Windy Laser4000 Nationals 2005 HISC

A few nominations from teh first night:

Ian Sanderson - as previous Firefly nationals runner up, decided he needed a bit more pace this year, sold his boat got a brand new one, and then proceeded to get beaten by his old boat in every race - didn't even make it into the top 10.

Tom Glanfield went out on the town on the Saturday night at the Weymouth event. As overnight leaders they focused on covering Hugh/Susannah, only to let Tara/Chris & John/Fran past, eventually finishing 4th


But the winner - by a HUGE margin was JP

Jody & Emma (4444) had just saved up all their pennies to upgrade their boat and traded 4444 in for the hardly used 4625 - which caused much discussion around relevant boat names, as "on all fours" was no longer appropriate. They take it to the Isle of Sheppey event for a little tune up prior to the National Championship sand some gentle racing. On the 1st run of the 1st race,they are going downhill on starboard they get ploughed into by JP on port. Comin g off the loser they got a big hole in the boat, a broken mast, ripped sails etc.

So JP get the "Duckhams Lifgetime Achievent Award".

The first Duckhams awarded for the Laser4000

Tim Peters was the first person to receive the award in a Holt sponosred boat. With a a large entry the course had 2 windward marks. One further upwind for the first lap and a second for subsequen laps.

Tim had a healthy lead which a succeded in throwing away by sailing to the furthest windward mark on the second lap.

What is the Duckhams

It is an award for gross UNDER-achievement, on or off the water. It is normally a nasty dress, rash vest or overalls which MUST be worn from the moment it is awarded, on shore and on the water until it is awarded to the next person.

Its heritage is from the Firefly class where a a nasty yellow and green jacket with a Duckhams logo on it would be awarded for incompetence. To this day it is still awarded in the Firefly class, but the original jacket has long since been lost.

In 1999 the Duckhams Trophy was awarded at the Laser4000 Nationals in Brighton, and has been a feature of the class ever since.