Laser Trophy and Beyond

Hey guys,

Since I'm stuck doing duty in camp, I thought I might as well use my "free" time to update on the second of the two events I did during my lull period.

Laser Trophy began on a good note the week before with MINDEF finally giving me FPUL (Full Pay Unrecorded Leave) for the event, hence signalling my official induction into the sportsman scheme.

Buoyed by the possibility of taking more leave in the future, I headed into the event with high spirits and the first day reflected that mood. In about 8-13 knots, which is by many standards beyond Singapore's typical conditions, I started the first race poorly, unable to get a clear lane of the start forcing me to compromise tactics in return for clear air. Eventually, I only could find clear air on the left of the fleet and to my dismay, the wind clocked right slowly. By the top mark I was 9th which is pretty deep considering that it was only a fleet of 30 boats. However, the reach saw me catch up to the stern of Mark Wong's boat and an average downwind saw me overtake him and I started the next upwind at the rear end of the top 8. Determined that the right side was in phase for the time being, I took my chances and hiked my ass off as I headed to the right of the fleet and was rewarded with a slow persistent right shift that saw me round the top mark in 5th. With a fairly difficult chop, I hardly made any gain on the downwind with only a small and short good in-phase period near the bottom that saw me overtake Vic and round just behind Rajesh from India. Again I was fortunate on the last reach as whilst Vic overtook me, she and Rajesh collided allowing me to gain back to 4th with Vic's penalty. In the end, I was neither satisfied nor dissatisfied and saw the result as a rather solid start to the event.

Race 2 saw deteriorating conditions with the race started in 5-9 knots and with me rounding the committee boat after poor judgement 30 seconds before the start. In hindsight though, this proved to be beneficial as the poor start made me immediately tack out to the right for clear air and 30 seconds later I found myself in a good lane with 4 knots more wind than the rest of the fleet allowing me to get back into contention and into the top 3. A rather conservative remainder of the upwind saw me round the top mark in 2nd and I quickly worked on catching Keerati (Thailand) who was in front by about 5 boat lengths. Though my first downwind was pretty solid and better than the previous race, Keerati matched my speed and still rounded ahead before the following work. Again rather conservatively, I protected my 2nd place instead of attacking and was punished with Keerati opening an unassailable gap whilst another Thai girl and Vic caught up right to my rear. The following downwind was also stressful as they were right on my tail and the lighter winds made it difficult to catch waves properly. This was also followed with the Thai girl getting stronger more consistent wind on the right during the last work that saw her overtake both me and Vic dropping me to 3rd at the top mark. However, a good solid downwind in which I chose broad reach over by-the-lee, allowed me to regain and finish in 2nd with the thai girl and vic close behind.

Race 3 saw the wind pick back up to conditions similar to Race 1. The start was perhaps the best of my day thus far and a solid first work that saw a distinct line of gust benefit the left side of the fleet saw me and Benedict open up a clear lead at the top mark with Benedict leading. The remainder of the race was pretty straightforward with myself overtaking Benedict on the reach and extending my lead every subsequent leg to win the race by half a leg from Vic and Keerati.

Race 4 with 7-9 knots, saw me experiencing cramps and muscle aches from both the long day and the lack of food I had throughout the day. But nonetheless, I was determined to end the day on a good note and started the race fairly well, and again head left to get into the better line of pressure. By the end of the first work, I was within the top few of the fleet, rounding the top mark in 3rd behind Rajesh and Keerati. The first downwind saw the three of us pull up a big lead on the group behind led by natthawut also from thailand. the next three legs proceeded without much incident with myself overtaking Rajesh and Keerati still leading the race. However, on the final work, Keerati's vang snapped and during the 20 seconds he spent trying to fix it, both me and Rajesh overtook him and the race finished in that order.

By the end of day 1, I lead the standings by 1 point from Keerati and felt pretty confident considering this was the first of my two Asian Games Trials

Scott 4-2-1-1 8pts

Keerati 2-1-3-3 9pts

Rajesh 3-10-6-2 21pts

Victoria 6-4-2-12 24pts

Seng Leong 1-12-5-7 25pts