This is the report of Calum Reid's participation in the UK Laser Nationals, with funding support provided by the PSBSC Junior Training Bursary.
Plymouth Laser Nationals 2018
On the Saturday before the event started we went out on the water with the 2 coaches for the 4.7 fleet and radial fleet to familiarize ourselves with the water and conditions. It was very warm on and off the water which meant taking out and drinking litres and litres of water. We didn’t have time to sail out to the expected race area outside the break water because it’s over 2 miles and took well over an hour to get there before we started racing. We were out sailing for about 3 and half 4 hrs before coming in. The event started on Sunday which was my best day, the conditions suited me with a SW 8-10kts. There was 95 radials racing, and the competition was of a very high standard. In the first race I got 48th and the second race being my best result of the week…. I was 3rd round the windward mark but couldn’t keep up with the front of the fleet and fell back to 18th and finished 26th overall at the end of the day. Monday was postponed then cancelled due to the light breeze. Good racing on Tuesday. Until Wednesday where my results had been mixed I was top Scottish Boy. We had 3 races on Wednesday, one of them I was black flagged which put me right down the leader board. Thursday started off with a good breeze but we had to wait for a nuclear submarine to come into the Bay which took longer than expected then as the Gala dinner was on Thursday night they decided to cancel sailing to allow everyone to get organised for that, I wasn’t very happy as that just left Friday to try to get some good results in, but due to us going out late and having the cut off at 2:30 we only did one race which wasn’t enough to regain my top Scottish Boy position, sadly a 33rd put me in 55th overall. I learned loads every Day, even when we weren’t able to get on the water as we had to stay at the club in case the wind picked up, the sailor who had won the previous days racing would give a talk about how they had won and was about all day to answer any questions.
Squad training
On the Sunday after Plymouth, Mum dropped me off at Cumbrae where I trained for the week with the Scottish squad. All week the wind was 20-30kts with nice big waves which was enjoyable to sail in but very tiring. Every morning we had to be in the gym at half 7 doing rowing, weights and the treadmill, then breakfast and out on the water… totally different weather to the nice warm conditions in Plymouth, by the end of the week I was extremely tired.
