The Laser Nationals this year was held in Largs, 505 miles up north in Scotland. Despite the long distance I was determined to travel up and defend my title from last year. The nationals always has a great atmosphere with some really close racing so it is a worthwhile event to put in the calendar, especially as I was back in the UK anyway.
505 miles and 13 (slow) hours later we arrived in Largs.
As per usual the Scottish weather put on a great show of wet and cold conditions when we arrived, a bit different from the near 30 degrees down back home in Swanage.
Nonetheless I unpacked and set up my new boat, 216656. Pretty cool when your favourite number is 6.
Shout out to some of my amazing sponsors, Actisense and Sailing Chandlery for continuing their amazing support over this past year.
After a day of setting up we got straight into racing, with some funky racing dominating day 1, followed by some more consistent wind in strength and direction on day 2.
Unfortunately after day 2 a theme of light winds quickly took hold and we had some loooooong sails in. Or paddles, in this case.
The penultimate day brought about some interesting thunderstorms and unfortunately no racing. However that evening we had the fantastic Gala dinner, which is always fun.
Even better, the next day I went out and after two light wind races managed to win the nationals for the second time. A great end to a good week.
That’s it for another year. And what a week it was! 2 x national champion.
Thanks to all who helped organise the event. Onto the next one.
Sam
