The Corinthian Yacht Club along with the Seattle Laser Fleet co-hosted the first Laser one design regatta for the
1998 season. This year the venue was moved to Lake Washington in order to stimulate more participation. The perception
was that Puget Sound in January scares many people away. Participation was up this year with thirty sailors on
the water. A few of the competitors traveled from Vancouver, and the rest of the sailors were from the Seattle
area.
Saturday was one of those balmy days with zephyrs coming off the Leshci shore every 15 minutes or so. All sailors
left the dock for what looked like a filling southerly that eventually faded to nothing. At 3 PM the races were
abandoned for the day and the start for Sunday was set for 10 am. On Saturday evening the Leschi Lake Cafe catered
an excellent lasagna, salad, and bread feast for a very reasonable rate. I encourage anyone hosting a function
at CYC Leshci to contact Dave at the Cafe upstairs for an excellent and affordable meal. During dinner we were
treated to US Sailing’s Laser coaching video starring multiple world champion Robert Sheidt, Hamish Pepper, Nick
Adamson, and Kevin Hall. All competitors were well fed and well primed for the sailing to come on Sunday.
The weatherman had predicted a front to come in on Sunday and was only partially correct. At 9:30 am sailors left
the dock in a southeasterly blowing at anywhere from 2 to 20 knots. Race committee chairman Dick Rose got the first
race off at 10 am with a quick windward leeward course. The first race was light and shifty with the fleet tightly
bunched at every mark. Bryan Elwell, taking a break from his golf game, read the wind perfectly and took the first
race by a nose over east coast transplant Scott Leppert. The second race looked to be a repeat of the first, although
half way up the first beat a 15 knot puff came through to put everyone on the rail for the first time. Jen Morgan
and Bryan Elwell reacted to the new wind the quickest and rounded the top mark with a large lead. Bryan took the
race in a close finish with Jen coming second.
The front promised by the weatherman came in just before the third race with the wind piping up to about 18 knots.
While still shifty the mean direction stayed the same as the first two races. For the third race Dick Rose lengthened
the windward leg and set a triangle course that allowed for some high speed planing and wild jibe mark rounding.
Dennis Clark took the third race with junior David Kenny overlapped in second. During this race a rogue 35 knot
puff hit the front pack and tipped two boats over and broke Jay Winbergs mast off at the deck. The fourth and fifth
races were started in steady, yet shifty 10 to 12 knot winds with very tight racing around each mark. Andy Mack
took a break from his successful 49er campaign to teach the fleet a few lessons by taking a bullet in both race
4 and 5 and capture the overall series win.
After racing, boats were loaded and all competitors were treated to more lasagna (better 2nd time around) and all
the other leftover goodies from the Saturday dinner. Awards were given to the top three overall finishers: 1. Andy
Mack, 2. Bryan Elwell, 3. Mike Hare. Engraved duffel bags were given to the top Woman (Jen Morgan - 7th overall),
top Junior (Dave Kenny - 4th overall), and top Master (Mike Johnson - 5th overall). The consensus was that the
lake venue was plenty challenging and leveled the playing field between the lightweights and heavyweights, and
also the youths, masters, and women.
| Place | NAME | CLUB | RACE 1 | RACE 2 | RACE 3 | RACE 4 | RACE 5 | FINAL |
| 1 | Andy Mack | SYC | 4 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| 2 | Bryan Elwell | SLF | 1 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 15 | 14 |
| 3 | Michael Hare | ST MARYS COLLEGE | 5 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 15 |
| 4 | David Kenny | SYC | 20 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 17 |
| 5 | Mike Johnson | CYC | 7 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 18 |
| 6 | Dennis Clark | TYC | 3 | 14 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 18 |
| 7 | Jen Morgan | SYC | 9 | 2 | 14 | 9 | 8 | 28 |
| 8 | Peter Woytkowiak | JERICO SC | 6 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 29 |
| 9 | Michael France | JERICO SC | 8 | 13 | 4 | 14 | 6 | 31 |
| 10 | Martin Seelig | CYC | 21 | 9 | 18 | 3 | 3 | 33 |
| 11 | Zig Burzycki | CYC | 12 | 5 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 34 |
| 12 | Ben Glass | SLF | 13 | 12 | 6 | 13 | 13 | 44 |
| 13 | Scott Lepppert | SYC | 2 | 16 | 13 | 18 | 16 | 47 |
| 14 | Randy Shuman | CYC | 15 | 11 | 11 | 17 | 12 | 49 |
| 15 | Frank Murphy | SLF | 22 | 18 | 16 | 19 | 11 | 64 |
| 16 | John Brett | JERICO SC | 11 | 21 | 31 | 15 | 18 | 65 |
| 17 | Andy Hunt | JERICO SC | 19 | 31 | 20 | 12 | 17 | 68 |
| 18 | Jay Winberg | CYC | 10 | 15 | 31 | 31 | 14 | 70 |
| 19 | Miles McFall | CYC | 18 | 19 | 17 | 16 | 19 | 70 |
| 20 | Jim Johnston | CYC | 26 | 24 | 22 | 11 | 20 | 77 |
| 21 | Rafe Beswick | SLF | 17 | 17 | 15 | 31 | 31 | 80 |
| 22 | Jacek Suski | JERICO SC | 14 | 8 | 31 | 31 | 31 | 84 |
| 23 | Wayne Fukuhara | U WASH YC | 28 | 20 | 23 | 22 | 21 | 86 |
| 24 | David Banks | U WASH YC | 23 | 22 | 12 | 31 | 31 | 88 |
| 25 | Bob Riggle | SLF | 27 | 28 | 21 | 20 | 22 | 90 |
| 26 | Jim Kerr | CYC | 16 | 27 | 19 | 31 | 31 | 93 |
| 27 | David Shaner | SLF | 24 | 25 | 31 | 21 | 23 | 93 |
| 28 | Michael Lenkeit | CYC | 25 | 23 | 31 | 31 | 31 | 110 |
| 29 | Steve Alexander | SLF | 29 | 26 | 31 | 31 | 31 | 117 |
| 30 | Michael Goldfarb | CYC | 31 | 31 | 31 | 31 | 31 | 124 |