Craig Lying Sixth at Laser Master Worlds in Croatia, Irish Competing in Three Divisions

27th September 2017

Irish at Laser Master Worlds: Niall Peelo (sailing for GBR), Paul Keane, Kevin Currier, Nick Walsh, Denis O'Sullivan, Ed Rice, Theo Lyttle and Sean Craig

Royal St. George's Sean Craig leads Irish hopes at the Laser Masters World Championships. The Dublin Radial competitor lies sixth in his 37–boat division after three races sailed in Split, Croatia.

The Irish team are competing in three divisions. Results are downloadable below.

Royal Cork's Nick Walsh is 26th from 69 in the Mens Standard division, Theo Lyttle is 34th and Paul Keane 58th. Ed Rice is 57 and Kevin Currier is 61st.

The 350-strong fleet, divided evenly between Laser Standard and Laser Radial, went afloat mid-morning on the tail end of a northerly Bora wind. The sailors patiently waited for the forecasted 6 to 7 knot south westerly wind to arrive at 14:00. Both fleets sailed on different courses and were further divided into groups of 10 years, starting from 35 years +10 through to 75 years +. These sailors are affectionately known as the “Legends,” sailing only in the Laser Radial Great Grand Masters (65+) fleet.

Both courses set off racing at about the same time as the wind built to 10 knots by 15:00. The breeze peaked at 16:00 with 12 knots, before it started to die away by 17:00, causing several of the races to be shortened.

The Laser Radial Great Grand Masters fleet exemplified sailing as a “Sport for Life” today. Among the 62 sailors in this fleet are 17 “Legends,” including Deidre Webster from Canada. In the front end of the fleet, Legend Kerry Waraker from Australia is sitting in second, behind fellow countryman Rob Lowndes. Cork's Denis O'Sullivan (80) is 56th.

In the Laser Standard Master fleet, Australian Brett Bayer is still at the top of his game in the 69-competitor group, with a 1-point lead over

Peter Hurley and Ernesto Rodrigues both from USA. The Grand Master Canadians Allan Clarke and Andy Roy sandwich second place held by Tomas Nordqvist from Sweden.

Racing is scheduled for the reserve day tomorrow, due to the four lost races from the first two days of the Championships. A late afternoon breeze is forecasted.

The 2017 Laser Masters World Championships are being held from September 24 to 30.

Downloads

LRD_GGM_75.pdf (493 Downloads)
STD_M.pdf (522 Downloads)
LRD_A.pdf (359 Downloads)

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About the ILCA/Laser Dinghy

The ILCA, formerly known as the Laser, is the most produced boat in the world, with 220,000 units built since 1971.

It's easy to see why the single-handed dinghy has won the title of the most widely distributed boat of all time.

The Laser is a one-design dinghy, the hulls being identical but three rigs that can be used according to the size and weight of the sailor.

The class is international, with sailors from 120 countries. The boat has also been an Olympic class since 1996, being both the men's and women's singlehanded dinghy.

Three rigs are recognised by the International Laser Class Association (ILCA):