roshambo
New Member
My friend Doug P is competing in Spain & is sending back reports.
I hope you will find them as interesting as I do.
It’s official – the largest Laser fleet ever has gathered for the Master Worlds. A total of 419 competitors will be broken down into different fleets – I’m competing as a Grand Master (age 56-64) with 76 competitors from 19 countries. It is by far the best group I have ever sailed against. Racing will be Sunday until Saturday, with Wednesday as a rest day. Some of the names to watch in the Grand Master fleet:
Mark Bethwaite (AUS), 6-time world champion and probably the favorite to win. I’ve known Mark for 35 years and he gets better each year. He averages about 6 first-places per worlds – really dominates. We’re tied 2-2 in the 4 times we’ve competed against each other. Mark is very, very good (duh) in all conditions.
Keith Wilkins (GBR) has won the worlds a record 10 times. Also very, very good, although said to be a little off the pace the year.
Nick Livingston (GBR), former #2 in the world, only the third person since 1990 to beat Keith besides Mark and myself.
Anders Sörensson (SWE), former Laser Master world champ, Finn Gold Cup and Finn worlds. Beat me the one time I’ve sailed against him.
Jack Schlachter (AUS), former #2, very fast, but hurt his back training yesterday. Hope he’s OK. Trains in Sydney with open world champ Tom Slingsby (favored to win gold in Beijing),
Wolf-peter Niessen (GER), I was training with him on Tuesday and had trouble keeping up. Turns out he has also won the Finn Gold Cup and Finn worlds.
Colin Lovelady (AUS), 5-time Laser master world champion.
Rob Lounds (AUS), #2 in the world last year in Korea.
Magnus Olin (SWE), another Finn Gold Cup and Finn world champion.
A quick tally gives 27 world championships with the 7 world champions that I know of (I don’t know everyone, so there may be more). In addition to the many excellent sailors not mentioned, there are almost always one or two really fast people that show up that no one knows. So, finishing in the top 5 will be very challenging.
The conditions here have been windy – winds 15 yesterday and 40-50 mph on Wednesday (small sand dunes were forming between the boats on the beach – we won’t sail in these conditions). The waves seem to come from 2 directions and are steep and difficult to read, especially when combined with a passing fishing trawlers. Nothing at all like the flat water in Dallas that we train in.
In the practice race today, I sailed the way I would in Dallas. It did not work – tipped 2 times trying to catch waves. The race was won by Sörensson who looked very fast. I’m going out early tomorrow to do a little more tuning with some U.S. sailors. Racing starts tomorrow afternoon… Doug
I hope you will find them as interesting as I do.
It’s official – the largest Laser fleet ever has gathered for the Master Worlds. A total of 419 competitors will be broken down into different fleets – I’m competing as a Grand Master (age 56-64) with 76 competitors from 19 countries. It is by far the best group I have ever sailed against. Racing will be Sunday until Saturday, with Wednesday as a rest day. Some of the names to watch in the Grand Master fleet:
Mark Bethwaite (AUS), 6-time world champion and probably the favorite to win. I’ve known Mark for 35 years and he gets better each year. He averages about 6 first-places per worlds – really dominates. We’re tied 2-2 in the 4 times we’ve competed against each other. Mark is very, very good (duh) in all conditions.
Keith Wilkins (GBR) has won the worlds a record 10 times. Also very, very good, although said to be a little off the pace the year.
Nick Livingston (GBR), former #2 in the world, only the third person since 1990 to beat Keith besides Mark and myself.
Anders Sörensson (SWE), former Laser Master world champ, Finn Gold Cup and Finn worlds. Beat me the one time I’ve sailed against him.
Jack Schlachter (AUS), former #2, very fast, but hurt his back training yesterday. Hope he’s OK. Trains in Sydney with open world champ Tom Slingsby (favored to win gold in Beijing),
Wolf-peter Niessen (GER), I was training with him on Tuesday and had trouble keeping up. Turns out he has also won the Finn Gold Cup and Finn worlds.
Colin Lovelady (AUS), 5-time Laser master world champion.
Rob Lounds (AUS), #2 in the world last year in Korea.
Magnus Olin (SWE), another Finn Gold Cup and Finn world champion.
A quick tally gives 27 world championships with the 7 world champions that I know of (I don’t know everyone, so there may be more). In addition to the many excellent sailors not mentioned, there are almost always one or two really fast people that show up that no one knows. So, finishing in the top 5 will be very challenging.
The conditions here have been windy – winds 15 yesterday and 40-50 mph on Wednesday (small sand dunes were forming between the boats on the beach – we won’t sail in these conditions). The waves seem to come from 2 directions and are steep and difficult to read, especially when combined with a passing fishing trawlers. Nothing at all like the flat water in Dallas that we train in.
In the practice race today, I sailed the way I would in Dallas. It did not work – tipped 2 times trying to catch waves. The race was won by Sörensson who looked very fast. I’m going out early tomorrow to do a little more tuning with some U.S. sailors. Racing starts tomorrow afternoon… Doug