Another week on and another storm in the form of Dennis threatened to batter the boats at this, the last of the RG65/DF65 Winter series. As it turned out, the club happened to be in a fortunate location with manageable winds and very little rain. The average direction at the start was SSE and so diagonally across the lake from the clubhouse to the far corner.
Four RG’s and three DF’s were on the start line for the first race after John Brierleys journey from North Wales was blocked by floods and fallen trees and other visitors decided that Dennis was going to cause problems for their journey. The three DF’s opted for their B rig due to the expected gusts whilst in the RG’s there was a mix of B swings and low aspect A conventional rigs.
Key to getting a good result was keeping the boat moving and being on the right tack for the rapid shifts that occurred. Boats could be overpowered in a gust one second and sat waiting for the wind the next. Seven races were completed before tea with some strong gusts causing problems downwind for most boats. At the break Neil had three wins, with Alan and Peter two apiece in the RG fleet. Andrew took the lions share of 6 wins in the DF fleet with Richard one, having taken the first.
After the break, the wind initially seemed to have moderated due to the light rain now falling, but the rain soon stopped and the gusts started again, some of which were from a S or SSW direction. After completing 11 races, the RG wins were shared between Neil (conventional A) with 5, Peter (swing B) with 4 and Alan (conventional A) taking 2 wins. Peter took the day by two points from Neil who had an unfortunate sinking feeling during the last race, with Alan in third. Andrew comfortably took the overall win in the DF fleet with 10 wins, with John Carlin second after Richard dropped out at race 6.
RG result
- Peter Baldwin 63 14pts 4 wins
- Neil Westbrook 03 16pts 5 wins
- Alan Wilkinson 23 22pts 2 wins
- Dave Williams 33 30pts
DF result
- Andrew Peter 19 9pts 10 wins
- John Carlin 11 20pts
- Richard Robinson 01 26pts 1 win
Next week (22nd February) is round 6 of the IOM Winter series.
