Marazion Hosts Major Sailing Contest

Mounts Bay Sailing Club in Marazion has announced it will host the Neil Pryde UKLA National and Open Laser Championships in August. The competition will be intense when the three Laser fleets start their National Championship races on Sunday 2nd August at 12 noon. The week-long event involves two Olympic sailing classes of dinghy, the Laser Standard and the Laser Radial so the standard of sailing promises to be very high indeed. The third fleet involves the 4.7 fleet which is for younger or lighter sailors and will include some of the stars of the future. Approximately 200 of the single handed dinghies will be taking to the waters with two races scheduled for each day with a midday scheduled start on the first day and 1100 each day thereafter until Friday 7th August. The boats are strict one design dinghies and as identical as manufacturing tolerances allow, meaning that tactics, boat handling skills and fitness are paramount in all three fiercely contested fleets. Entrants will be travelling from all corners of the British Isles to sail in Mount's Bay and already there are entries from New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong, Korea, Serbia and a large contingent from Ireland. In addition to the three types of boat participating there are a number of other categories of competition within the racing relating to age and experience and there is even a family prize which will involve parents and their offspring competing in their respective fleets. Local interest will focus on Denzil May (Mount's Bay SC) who is the current Masters National Champion and a National Youth Champion in the 1990's. Denzil will be a strong contender for the overall trophy in the Standard fleet and he is shortly off to Canada to compete in the World Masters Championship so he will certainly be "match fit" by the time the local event starts. Mount Bay SC member John Woolcock, who usually sails in the warm waters of Dubai (UAE), will be worth watching as he usually features at the front of the fleet. Other local contenders include Kian Andrews (Mount's Bay and Penzance Sailing Clubs) who is a young sailor with a very bright future. Kian has been making impressive progress over the last couple of years and Nick Stoten (Mounts Bay SC and Nick Downing (Penzance SC) are also expected to feature in the Standard fleet. The other fleets have entries from Mylor, St. Mawes and Restronguet Sailing Clubs so there is a strong local participation as well as a national and international interest. The sporting action is also supplemented by a full social programme to ensure that the competitors fully enjoy their visit to West Cornwall and Marazion and the warm welcome and keen competition has resulted in Marazion being a very attractive destination with a worldwide reputation for top class dinghy championships.