IN 2010 Jack became the new National Champion in the Laser Pico Class Well Done Jack

My story of the June Regatta

My name is Jack and my crew is Greg. We arrived at the Spit with my Dad in the Van. We had the Mirror Dinghy in the back of the Van, I got out and saw not a lot of Wind on the Lake. We saw a lot of boats starting to get their masts up and launched. Greg and I got our Boat out of the Van and on its Trolley. Greg and I then Registered and got entry No 1 so were hoping it was a good omen! At the briefing we realised that their weren’t any mirror sailors there. I went to get changed into my sailing gear and then came out to see my crew with the boat down in the shingle ready to be rigged and launched. We rigged the Mirror and whilst we were waiting for the off we had a chat with some other gaff sailors. I seem to remember a small wooden Skiff that looked like good fun. We launched . We had long wait waiting for the race starting signals this gave me and Greg to practice our tacks and gybes with the spinnaker. When we started, we didn’t get a brilliant start but because our boat pointed so well and I picked the right shifts we ended up third round the windward mark, We never really got into the lead until the last beat, whilst before we had merely catching up to second place. The last beat was brilliant! I went to the starboard side of the Lake and the man in the big gaffer went to the port side. We only realised that we were in 1st position once we got past the last island We went through the finishing line 1st by just a minute and a half, which after the handicapping system had been calculated brought us into 1st anyway. The second day was windy at first than settled down later. We sailed down the lake quite far where we had a picnic on the far shore. As we sailed back up the lake at the end of the day, we saw light winds and shifty conditions. Once we had packed the boat the boat away on the Saturday we went to the Travellers Rest for the prize giving. There was some dispute that in fact our boat was a Bermudan rig so did not win The Orange Tree Hotel Cup, but received a prize anyway. We had a great weekend and will be back next year

  Jack Lawson