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Category: dragonforce

DF/RG65 Summer Series 2022 #7 (20/8/22)

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

DF65 Social Racing 2022 #33 (17/8/22)

A chilly but dry day with a light wind from the Clubhouse end. Eight skippers contested the nine races using A+ sails. the starts without a RO were very honest which gave very close racing up to the first mark, from then on the course taken on the run to the wide gate determined your final position.

With John Brierley and John Carlin taking 8 races between them, they could not stop Alan from taking the other one. The close racing amongst the fleet gave for a very pleasant mornings sailing.

  1. John Brierley           8pts 6wins
  2. John Carlin             14pts 2wins
  3. Neil Westbrook    22pts
  4. Alan Watkinson   25pts 1win
  5. Richard Walker    29pts
  6. Dave Williams      30pts
  7.  Malcolm Harvey 45pts
  8. John Beech             51pts

DF65 Social racing #32 (10/8/22)

Seven sailors turned up, more in hope than expectation of enough wind in which to sail. They were rewarded with a light but useable wind mainly running the length of the pond from the Gautby Road end. Most races were conducted with a start-line at the Northwest end of the pond, two port-hand turning marks at the bottom and a single turning mark at the far Northwest. As the wind died in the Northwest corner, the final race was run with the start-line as a gate. With fickle winds, positions changed regularly throughout each race and several people scored firsts. Nevertheless, consistency won out, with Andrew Potter coming a well-deserved overall first. The results were:

DF/RG65 Summer 2022 #6 (6/8/22)

7 RG 65’s made it to the start line for todays race, 5 UNO’s, 1 ARGON and 1 ELECTRONICA. A lovely top suit wind from the top end with plenty of gusts and shifts, with all choosing there maximum sail area rigs, mostly swing rigs but 2 conventional rigs.
The wind did gradually build through the day and there was plenty of downwind diving on either side of tea break.
The day belonged to Bill Culshaw sailing a chartered Electronica, who achieved a very impressive set of scores, top 3 finishes in all but one race and this was with 3 recalls for him through the day. Peter Baldwin was not far behind on the overall scores in second place sailing his Uno followed by Graham Elliott sailing his Argon.
Race winners were. Bill Culshaw (6), Peter Baldwin (4), John Brierley (1), Graham Elliott (1)
Many thanks must go to Paul Hounslow for starting and finishing us and Jack for making the tea.
  1. Bill Culshaw            Electronica      14pts
  2. Peter Baldwin         Uno                     20pts
  3. Graham Elliott       Argon                 27pts
  4. John Brierley           Uno                     28pts
  5. Alan Watkinson     Uno                     45pts
  6. Charles Legg           Uno                     57pts
  7. Dave Williams        Uno                     64pts

DF65 Social Racing #31 (3/8/22)

Thirteen sailors turned out today, with a few that hadn’t made it down for a number of weeks.  Initially the view was that the breeze suited the A+, but when the start time came around, it was definitely A and verging on a B Rig due to the strength of the gusts, estimated at around 16 knots, mostly straight down the lake from the far end, but with some significant gusts catching the unwary out.Peter moved the marks around for a windward leeward single lap course and we got started around 11:10 having changed down.  Everyone took it in turns to run a race each, but that meant thirteen races had to be completed, leading to a slightly later finishing time of 13:10, stopping a few sailors from participating in every race.John Brierley and Peter Baldwin mostly had a good close tussle for race wins John with 6 and Peter with 3, although there were also  wins for Derek Matthews (2), Alan Watkinson (1), and Dave Williams (1). Racing was mostly very close throughout the fleet, with rarely anyone getting well in the lead, never to be challenged. John won the day, with Peter close behind and then 3rd place had to go to countback to split Dave from Neil.  A great mornings racing, with thanks going to Dave for working out the final scores.

  1. John Brierley              84  15pts
  2. Peter Baldwin            63   17pts
  3. Dave Williams         233   39pts (1 win)
  4. Neil Westbrook         03  39pts (0 win)
  5. Alan Watkinson      373  46pts
  6. Mike De St Paer         35  47pts
  7. Derek Matthews        57  64pts
  8. John Carlin                   11  65pts
  9. Richard Walker          39  69pts
  10. Paul Hounslow           82  90pts
  11. Malcolm Harvey     1019  92pts
  12. John Beech                    80  96pts
  13. Charles Legg                 21  112pts

Next Saturday afternoon (6th) is racing for the DF and RG65, why not join us.

DF95 Social Racing practice afternoon (27/7/22)

Five Skippers put their boats on the water to have some sprint racing of a single lap and allow comparison of rig and sail settings and see what worked and what didn’t. Dave Williams very graciously agreed to loan his fin and keel to someone who forgot theirs and his reward was then to run the racing for everyone.  A big thank you to Dave for doing this.

There were some interesting results and differences in boat speed, although this was at times difficult to judge with the wind being very patchy.  By the end of the session comprising 8 races, the boats were more evenly matched  and some sailors have some future work to do, to re-rig or even obtain replacement sails before the next session.

Peter took the lions share of 6 wins for first, with Neil picking up the other two (in a borrowed boat) for second and Alan finishing with a strong cluster of podium places to edge Andrew out of third place.

An Album of photos taken by John Beech are available in the Gallery here

  1. Peter           172      6pts
  2. Neil              179     10pts
  3. Alan               04    17pts
  4. Andrew      288    19pts
  5. Richard         52   24pts