners club and the folks in Mexico made it memorable.

I don't know if the Mexicans are just a hell of a lot of fun and everyone got this treatment or if this was a celebration of the last of four world regattas or if GGM Bob Blakey (NZL) had a hand in it as he was sidelined from sailing due to an injury and instead helping with race duty ... but, I have never seen this and Doug said he had never seen this. Turn the sound up for the full effect as each of the fleet winners finish their regatta. First is Brett and regrettably, I didn't get the full celebration on video. Next is Pablo, then Mark and finally, Gavin. Congratulations to all!!

May 27, 2016

Mexico Laser Master Worlds - Day 5

by Pam
Today we got the siesta boat again for the finish line. The GGMs had the first start followed by the GMs and then the Masters/Apprentices. The sailors were misbehaving. We started with three GGMs being UFD. I jumped up from my siesta to make sure Doug wasn't one of them. He wasn't but Mark wasn't either. Horn after horn, recalls, numbers being called and finally I poked my head up and grabbed the binoculars to quickly confirm that Mark was in the lead on the outer loop of the course and Doug was the second boat. Immediately, I was on my feet. Doug had the lead. By the middle of the first run he'd stretched out a bit and I was hopeful.

Doug's lead on the first run of the outer loop
By the second run, they'd run into the back of the GM fleet who were on their first run of the outer loop. It looked messy.  Doug got all mixed into the back and Mark seemed to have clear air.  As they rounded the leeward mark and headed for the finish, Mark seemed to be gaining on Doug but Doug still had a good lead. This is what it looked like at the last mark rounding as they split tacks.

Doug and Mark splitting tacks
Doug in the old sail, can't point with Mark so opted not to cover him and sail for the finish. Mark quickly closed Doug's lead and it came down to seconds between the two at the finish. Keep in mind, we're in a long boat and I'm filming off the back and they are calling the line from the front. 


In the second race, Mark gave Doug a little attention on the start line and Doug couldn't point worth a darn and quickly sailed himself backwards but managed to salvage a 4th. But he wasn't complaining. I believe Mark and Doug have 1st and 2nd secured without having to sail tomorrow but both intend to sail.

On the finish line we see yelling, port/starboards, collisions, tips, turns, incomplete turns, protests, celebrations, congratulations, questions about who got who, committee thank yous, and all the while we start to really rock and roll as the boats come in. It's all fun to witness but doesn't lend itself to good video when the competitors finish with large separations. Here are a couple of finishes without the separation at the front. In the GM fleet Tony Scali (AUS) got his first win.



In the Master fleet, Ernesto Rogriguez (USA) beat Brett for the second time and got his first win.



We have updated our pictures (not the best but they can be downloaded for free):
https://picasaweb.google.com/115638611171755254663/6288996217652860305

Mexico Laser Master Worlds - Day 4

by Pam
Today, we were treated to a much larger finish line boat. It had siesta (nap) written all over it. We had our lunch after the finish of the first race and then all on board had a good nap before the start of the next race. It was a hazy day with alot of slop out there that made for great napping but frustrating sailing.

In the first race, the GMs were misbehaving. The call from the pin boat was "Too. Many" and the committee boat called the fleet back. The offenders were all in the middle of the line. The next start was clean and the rest of the fleets behaved themselves. 

While we were busy snoozing on the finish line boat there were lots of horns and I just assumed the second race had started until I started hearing the pin boat calling out numbers. I sat up and realized no one was sailing and shortly thereafter six GMs began the sail of shame, leaving the race course after a black flag and looking a little bewildered. Behave near the pin boat guys.

Al Clark, (CAN) who won the first race with a nice lead got black flagged, Luke Carter (NZL) who had his best race of the regatta with a 2nd, also got tagged, plus 4 others. It hurt to watch.

As you can see in the results, except for the GGM fleet, the leaders in the other fleets had a little competition today. Mark Bethwaite (AUS) in the GGM decided to raise the bar on separation. Mark was a good distance ahead of Doug who was also a good distance ahead of the rest of the fleet. There was so much separation that it is impossible to capture it in a picture. So here's a video.



Insult to injury, Mark arrives at the finish line looking refreshed and relaxed as if he's just had a leisurely afternoon sail. Doug says that Brett says that Mark is doing something called precision steering. He sits perfectly still, doesn't shift his body weight around and simply steers through the waves and doesn't slow down. Something worth learning. 


So there was a meeting this evening among the sailors to discuss ideas for building Laser sailing. I didn't attend but listened to Eric Faust talk with Doug for about 5 minutes afterwards. As I understand it, Eric would like to see the entire Master class start together and sail together and then work out the handicap at the end. Personally, details aside, I think it's a good idea and would love to see everyone sail in the same race but the scoring to be done on handicap by age. If you have ideas, send them to Eric Faust (he's going to love me for that suggestion). 

May 26, 2016

Mexico Laser Master Worlds - Lay Day

by Pam
The lay day was kicked off with an evening social the night before. Lots of sailors relaxing, enjoying the free drinks and having a good time. The very talented GGM Alberto Larrea (ARG) grabbed the entertainer's guitar and started playing and singing and brought everyone to their feet.  


Here's a bit of what he sound like ...



After our party wound down, we noticed that Alberto had moved over to the next party and grabbed another entertainer's guitar and was singing and playing for the other group.

Folks scattered everywhere for the lay day. The hotel helped everyone plan the perfect day off. We talked with several as they returned. No one had a bad trip. Everyone thought they'd picked the exact right thing for them. Some went to the beach and surfed. Some swam with the dolphins. Mark Bethwaite played golf and got beat. Doug and I did Los Veranos with 12 zip line courses, the last of which was a race. I got a good shove and Doug was left simply using his weight. He passed me at the end for his first win since the regatta began. This was after we did the banana split run where you had to make monkey noises along the way for 7 years of good luck. Doug came in hot with a 'ee ee ooh ooh ... oh shit." Maybe, just maybe, the lay day will be a turning point in Mark and Doug's luck.


We have outstanding media coverage and pictures at this event. Here is a clip with Doug's interview:

My pictures pale in comparison but they are royalty free:
https://picasaweb.google.com/115638611171755254663/6288996217652860305
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