The 44th Annual Philadelphia Championship for Lasers/ILCAs was contested at Marsh Creek, hosted by Marsh Creek Sailing Club on Saturday April 26, 2025.
6 races were held (one throwout) in fine sailing conditions. The event was won by Friso Kramer gezegt Freher of central New Jersey with 12 points; Mark Sanford of Delaware and MCSC taking second with 13 points.
Predictions had been generally for 10-12 kts. from the southwest, gusting into the 20’s, but that didn’t happen. The direction was right, but we didn’t get those puffs that Windy’s Euro model had forecast. A rarity that it doesn’t come true, as I see it. Instead, we had about 8-12, with occasional puffs to maybe 15 and some light spots too. There was plenty of hiking and a number of capsizes too, even among the leaders.
After 5 races and having already sailed their throwout races, Mark Sanford led Friso by 2 points. But it wasn’t to be. Sanford admittedly let his competitive juices get the better of him and went for a high-risk rounding at the weather mark and hit it. Ugh! Penalty turns put him back in 6th place and he finished one point behind Friso. Good sailing and great competition at the front of the fleet though.
Chris Houston who used to sail at the top of the fleet at major Sunfish events got his mojo late in the day to win the last two races and finish in 3rd with 19 points. A big bunch were tightly grouped in the middle, with 6 sailors scoring between 25 and 32 points.
Ruby Lai was top female, top radial, and top youth, at 13 years of age. Good, confident boat handling!
It wasn’t a gorgeous day. Cloudy, with on and off drizzle, but no real rain until we were approaching the dock after the last race. But we had some nice shifts and decent puffs without anything radical; overall excellent conditions for racing. Even Aaron Sandow from sunny Florida found the drizzle not to be a problem. Everybody had fun even if it didn’t exactly go according to their plan.
Sailors pitched in to carry out the event, and it ended with some good food and conversation afterward.
Thanks for coming and helping! Vince Harris 4/27/2025
