Category: dragonforce

6 keen sailors arrived to be greeted by a slight wind from the clubhouse end. A course was set from the middle of the lake to a starboard rounding of the windward mark, starboard around the spreader, downwind to a port rounding of the start mark to a finish by the clubhouse.

All starts were without recalls, as as to be called back would have been disastrous. The rounding of the windward mark in the light wind caught out several skippers with penalty turns in abundance. In most races the last 30 meters was the most challenging with the clear leader becoming becalmed and the chasing boats overtaking. Special mention of new member Frans King on his debut race, managing a second and third. Thanks go to RO Dave Williams who managed to run 9 races.

1. Neil Westbrook       11pts 4 wins
2. Alan Watkinson      14pts 3 wins
3. Mike de St Paer       20 pts 1 win, 2 seconds, 2 third
4. John Carlin                20pts 1 win, 2 seconds, 1 third
5. Andrew Potter          30pts
6. Frans King                 30pts

10 members arrived to be greeted by a cold top of A+ wind blowing straight down the lake. With each sailor taking turn as RO we managed 9 races! Unfortunately gear failure took Malcolm out after four races.

Our Commodore took the honours with 6 wins and John C with his consistent sailing took second just one point away from Andrew Peter. There were many close races with places gained tacking on the correct shift and keeping above the water on the downwind leg.

1. John Brierley          6 pts 6 win
2. John Carlin             12 pts 1 win
3. Andrew Peter         13 pts 1 win
4. Andrew Potter      23 pts
5. Dave Williams       24 pts 1 win
6. Neil Westbrook     28 pts
7. Alan Watkinson   30 pts
8. Paul Hounslow     39 pts 2 x 4th
9. John Beech             39 pts 0 x 4th
10. Malcolm Harvey   68 pts

Pleasant summer sailing, with a variable southerly breeze, greeted just 7 sailors for today’s DF65 Race. The usual issues with light airs from behind the clubhouse, with holes and shifts in the wind to contend with, made for interesting conditions and the need for vigilance to gain any advantage. Neil and Andrew finished on equal points but Neil took the overall win with 3 race wins over Andrew’s two. Other wins in the 8 races sailed were shared throughout the fleet.

1. Neil Westbrook     03 10 pts 3 wins
2. Andrew Peter      919  10 pts 2 wins
3. Richard Walker    39  16 pts 1 win
4. Alan Watkinson 373  20 pts 1 win
5. James Martin       813  21 pts 1 win
6. John Beech             80  30 pts
7. Graham Reeves  187 35 pts Rtd.

An eventful day off the water, with the start delayed owning to the Honorary Secretary having unwisely called an EGM for 11.00 and racing disrupted by a fishing “supporter” moving up and down the pond-side, screaming at and threatening members and their boats whilst we sailed.

Compared with that, events on the water were quite tame. What wind there was for the first race blew up the pond from the Southeast, giving us an interesting beat and a challenging run with many holes in the wind, leaving many participants wondering whether they would ever cross the finish line. As the morning progressed, the wind filled in, giving us enough breeze to sail in but still giving us with very shifty conditions. Despite the late start and the very slow first race, we managed eight races before 1pm and, after discards, the results after 2 discards were:

1. Peter Baldwin               6pts                 7 firsts
2. Derek Matthews         17pts                1 first
3. Alan Watkinson          17pts
4. Dave Williams             22pts
5. Malcolm Harvey         24pts
6. Charles Legg                28pts
7. John Beech                   36pts
8. Richard Walker          40pts

Thanks to Ian Roberts who acted as our RO

Thanks also go to our Commodore and Vice Commodore for donning the waders and clearing some lake debris, assisted by the Club Captain with a grappling hook.  Plenty of debris and lots of fishing line around marks was removed.

A grey day, that constantly threatened to rain but hardly did, but blessed us with winds blowing along the lake from the Gautby Road end and giving us a beat from the Northeast corner of the pond to the opposite Western corner. Needless to say, while the broad wind direction was consistent, the detail varied from race to race and from point to point on the pond. What was a near port fetch to the first mark in one race turned into a starboard fetch in another This was a day on which the ability to read the shifts really paid off. Nine people sailed, giving us nine races with each of us acting as race officer in turn. The results were:

1. Andrew Potter      8 pts
2. Mike De St. Paer 11 pts
3. Neil Westbrook  15 Pts
4. John Carlin           19 pts
5. Dave Williams    26 pts
6. Simon Bates        27 pts
7. Richard Walker  29 pts
8. Charles Legg       30 pts
9. John Beech           39 pts

Nine sailors turned out this week for a gusty afternoons racing with a wind forecast to be WSW and so diagonally down the lake from the far end.  Peter donned the waders to move marks around to form a course for the forecast wind, but the gusts could shift the wind by up to 40 degrees and back again within seconds making the beat a fetch or even close reach at times.  B or low aspect A rigs were favoured today, with those on “A’s” hoping to survive the gusts whilst gaining in the lulls.

In the end, only 7 sailors made it through the day, with gear failure or difficulties coping with the gusts causing a couple of dropouts.

After establishing a good lead in Race 1, Peter lost his jib tie down on the last beat and narrowly lost the win to John.  John then went onto win the next three races as well, until Graham won his first race followed by a good start to end win for Alan in Race 6 and a short break for refreshments.

After the break, Alan had another win, before Peter had a run of three consecutive race wins, with Graham taking the final, Race 11 win.  During the day, everyone struggled for consistency in the gusty conditions, with places won and lost depending on whether you were in the right place to make the best of any gust and associated shift.  The conditions did, however, allow most of the fleet time at the front and vie for the win.  The last race being one where the first 5 boats all crossed the finish line within about 5 seconds.

John took the day with his 4 wins, Peter was second on three and Graham just pipped Martin to take third on countback based upon his two wins.  Thanks go to Dave, Bill and John Carlin for helping to run the races over the afternoon.

1. John Brierley        Uno                         84  19pts (4 wins)
2. Peter Baldwin      Uno                         63  22pts (3 wins)
3. Graham Elliott    Argon                     09  25pts (2 wins)
4. Martin Roberts   Pocket Rocket   133   25pts
5. Alan Watkinson  Uno                         23    34pts
6. Neil Westbrook   Uno                         03    41pts
7. Dave Williams     Uno                         33    59pts