Peter Seidenberg, the 76 year old American who has been attending Laser Master Championships since they were launched in 1980 put a significant ghost to rest when he beat his old rival Keith Wilkins of Britain for the first time ever to take the coveted 2013 Radial Great Grand Masters title.

As the sun set on a sixth day of light airs racing, Seidenberg sealed his win by coming second in Race 10 but decided to carry on because conditions at Mussanah were so good with late afternoon winds reaching around 10 knots.

“This is my ninth championship win but it is particularly sweet because I have never been able to beat Keith Wilkins,” he said.

“We sailed against each other in the Grand Masters division and he always beat me. Then I won a few championships when I moved up to the Great Grand Masters but when he joined too, the game was over for me so today I was able to take revenge,” said Seidenberg who completed a special fitness programme to get into shape for Masters.”

Mark Bethwaite from Australia took honours in the Standard Great Grand Masters fleet with a stunning scoreline of nine outright wins in ten races, to head up a fleet of ten.

Greg Adams from Australia was crowned 2013 Standard Grand Master after dominating the fleet all week. He finished the final race in second place behind Terry Scutcher of Britain but his overall lead by the close over Scutcher was a resounding nine points.

Absent from racing on the final day was Britain’s Ian Jones who won the Radial Apprentice class on Friday with a day to spare. He was relaxing by the pool when the final races were completed and feeling elated.

Winners:

Laser Radial Apprentice : GBR -Jon Emmett
Laser Radial Master GBR Ian Jones
Laser Radial Grand Master AUS Vanessa Dudley
Laser Radial Great Grand Master USA Peter Seidenberg
Laser Standard Apprentice NZL Scott Leith
Laser Standard Master CAN Al Clark
Laser Standard Grand Master AUS Greg Adams
Laser Standard Great Grand Master AUS Mark Bethwaite