Final race day...."Howling" Island!

In Scott's pocket....#'s of best possible finishes for closest competitors

Al, Andy, Arnoud, Scott

Peter, Scott, Andy

Go Canada-eh!

Well, Hayling Island decided to slap us all on the a@!^ one last time and send us all home with the same conditions that she welcomed us in with -epic!

Sailing out to the race course was super hairy with the current ripping out and the breeze honkin' in kicking up enormous waves...yes another "Shackleton day" as I call it...surfing down monster waves with a constant saltwater fire hose in the face. I was only going to sail one race as my piriformis and hip flexor had been bothering me but just had too much fun in the first race that I had to stay out for the second .... unfortunately, I flipped on the final reach but did come in with a huge smile!

Going out to the racecourse Scott had his cheat sheet in his pocket. He knew that with two more races to go there would be another throwout so he just had to finish one race in the top 10 and he would be set as he could throwout the other. His training partner, Peter Shope was in the top 10 already but unfortunately drew an OCS (over the start line early...for my friends who don't race) in one of the final two races!

Let me back up a bit...there were 4 races that broke the 82 Standard sailors into two fleets. The top half went into the Gold fleet and the bottom half into the Silver fleet. Six races were eventually completed in the championship round making it a total of 10 races finished. With 10 races finished each competitor was allowed 2 throw outs but only one of those throw outs could be taken from the championship round. Both throwouts could be taken from the qualifying round or one from each, but not two from the championship round.

If two throwouts had been allowed to be taken from the championship round, then Scott could have stayed on shore for the final day and just thrown out the two final races. As for Peter Shope, he already had an OCS in the championship round going into the final day, which meant that he had to count the second OCS from the last day-ugh! Scott was truly bummed when he heard as he said that Peter had sailed so well!

Scott winning the Worlds twice in a row certainly makes it look easy although that couldn't be further from the truth! He's the first one to say, 'Man, it's not easy at all!' One Canadian sailor said that if you look at the subtleties in Scott's performance it's things like, 'when Scott looks over his shoulder to tack after the start, he goes, he doesn't hesitate or deliberate....'

So, with another Laser Master Worlds come and gone we leave with a sense of relief but also a little sadness... sailing in from the final race on The Solent, which has so much history in itself...it's hard to explain... After such an intense week, there is always a little bit of sadness when packing up and saying goodbye to friends that you know you won't see for another year and an experience that can never truly be repeated.


Final results and wrap-up