Club News


Paul Didham at the Laser Radial Youth Worlds

By | September 25, 2015

By Paul Didham
Results

I recently had the opportunity to compete in the 2015 Laser Radial Youth World Championship. This prestigious event was held in Kingston Canada. After finishing Laser North Americans I hopped back into the car and drove to Kingston for World’s. With over 140 competitors from all over the world, competition was going to be fierce. Luckily I was able to arrive at the venue to train prior to the event.

The format of the World Championship consisted of four days of qualifying then two days of finals within three fleets (Gold, Silver, and Bronze). Every day there would be two races, this meant longer courses. The first day of the event was light, yet consistent. The first race I was able to get of the favored end of the line and play the left side, this brought me my best finish of the event a 3rd. The seconded race everyone knew the left side was favored. I had a less then favorable start, and was forced out to the right this lead to a 35th place finish.

Going into the rest of the qualifying series I knew the start would be important. This mentality was wrong however because you can’t win a race at the start. For the rest of the qualifying series I had great starts. The problem was long course tactics. Because there were only two races a day the courses were extremely long, especially compared to high school course. Half way through the first upwind beat I would be in a good position; however, at the top I would be passed on both sides. As painful as it was during the regatta in retrospect it was a great learning experience.

After the qualifying series I was seconded in Silver fleet. I wanted to try using my new longer course tactics. This meant keeping it simple, and for Race eight, at least for the first beat, I was able to do that. With a great start in the middle I lead the fleet out to the left, tacked on lay line and rounded the top mark in 1st. This was a huge improvement from the begging of the regatta. Unfortunately, I picked the wrong side on the downwind and lost fifteen boats. I had a solid seconded race and was in a position to win Silver fleet. Then during the last race I was black flagged, and forced to withdraw from the race.

When it was all over I finished 57/142, with plenty of take away, I considered the event a success. Looking forward I now know what I have to work on to perform at the top of fleet. Without the support of the Competition fund I would have not been able to compete at the highest level. It was an honor to represent SDYC at the 2015 Laser Radial Youth World Championship.