Laser World March 2009 DOUBLE ISAF WORLD CUP VICTORY FOR © Brett Crockford, Sport the Library TUNNICLIFFE • Sail Melbourne • Rolex Miami OCR • New 2009-2012 Racing Rules of Sailing COPYRIGHT AND LIABILITY No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior permission of the publishers. The articles and opinions in LaserWorld may not represent the official views of ILCA. The publishers do not accept any liability for their accuracy. 2 LaserWorld March 2009 Sail Melbourne 16th-21st December 2008, Melbourne, Australia and two, before recovering with a Mihelic of Croatia led a close battle for third second place finish in race three, place, just ahead of Sara Winther (NZL) ending the first day in seventh place and Andrea Brewster. Matias del Solar overall on 26 points. picked the perfect time to find his best form After some good weather conditions as he took a major step towards an ISAF and more intense racing on day Sailing World Cup gold medal with two three, Tunnicliffe worked her way great results. Scoring second and first place through the field to post a third, finishes in races nine and ten of the Laser second and first respectively to series, del Solar extended his overall lead lead the regatta on six points. to 13 points with just one race remaining. She was closely followed by Croatia’s Tina Mihelic, the 2006 Michael Bullot lost ground on the leader winner of the Volvo Youth Sailing after scores of 8 and 3 in the day’s two ISAF World Championship, on races. Bullot had a fight on to maintain 9 points. Australia’s new young second place overall with Leigh just four star Gabrielle King, a double points further back. (2007 and 2008) Volvo Youth Sailing There was no surprise finish at the end © Brett Crockford, Sport the Library As the first of seven ISAF World Champion, got her series off of the final day. After dominating the events in the inaugural ISAF Sailing to a solid start with 8, 12, 3 scores putting week’s racing with five wins from 11 starts, World Cup series, Sail Melbourne brought her fifth overall, behind Andrea Brewster of Tunnicliffe held off a late charge from together a combination of Olympic stars Great Britain. Gabrielle King to win her class on 25 points, and 2012 hopefuls to Port Phillip Bay for six In the men’s, Bullot continued his strong nine points clear of King, with Andrea days of intense racing. start and maintained his position at the Brewster coming in third with 40 points. After dominating the week’s proceedings in Despite the first day of sailing being top of the leaderboard, with Chile’s Matias del Solar one point behind after impressive the Laser class, Matias del Solar showed postponed for the Laser Radial class due to his form in the crucial final races. After light winds, improved conditions on day two 4,1,4 scores. Milan Vujasinovic of Croatia came third, whilst Leigh began his fight a fourth place in the final race, del Solar of Sail Melbourne saw some impressive ended the regatta winning with 30 points, racing. Olympic gold medalist Anna back and moved to fourth overall on the back of 8, 4, 5 scores. an impressive 17 points clear of Mike Bullot Tunnicliffe (USA), made the most of the who came in second. Milan Vujasinovic three races in the Laser Radial class to pull Tunnicliffe revelled in the stronger conditions came in third on 53 points, just beating out a three-point overall lead. In the Men’s on day four, winning all three races to take Mike Leigh to the final podium position. One Person Dinghy – Laser fleet, Michael a commanding lead into the second half Bullot of New Zealand led on nine points, of the regatta. King also put in a strong The next stage of the ISAF Sailing World with Matias del Solar of Chile a single point performance, with two seconds and a Cup moved to North America, for the behind and James Sandall, also of New fifth helping her jump from fifth to second second event, the Rolex Miami OCR - full Zealand, coming in third with 18 points place overall, four points ahead of Croatian report on page 7. overall. It was a disappointing start for world Mihelic and Britain’s Brewster. Find out more about the ISAF Sailing World Cup, including more on the seven events, number four skipper Michael Leigh (CAN), Day five saw Gabrielle King achieve who was twelth in races one the scoring system and the Notice of Series two second places in the day’s races, at www.sailing.org/isafsailingworldcup. © Bill Bell closing the gap on overall leader Anna Tunnicliffe to just seven points. Tina © Brett Crockford, Sport the Library Matias del Solar. Anna Tunnicliffe. www.laserinternational.org LaserWorld March 2009 3 ILCA Membership © Thom Touw Our class President, Heini Wellmann, discusses why LaserWorld was made available on the ILCA website and what ILCA members get for their money. editions of LaserWorld on the website. However, we have received a number of negative reactions from ILCA members who felt that a publication that was only exclusively available to its members before can now be read by anybody free of charge, and therefore we were taking away an important attraction the one design of becoming a member of ILCA. For some of the class through the maintenance members – in particular the “weekend sailors” of the Laser Construction Manual and At the World Council meeting in October - LaserWorld was perceived to be the only periodic factory visits by the Technical 2008 it was decided to put all old issues of concrete benefit from ILCA against the £5 Officer; maintaining the class rules; LaserWorld on the ILCA website. This was membership fee the Districts send to ILCA measurers training. every year. part of an overall communication strategy - Representing the three Laser classes – review for ILCA’s three main publications: This argument leads to two questions: Laser Standard, Laser Radial and Laser LaserWorld, the website and the yearly 4.7 - within ISAF (International Sailing Handbook. What else does ILCA do for its members in addition to LaserWorld, and why should Federation). There were three reasons for this decision: a Laser sailor become a member of the - Maintaining the ILCA website, editing the - LaserWorld often contains very interesting Association? yearly handbook and finally producing articles, which can still be of interest a What does ILCA do for its members? the quarterly LaserWorld. few months or years later, for example Remember that ILCA is much more than just Why should a Laser sailor become a member tips on sailing and rigging techniques. of the Association? Most sailors however do not keep the the offices in Falmouth/UK and in the USA. Its old printed editions of LaserWorld and heart and soul are the hundreds of volunteers The majority of Laser sailors are not interested are therefore pleased if they can find the worldwide, who give their time and energy in participating in World Championships. Many old articles in the “information archive” of for the class. It is in the Districts where it are weekend sailors and only occasionally the website. all happens, where the bulk of the regattas participating in a local regatta. Nevertheless, are organised with the help of the local they should become a member of the - Another reason is the distribution of sailing clubs. Each District collects its own Association by supporting the volunteers who LaserWorld. The publication is prepared membership fees to finance its activities, and make it all happen. Even the small local by the ILCA office and sent to the the £5 it sends to the international office in regattas need to be organised. Districts for distribution to their members. Falmouth per member makes up only 10% to Many Districts have their own newsletter 25% of the fee it collects from its members. The big attraction of the Laser is its strict one which they send out with the latest design aspect. Only in the Laser class can issue of LaserWorld, while others make But what else does the ILCA international you go to a foreign regatta, rent a boat locally a separate send-out. However, this is office do in addition to LaserWorld? The main and be competitive. The maintenance of the costly and time consuming, so they just activities are in a nutshell: one design is in the interest of everybody – be pile-up in the District office and never get - Regattas for eight Laser World it an Olympic or weekend sailor. to the members. Often they arrive up to Championships per year: establishing Show your solidarity and become a member six months later and many articles have the calendar, selecting venues, drawing of the class! lost their relevance. Hence it is important up contracts with organising clubs, to be able to find the most recent issue assisting and supervising on site, the I wish you happy Laser Sailing! of LaserWorld on the website. administration of championship entry and - And finally, a new member can easily charter boats and publication of results. find the current edition, as well as old - Technical and Measurement: assuring The winner of the Laser Standard fleet was of the Grand Master class Lennart Eriksson. Victor Västernäs, with Peter Andersson as Swedish the first Masters sailor. In the Laser Radial In the Laser Radial class there were three fleet, Yvonne Malmsten finally made it women at the top with Agneta Jonsson to the gun in less than 1 knot of wind as winner. Winner of Great Grand Master after several changes during the race.