Neither wind, nor lack of it, deterred the 2009 Nautel Laser Worlds and Master Worlds Championships. After 18 days of competition, the Laser Worlds came to an end Saturday on St. Margaret's Bay with races abandoned because of shifty and light winds.
“It's a disappointing last day,” admitted event manager Duncan Enman, “but both the Seniors and Masters had some incredible racing days on St. Margaret's Bay.”
Day Seven of competition for the Laser Masters Worlds proved disappointing because of the lack of a steady wind to set courses, but all fleets had completed ten races in the regatta.
The Masters is divided by age and type of sail used on the Laser, a four metre single handed, single sail dinghy.
For the Radial rig; in the Apprentice class (35 to 44 years old), Australian Richard Bott finished first, New Zealander Scott Leith was second and Australian Grant Willmott took third.
For the Master division (45 to 54 years old), Brazilian Carlos Eduardo Wanderley finished first, followed by Greg Adams of Australia in second, and Joao of Ramos of Brazil ithird. Nigel Heath was the top Canadian in fifth spot.
In the Grand Master fleet (55 to 64 years old); Australian Peter Heywood finished first with Michael Pridham and Ian Rawet both of Great Britain in second and third.
For the Great Grand Masters (65 years old and up); American Peter Seidenberg held on to first, with Australian Kerry Waraker in second and Michael Kinnear of Great Britain in third. Canada's Johan Van Rossem finished ninth in the field of 41 athletes.
In the Standard rig (a slightly larger sail and mast than the radial); the top three remained the same throughout the Worlds with Adonis Bougiouris of Greece finishing first, Australian Brett Beyer second and Orlando Gledhill of Great Britain in third.
For the Masters, gold fleet; Scott Ferguson of the United States takes home the championships ahead of chief rival Arnoud Hummel of the Netherlands, while Ferguson's club-mate Andrew Pimental of the US was third. Canadian Andy Roy finished sixth.
Robert Muru of Canada finished first in the Masters silver fleet, with Kevin Currier of Ireland in second and Jan Larkens of the United Arab Emirates taking third.
Wolfgang Gerz of Germany dominated the Grand Master Standard fleet to take first, Mark Bethwaite of Australia finished second and Alan Keen of South Africa took third.
Full results can be found at http://can09.laserinternational.org/index.php/component/content/article/15-content/80
Australian Standings:
Radial Rig: Apprentice
Richard Bott 1
Grant Wilmott 3
Alison Casey 6
Masters
Greg Adams 2
Vanessa Dudley 7
Lyndall Patterson 9
Martin White 18
Grand Masters
Peter Heywood 1
Edmund Conroy 14
Ken Hurling 17
Clive Humphris 20
Robert Lovett 26
Great Grand Masters
Kerry Waraker 2
Geoffrey Lucas 19
David Wyllie 26
Peter Craig 32
Graham Oborn 42
Standard Rig: Apprentice
Brett Beyer 2
Stewart Casey 5
Darren Gilbert 25
Masters – Gold Fleet
Jan Scholten 5
Peter Conde 12
Chris Dawson 22
Nick Carew 31
Oliver Shtein 42
Masters – Silver Fleet
Matt Wenke 4
Hugh Leicester 11
David Rosenthall 29
Grand Masters
Mark Bethwaite 2
Jack Schlachter 4
Robert Lowndes 7
Michael O'Brien 18
David Edmiston 22
John Tracey 24
Warwick Foy 31
Francis Walsh 32
Stuart Allan 33
