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Category: dragonforce

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)

DF65TT Round 10 Day 2

Day 2 dawned with sun, but sadly no wind.  A postponement was called by the RO and we waited for the breeze to fill in.  By 11:00 there was  gentle SSW breeze sufficient to allow racing to start by 11:10.  After a few had decided not to attend or leave early only 16 boats took to the water in a light and patchy 2 to 5 knots.  We completed an additional 4 races before breaking for lunch, with a breeze that was at times nearly straight down the lake, perhaps helped by a bit of sea breeze adding to the gradient.  John and Peter continued their tussle for the overall lead, with John getting the upper hand in this first session, winning two races to Peters one, with one race tie as the finish judge was unable to split the pair as they crossed the finish line.

After lunch, a further 4 races were completed, although the breeze could shut off at any point and one race was abandoned and break taken before racing continued.  John continued to dominate this final session, with 3 wins, and Tony Sedgwick getting a win in the final race, having had some other excellent results over the weekend, but previously missing out on a win.

This gave a podium of John Tushingham in first, Peter Baldwin in second, with Dave Burke in third.  We had a great weekend of A+ sailing, and thanks go to the Race Officer John Brierley assisted by Dave Williams (Sat), Neil Westbrook, Malcolm Harvey and Judith all helping to run the racing, plus Jocelyn and Chris in the galley keeping everyone fed and watered throughout both days from early in the morning to the end of racing.

Final Results are:

DF65TT Round 10 Day 1

The day started with little or no wind, but a light breeze picked up after RO John Brierley had given his briefing and so Race 1 got underway soon after 10:00.  However, the breeze dropped during the race and the fleet was well spread by the time the leaders finished and the RO called a temporary halt and we restarted after about an hour when the breeze had picked up to a nice WNW breeze of about 5 knots.  We managed 5 races before taking lunch, with John Tushingham taking three wins, plus John Carlin and Peter Baldwin one each.  After lunch, a total of 11 further races were completed (with one break) before the cut-off time of 17:30. In this session there were five different race winners.  Peter took the lions share of seven race wins, with Dave Burke, Alan Watkinson, Simon Fairman and John Tushingham with one each.  Special mention to newcomer to the sport, Tony Sedgwick, who was unlucky to lose out in one race ending up second to Peter on the final leg into the finish having led for a good part of the race.

Racing on Saturday (c) Dave Williams

Results at the end of day 1 are as follows:

 

DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2023 – 18/10/23

Fifteen boats turned out this week to enjoy a decent Easterly breeze with A rig being the choice of the day, after some indecision as to whether it was A+, A or B.  Peter had a go with A rig and had no issues and the wind was probably even A+ when we started, but soon picked up and was close to being B rig in the gusts by the time we finished.

Having had a trial sail to give an idea of the best rig, Peter then donned the waders and moved the all the marks around to give a decent course and start-line – one that could be either Port or Starboard biased depending on the gust coming down the course.  So plenty of decisions to be made in the pre-start period.

Mike was quick off the blocks for Race 1 whilst a few other front runners were either OCS or doing turns for Port/Starboard incidents.  Peter then took 6 of the next 7 races, with Neil taking Race 3 and John C the final two lap race as he nipped across the line in front of Alan who had led the fleet until the very end when he had a big header just prior to the finish.  Other notable efforts came from Andrew, Clive, Tony  and finally Jon, who was unfortunately taken out whilst in the lead near the finish (and on Starboard), leaving the door open for Peter to nip through for the win.  Final Results below.

A good morning with plenty of learning points, tuning assistance and good practice for those sailing in the DF65 TT coming up at the weekend.  Thanks must go to Dave Williams who opted to run the racing rather than sailing and kept everyone in line with several OCS calls and one general recall in the 9 races sailed.

  1. Peter Baldwin           63   9pts   (6 wins)
  2. Mike De St Paer        35  24pts  (1 win)
  3. John Carlin                 11   27pts  (1 win)
  4. Andrew Potter         194  31pts
  5. Tony Sedgwick        318  32pts
  6. Alan Watkinson      373  37pts
  7. Neil Westbrook         03  39pts (1 win)
  8. Jon Whitehead         770  43pts
  9. Richard Walker        39   48pts
  10. Clive Warren              53   50pts
  11. Paul Little                   45   65pts
  12. Frans King                 95   76pts
  13. Malcolm Harvey  1019   86pts
  14. Dave Howard            00  94pts
  15. Sally Collings         829  102pts (Left Early)

DF95 Social Sailing

After the morning DF65 sailing, 7 skippers stayed behind to sail their 95s, it would have been 8 but unfortunately Neil Westbrook, brought his wrong transmitter. The wind was very similar to the morning session when we started so A rigs were given the green light, The same course was also used.
Paul Little opted out of sailing and was our RO for the afternoon, many thanks Paul.
The first race was a single lap to test the rig set up, all the following races were all 2 laps. Dave Howard was a bit late missing the first 2 races as he put the finishing touches to the rigging  of his new 95 (with a little help from Peter) prior to its maiden voyage.
John Carlin was off to a flyer winning the first 2 races. The wind continued to increase during the 2nd race and the boats started to nosedive downwind so it was decided to change to B rigs, which were perfect for the new conditions. John continued his winning ways with another win in race 3, before Clive broke his run in race 4. Richard was very consistent notching up 5 third places in the 6 races sailed, Frans and Mal although not their finest hour enjoyed the sail,  finally Dave Hs maiden voyage was successful with a 4th place, but had to leave early.
Final standings after 6 races with 1 discard
1  John Carlin          –   6  (4 wins, 1 x 2)
2  Clive Warren       –   8  (2 wins, 3 x 2)
3  Richard Walker   – 15  (5 x 3)
4  Frans King            – 17  (1 x 2)
5  Malcolm Harvey – 22  (1 x 2)
6  Dave Howard      – Only one race