The following events were held at Notts County Sailing Club, Hoveringham village near Nottingham between Wednesday, 14th and Friday, 16th June, 2006.

Pictures of the Laser Day

Thursday - I would not like to have been in Ian Johnson's shoes, the Race Officer on Thursday morning. On the Wednesday, the forecast had given 6mph of wind for Thursday's racing and even less wind for the Friday. He had changed the Notice of Race on Wednesday evening to try and get 4 races on Thursday, in case we would not be able to race on the Friday.

The forecast was incorrect. We had nothing, then something coming from different directions in different parts of the lake. You may have considered rolling a dice to decide the winner but last year's champions Francis Gifford and Pete Walker from the Met Police showed us all how to do it by winning the first three races, but failed to maintain the performance on the first race on Friday by getting a 6th place. With the discard now in, this could be ignored giving them first place overall.

The fleet of 6 RS 400's mostly managed to get first over the line but with the handicap they could not beat the National 12 of Francis and Pete. The line honours were generally split between Pete Walters and Lindsey Ogden from Nottingham, and Nick Hunt and Paul Heath from Cleveland. Both taking three 2nds between them over the series. The final positions being decided on count back, Pete Walters having two 2nd places against Nicks Hunts one. Both scoring 8 points and achieving 3rd and 4th overall. 2nd Place overall went to Graham Cook and Gary Walters from the Met Police in their RS200, achieving a 4th , 2nd and a 1st giving them seven points to count.

We managed to get three races in on Thursday with the 4th race being postponed until Friday. We were tight for time as a number of the competitors had indicated that they would like to see a certain football match and most boats were off the water by 4.45pm. Pete Walters had managed to borrow a TV projector to watch the match on a 6ft by 6ft screen The club room was full with the bar doing a brisk trade. At 5.45pm (half time) the AGM took place in the conservatory with a fair number of the competitors being present. The meeting ran on into the 2nd half but persons held their seats until a large roar went up as a certain team scored a goal! As it was, the meeting had almost come to a finish. The 'any other business' must have been the shortest section of the meeting of all time !

Friday, 16 June 2006.
The race officer had brought the race forward from 10.30 start to 09.30 start to try and catch up with the lost race on Thursday. At 6am the lake had ripples all over it with a nice gentle breeze blowing, but by 9.15am it had swung 180 degrees and gone back into patchy mode with different directions and strengths as the race went on.

We started at 0930 with the breeze dying, four different RS 400's led the race at some point or other with the RS200 also taking a turn at the front. At the end of the 2nd lap the Race Officer shortened the race. At this time it was Pete Walters' turn to lead the fleet over the finish line and achieve a 2nd place, being beaten on handicap by Graham Cook who finished less than a minute behind. The champion Francis Gifford finished 10 minutes later scoring a 6th Place.

We then went off the water for coffee. The wind had become even lighter and the Race Officer postponed the decision to race until midday in order to allow the breeze to fill in. Unfortunately it failed to do so.

At 11.45am racing was abandoned for the day the event being over, with a total of 4 races completed.

The Prize giving was held at 1.15pm with the prizes being presented by Nottinghamshire Chief Constable Steve Green. By 2pm, the competitors were on the road home.

Reports by Pete Walters.