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DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2023 – 8/11/23

DF65

Another good turnout of 15 DF65 sailors arrived to a brisk North Westerly breeze and a cool autumn day. After a bit of course adjustment the usual course format was used with a line which slightly favoured a pin end start. B rigs were chosen and racing was again close right across the fleet. Race officer  duties were initially going to be shared but Neil Westbrook arrived – but not to sail – and very kindly agreed to run the rest of the racing. Thanks Neil!

The wind proved unstable despite the direction, which is reflected in the results showing 6 different winners over the 10 races sailed. There was a fair amount of contact in the gusty conditions and a number of OCS calls.

Tony ran out the winner with a string of good results, very closely chased the whole way by John Carlin who only lost out on number of wins.

Finally, all sailors are asked to remember that Wednesday morning sailing is titled ‘Social Racing’ where all sailors are welcome to participate, no matter their skill or experience enabling them to grow and fluorish.  Occasionally problems do arise, but frustrating as it may be, there is a need for calmness and respectful behaviour at all times.

Final Positions were:

  1. Tony Sedgwick           15 pts           4 wins
  2. John Carlin                   15 pts           2 wins
  3. Mike de St Paer           25 pts           1 win
  4. Andrew Potter             35 pts
  5. Jon Whitehead            36 pts           1 win
  6. James Douglas            41 pts           1 win
  7. Clive Warren                42 pts
  8. Dave Williams             61pts
  9. Alan Watkinson          62 pts           1 win
  10. John Beech                    63 pts
  11. Richard Walker           76 pts
  12. Charles Legg                 81 pts
  13. Sally Collings                87 pts
  14. Malcolm Harvey          91 pts
  15. Dave Howard                97 pts

DF95

After the morning DF65 sailing, 7 skippers stayed behind to sail their 95s. The wind was very similar to the morning session with a good breeze, there were enough shifts and holes to keep the helms on their toes and to provide some very close racing throughout the fleet.
Unfortunately, John Beech suffered rigging problems whilst setting his boat up, and despite help from Clive was unable to sort the issue which seemed to be a winch problem. This meant 6 boats were left to fight it out for the days bragging rights
Race 1,  as John B was sidelined, he volunteered to be the RO for the afternoon (thanks John) Clive missed the start of the first race, which was won by John Carlin followed home by Alan Watkinson.  Race 2,  then saw Clive  back in action with a vengeance taking the win followed home by John C.  Race 3,  with  the majority of the fleet at the port end of the line it was Dave Howard saw his opportunity and got a flyer from the starboard end, which he held to the end, with Alan Watkinson closing in but ran out of time finishing second. This was a great win for Dave who is a newcomer to RC sailing and never sailed in any form previously.   Race 4, had a close finish with all boats close at the last mark, Richard Walker and Clive benefitting from a good wind shift which moved them up the fleet from 4th and 5th at the last mark respectively to 1st and 2nd across the line.  Race 5, saw Tony Sedgwick in his borrowed boat (kindly lent by Andrew Peter, whilst his own boat is on order) finally getting to grips with the 95 after showing very good speed in his 65, this was a rare outing for Tony in the 95 as a prelim to the weekend TT at Fleetwood.  Races 6, 7 and 8,  were very similar to each other, the main difference was race 8 being 2 laps. The races themselves were all very close with John Carlin picking up his 2nd win in race 6 with Tony following him home in second place. Unfortunately Alan had to leave after this race.  Then in race 7 Tony picked up his second win of the afternoon, with John chasing him home. Finally in Race 8 Richard picked up his second win with Tony following him home in second place.
The afternoon racing was very enjoyable with very close racing throughout the fleet with 5 of the 6 helms recording a first place. Thanks again to John B for being the RO for the afternoon and keeping us in check at the start.
Final standings after 8 races with 1 discard
1  John Carlin              15pts  (2 wins)
2  Tony Sedgwick   16pts  (2 wins)
3  Clive Warren           22pts  (1 win)
4 Richard  Walker     24pts  (2 wins)
5  Dave Howard         29pts   (1 win)
6 Alan Watkinson     30pts   (only 6 races sailed)

DF/RG65 Winter 2023/4 #1 – 4/11/23

Five sailors arrived to take part in the first of the Winter RG65 series, a few of the absentees sailing elsewhere. The day started with rain and did not let up, the light wind was very inconsistent blowing from over the factory, making the course difficult to sail. The start line was very biased until Bill’s boat caught a start line buoy and then having donned the waders, reset the start line to a more favourable position.

Most of the boats had top A, which was the right choice as the boats were controllable during the frequent gusts. John B and Bill were at the front most of the time with all the wins between them, John mastering the conditions taking seven wins from Bill’s three. Alan and John C both managed to take second places with Dave sailing consistently to take third and fourth places.

Ten races completed and it was decided the rain and cold was too much so a halt was called. Thanks to Dave for organising the racing and scoring.

  1. John Brierley         Uno  9pts
  2. Bill Culshaw           Ivy   23pts
  3. Alan Watkinson   Uno  25pts
  4. Dave Williams      Uno  30pts
  5. John Carlin            Uno   31pts

DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2023 – 1/11/23

DF65 Racing

13 DF 65 sailors arrived for this week’s club racing. Thirteen proved unlucky for ex Commodore John, who had to retire after a couple of races with a rudder servo problem having been at the front of the fleet.

The course was the usual windward leeward with a windward mark spreader and leeward gate. The start line at the far end of the lake looked biased, but actually worked quite well, and in any case the conditions were such that anything could and did happen out on the track.  The wind was basically over the houses, but a succession of small fronts during the mornings sailing provided flat spots, some punchy gusts, and the odd shower of rain.

Conditions made for a fair bit of unintentional boat to boat contact, and in particular the run to the spreader mark with the fleet bunched made the spreader approach and rounding tricky to judge.

John Beech won the first race, and James and Clive also got away well with each having a string of good results and some wins. Racing was once again close right across the fleet, but eventually Mike dsp just managed to win on points as shown below.

Thanks once again to Dave for doing the results, including average points as the race management duties were shared.

Final Positions were:

  1. Mike de St Paer          13.7 pts        4 wins
  2. James Douglas           14.8 pts        2 wins
  3. Clive Warren               19.4pts         3 wins
  4. Alan Watkinson         26.3 pts
  5. John Carlin                   32 pts
  6. Richard Walker          52.5 pts
  7. Andrew Potter            56 pts
  8. John Beech                   57pts            1 win
  9. Paul Little                     59.4 pts
  10. Dave Williams             61.7 pts
  11. Tony Sedgwick           69 pts (6 races only)
  12. John Whitehead         70 pts (6 races only)
  13. Dave Howard              76.7pts

DF95 Racing

Paul Little volunteered to be the race officer for the 6 skippers who started the afternoon session and hopefully picked up some useful tips for his own 95 which is on order. Thanks Paul for keeping us in line.

The course was the same as the morning session, but the wind had swung round even further west and it was a toss up which end of the lake to start  from. After a short discussion we started at the far end.  ‘A’ rig was the choice for the afternoon and just as the morning there were fronts coming through providing plenty of opportunity for passing and losing places. Beats turned Into runs the back to beats, and the helms had to keep on their toes to try to keep the boats moving.

Alan started off as he meant to go on by winning the first, Clive was second, and Richard third. The conditions got to John C and he withdrew at the start of the second race.

The next 2 races saw Clive taking the wins with Alan picking up 2 seconds and Richard and John B picking up 1 third place each.

Race 4 saw John B taking the win, Alan again picking up a second, and third to Dave Howard, leaving Clive hooked up on the gate mark whilst in the leading pack.

Race 5 found Richard taking the win, Alan continuing his consistent run of second places, with John B third.

Final race, Unfortunately Alan had to leave , family duties calling, The race was intended to be 2 laps, at the windward mark it was a close thing with Clive just ahead of Richard, with Dave H and John B close behind, As they approached the spreader, a squall hit the 2 leaders who both broached and ended up tangled together and had to wait until they drifted to the bank to be separated, whilst the other 2 sailed past, giving Dave his first victory with his 95 and John B second and Clive a distant third.

Despite the very tricky wind a very enjoyable afternoon sailing these great boats, with all helms recording at least 1 win each,  just how competitive the sailing was!!

Final standings

  1. Alan Watkinson      9pts   1 win
  2. Clive Warren          12pts  2 wins
  3. John Beech             14pts  1 win
  4. Richard Walker      15pts  1 win
  5. Dave Howard         18pts   1 win
  6. John Carlin (only 1 race sailed)

IOM Summer 2023 #10 – 28/10/23

A total of 7 IOM’s turned out for the last of the Summer Series in 2023 and were greeted with a decent middle top suit breeze straight down from the clubhouse end, with the usual mix of shifts and pressure variations to help (or hinder) someone’s progress up or down the lake.

After Peter had re-jigged the marks after last weeks DFTT, our RO Dave Williams got things underway on time with six of the seven for the first 4 races.  In the first session of six races, Alan got the lions share of five wins, with Peter taking one win and Bill plus Martin vying for the lead at any time during the race.  We were joined this week by Alan’s young son George in his first visit to Birkenhead, sailing a Mirage and showed great ability to get off the starting line and around the course with the rest of us.  We hope to see him again at the lake in the future to further hone his skills.

After the break, the fight continued at the front of the fleet for the wins, with Peter gaining three then Alan and Martin one each such that in the last race, the overall winner on the day was going to be either Alan or Peter.  Alan led for a good part of the race, until Peter managed to pass him up the last beat and looked to be safe, but then sailed himself into a bit of a hole.  Alan meanwhile kept in the breeze to cross the line half a boat length ahead of Peter for the win and the days honours.  Bill was third, Martin fourth after missing the first 4 races and Tony sailing an IOM for the first time, was fifth.  Very many thanks to Dave for running the racing once again, taking a few photos  and getting racing completed before we had much rain.

  1. Alan Bennett            Britpop!          15pts
  2. Peter Baldwin          Britpop!          16pts
  3. Bill Culshaw             Britpop!          28pts
  4. Martin Roberts       Widget             39pts
  5. Tony Sedgwick        Lintel MMX  44pts
  6. Alan Watkinson       Britpop!         58pts
  7. George  Bennett      Mirage             63pts

Next IOM Race is Race 1 of the Winter Series on 11th November.

IOM Racing Sat 28th October

There is racing for the IOM this coming Saturday 28th October.  This is an additional afternoon in the Summer Series for the IOM (#10) having lost a couple of afternoons earlier in the season.  It would be nice to see a good turnout of boats.  Please make your entry soon if you are planning to attend.

DF65 & DF95 Social racing 2023 – 25/10/23

The DF fleet arrived to a more or less flat calm, and there was some discussion about whether racing could take place. As so often happems, while this was going on a slight breeze from the far end appeared, and after a short delay there was enough to get round the course.

Although the breeze remained patchy to say the least, there was some very good racing all across the fleet.

After 5 races it went completely flat again and it was agreed that the day was over.

There were 4 winners out of 5 races, with Clive winning 2, but James Douglas ran out the overall winner with no race wins but a string of seconds.

The next 4 boats were covered by 2 points with final positions as shown below.

Many thanks to Dave who once again ran all the racing.

Final Positions were:

  1. James Douglas               8 pts
  2. John Carlin                     10 pts           1 win
  3. Clive Warren                  11 pts           2 wins
  4. Alan Watkinson            12 pts           1 win
  5. Mike de St Paer             12 pts           1 Win
  6. Neil Westbrook             21 pts
  7. Richard Walker             29 pts
  8. John Beech                      30pts
  9. Dave Howard                  35 pts
  10. Frans King                       36 pts
  11. Malcolm Harvey           39 pts

DF95 Social Racing

Following on from the morning DF65 sailing 7 skippers stayed behind to partake in the DF95 sailing. The wind was very similar to the morning with it generally coming down the lake but also swinging through 45deg making it difficult for the helms. Picking the right shifts to take was paramount. A slightly extended lunch was taken to allow the breeze to fill in for the first race. Richard Walker had a slight advantage by using a very unofficial A+ rig. It was really interesting to monitor the performance of the larger rig, which was approx 20% bigger than the standard A rig. As there were only seven boats Clive oversaw the start sequence and the first over the line recorded the finishing places. The same course as the morning was used and single lap races were the order of the day, due to lack of wind and to attempt to get 6 races completed
As expected the “A+rig” was too much of an advantage and Richard won every  race except the last which he didn’t start, Clive was very consistent finishing with 5 second places and the remainder of the places were closely fought by the rest of the field with Alan finishing in 3rd
thanks to a first place in the last race
The Photo attached shows the A+Rig (numberless sail) in the foreground
Final Standings:
  1. Richard Walker         72    5pts  (A+ rig)
  2. Clive Warren              93  10pts
  3. Alan Watkinson        23  16pts
  4. John Beech               288  18pts
  5. Malcolm Harvey  2019 21pts
  6. Frans King                  59  26pts
  7. Dave Howard             00  29pts