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 Jan Larkens of the United Arab Emirates in second and Kevin Currier of Ireland 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.
