That concludes the winter series of Laser First Sunday. Challenging conditions today. Congratulations to Pete Edel who won the series. Full results here. Why ILCA First Sunday? We can't all sail every week, so if we all make an effort on the first Sunday of every month, we can be sure of decent competition. It has had the effect of re-invigorating fleet sailing at KGSC, boosting the number of ILCA’s on the start line throughout the year. Sailors from other classes have been hiring the club Lasers, or buying their own second boat, to take part in the competition. Come and join us for the Summer ..read more

13 competitors again this week, including 10 ILCA’s, a Contender, an RS400 and a Pico. Not bad considering the forecast. With virtually no wind, it took the fleet nearly 1hr 40 to get once round 5,3,1. Pete C went ahead straight out of the start, and was never challenged, while the rest vied for position the whole way round. Remember that Pico, I don’t think I’ve seen a Pico in a club race before, in fact we didn’t even have a PY for it in our system and had to it look up. When we did and applied it, young Zhayne from GCA had beaten the lot of us. Very well done to that young chap, keep up the ..read more

13 competitors, a little thin on the ground today, probably due to it being Dinghy Show this weekend – and it was still cold. The ESE breeze was very light and coming from the opposite direction as we arrived, but duly swung around and filled in by the time we started. ‘A’ was too far out of position for the start so we started without any distance mark, relying on the transits, which caused a little confusion and 3 boats over the line had to come back as the pack set off round 1, 6, 10, 11, 0. Shortened to 2 laps, and with ‘A’ back on station for the finish, 2 boats forgot to round ‘0’ before ..read more

Beautiful day thanks to Mike and Pete on OOD and AOD. I had a wonderful day, sun was out sky was blue the wind was amazing. Some really tricky in parts (upwind couldn't tell if the gust would lift or head), but great gains made, gust spotting downwind. Brilliant course of 2, 4, 9, 5, 0, A - I think there were a few navigational issues afoot, but we all got there in the end. The ILCA 4 lead off the start line with the x2 ILCA 6’s 5 mins after then the ILCA 7’s. I think 14 ILCA’s in total very impressive. 1x Contender and 2x RS400 and an ISO made up the rest. Micky lead the ILCA’s round the wind ..read more

No Tony this week, so you’ve got me again, Results Micky! Well, the predicted light westerly breeze was late on patrol this morning. Still, 8 Lasers, 3 RS400s, a Topper and a Contender turned out for race1, a simple 1 lap crawl round 0,4,1,A. Pete C led at the windward mark and then headed way out left down the run, picking up enough breeze to hold on to his lead, sneaking in ahead of Colin, me & Ewan at the bottom, just as the R/O shortened to one lap. A quick mention here for Abi coming in a creditable 5th, in her 4.7.? 2 laps for race 2, as the breeze finally began to show a little enth ..read more

Here is a great video from the RYA and Sam Whaley on how to rig your Laser/ILCA ..read more

Lot's of people are struggling to recover back to the mat’s and I thought it might be worth dropping a video on how to recover back to a beach here, at KGSC. Key Points Approach slowly, releasing the sail so that it flaps. Raise the daggerboard and rudder to ensure they do not ground out. In an onshore wind, approach on a broad reach. In a cross shore wind, approach on a beam reach. In a offshore wind, approach on a close hauled course. Ensure the boat has stopped, by turning it into the wind, before stepping into the shallow waters. Check out this video ..read more

Lot's of people are struggling to launch from the mat’s and I thought it might be worth dropping a video on how to launch from a beach here, at KGSC. Key Points Keep the boat head to wind, or as much as possible. Depending on wind direction, you may need to wade out to launch the boat. In an cross shore or off shore wind, turn the boat on to a beam reach to sail away. In an on shore wind, take the boat out as deep as possible and place both the rudder and daggerboard down as far as you can. Big push off and sail on a slow close hauled/reach course. Sail slowly until you can fully put ..read more

Well that was exciting, I haven't been that fast for ages! 14 Lasers/ILCA’s again, this time for Laser/ILCA First Sunday, which was fab and at least 5 different drivers from last week! Tim and James were in the RS400 too. Course was 2 , 4, 14, 11, (that's an 11 Gotta Go Gary!) 0, A. The start line was hotly contested, the first beat up to 2 was tricky and I never know whether to come in on port or starboard there - there's always more wind on the right, but you have to sail past the lay line (Princess Pete seems to have it sorted) will watch next time! The 400 rounded followed by Princess Pete ..read more

Amazing day thanks to race team, Stuart and Rodger for a prompt start (fastest I rigged my boat in years hahaha) 14 ILCA’s was epic I ain’t sailed for a while so brilliant to be back I'd still be out now if I could. We had some excellent and exciting racing the shifts were tricky to read Micky read em well and won the first race followed by me (Tony Cooper) then Princess Pete (you can't be Commodore Pete anymore hahaha). Not sure how everyone finished, but there was some close racing and photo finishes all round. Second race same course and some tight racing again definitely a day to pick out ..read more