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DF65 Social Racing #14 30/12/20

The last Race of 2020 saw 8 DF65 sailors arrive for a chilly windless start to the morning. R.O. Neil decided on a single lap course on the far side, to make the most of a very light westerly breeze.

John took a First and a Fourth in the first two races before deciding he had better things to do than drift around the lake. That left the rest of us to share in achieving line honours, and first places were then spread across the fleet.  Then later, as the wind filled, in the sailing became – well – proper sailing !

John, Sally and Neil had one win each, Charles and Richard
two wins apiece and Andrew had three wins, taking first place overall.
Thanks again to Neil Westbrook for acting as R.O.

Results as follows after 10 races:

  1. Andrew Peter          919   18 pts
  2. Neil Westbrook         03   21 pts
  3. Sally Collings          829   22 pts
  4. Richard Walker         39   29 pts
  5. Charles Legg               21   35 pts
  6. Paul Little                    45   41 pts  1 x 2, 1 x 4, 4 x 5
  7. Don Mackinnon      933   41 pts  1 x 2, 1 x 4, 2 x 5
  8. John Brierley              84   53 pts  (only 2 races sailed)

RG/DF65 Winter Series #1 report

The first of the RG65/DF65 today at Birkenhead, unfortunately the wind was from the South which for anyone that wants to know is the houses wind, not ideal, and difficult to lay a course but Peter once again donned the waders and did his best. All the RG’s were in there top swing rigs except for Martin that had borrowed Johns Pocket Rocket for the event but John chose to supply Martin with a slightly lower aspect top suit that did disadvantage him on the day but he’s still a tough nut to crack. The DF’s all chose the A plus rig.
The DF’s and RG’s all start on the same gun but the DF’s had a slightly shortened course, this option of racing does seem to work when sailing a mixed fleet, giving plenty of practice on a loaded start line.
The wind started off with quite a few vicious gusts but as the day went on these gusts vanished and the wind swung around about 20 degrees making more of a reaching course unfortunately, still plenty of skill required though looking for those pockets of wind and shifts.
The racing proved to be very close on the day with only 16 points separating 3rd-8th in the RG fleet, Graham and John sharing all 8 wins between them took 1st and 2nd, unfortunately we lost Peter after race 5 with a split tyre on his car and this needed to be changed before his journey home. The DF fleet was dominated by Mike who took all 8 races, well done.
Well done also to Bernie who started and finished us, having to walk round to the top bank to accurately get our finishing scores kept his steps up.
The club has gone from strength to strength in these lockdown periods that have stopped us travelling further afield, lets keep this level of entries and quality up in 2021 and hopefully we will see the fruits of this when travelling is open again.

RG65s

  1. Graham Elliott            55   Argon                       6pts    6 wins
  2. John Brierley                84    Uno                        10pts    2 wins
  3. Martin Roberts            22   Pocket Rocket    20pts
  4. Peter Baldwin              63   Pocket Rocket    24pts
  5. David Potter                 20   Pocket Rocket   27pts
  6. Matt Stephenson        08   Pocket Rocket  33pts
  7. Dave Williams              33   Pocket Rocket  34pts
  8. Neil Westbrook            03   Pocket Rocket 36pts

DF65s

  1. Mike de St Paer       35     6pts  6 wins
  2. Colin Deakin             93      18pts
  3. Derek Mathews       57      18pts

DF65 Social Racing #13 16/12/20

A course was set up by Neil Westbrook to run from the far bank to maximise the use of what limited breeze existed.  The attached results do reflect the actual performances on the day, although it was an organisational nightmare (aptly as this was #13 in the series?) for Neil as the  OD and responsible person for the day.  It proved to be a difficult day to score as the Race Sheet had a number of people arriving late and others leaving early, some of which had not registered their intention to participate.  It was relatively easy though to determine the top 3 places, with Richard Robinson taking a good win from Neil Westbrook in second and Mike de St Paer in third.

We must remind ALL members that Pre-registration for each event and signing in with the responsible person is ESSENTIAL to ensure that we continue to comply with our Covid-19 requirements.  Similarly, if you are unable to attend, please cancel you booking using the same event entry page, but using the second form and “Cancel Booking” button.  Please do not simply turn up in the hope of sailing, if you have not pre-booked a place.

Overall Results after 10 races

  1. Richard Robinson           1    9pts
  2. Neil Westbrook                3   19pts
  3. Mike de St Paer              35   32pts
  4. Richard Walker              39   35pts   1 win
  5. Paul Little                         45   35pts  0 wins
  6. John Carlin                        11   41pts
  7. Matthew Stephenson  28   49pts
  8. Charles Legg                    21   59pts
  9. Don MacKinnon          933   65pts
  10. Sally Collings                829  69pts
  11. Zoe Matthews                 60  70pts
  12. Stan Metcalf                    46   74pts
  13. Chris Weston                 194   104pts

IOM Xmas Race 2020

12 skippers turned out for our annual Christmas race, this race normally attracts quite a few visitors, but for the obvious reasons, we ran with a limited entry of 13 for 2020.

The wind was kind to us and decided to blow straight down the middle from the top end, the strength was slap bang in the middle of  ‘A’ rig and ‘B’ rig and after Peter had laid the course, the racing commenced at 11am under the guidance of Jack and Bernie, with the fleet split on choice of rig, it was decided to run 2 races and then have a 5 minute rig change break. It was the ‘A’ rig that proved to be the correct choice in the first 2 races and by the start of race 3 everyone had there ‘A’ rigs on, except for Andrew who had unfortunately broke his ‘A’ rig jib boom so was going to sail in ‘B’ rig until winch problems caused him to retire for the day. At least it gave him the opportunity to take a few photos – thanks Andrew
It was extremely close sailing throughout the fleet with many finishes seeing as many as 4 boats crossing in a blanket finish, shifts that were both frustrating and elevating to all gave us some close sailing. Paul Allen showed the fleet the way by taking 7 wins on the trot before tiring in the final 3 races of the day, not surprising really after 4 Scotch eggs and 2 sandwiches for his lunch. Does that counts as 6 substantial meals in the eyes of some? John Brierley finally found his form after lunch with 3 seconds and a first after a poor first session for him.
After 12 races the light began to fade and it was decided to bring a halt to proceedings at 3.20, after de-rigging we held our ‘Secret Santa’ prizegiving with some beautifully wrapped presents of all sizes and shapes, mine is now under the tree until Christmas day or the dog eats it, whichever comes first. Race wins went to Paul Allen, Martin Roberts, John Brierley and Bill Culshaw.
Many thanks to Jack and Bernie once again, much appreciated by all.
  1. Paul Allen                      27     britpop             13pts   8 wins
  2. Martin Roberts           94     Slim Chine     26pts   1 win
  3. Graham Elliott            27     Widget             32pts
  4. John Brierley                84    britpop            33pts   2 wins
  5. Graham Birkett          133    Widget             51pts
  6. Peter Baldwin               63    Lintel MMX   53pts
  7. Bill Culshaw                   21    britpop            55pts  1 win
  8. Lawrence Drennan     57    britpop            58pts
  9. Neil Westbrook             03   Widget             86pts
  10. Charles Legg                  25    Rubix              103pts
  11. Matt Stephenson         61    Widget           105pts
  12. Andrew Peter                66    V9                    127pts

After 12 races and two discards

IOM Winter #1

The first afternoon’s racing after the end of Lockdown 2 was for the IOM and 7 skippers turned out on what was a dry and sunny afternoon (for a change) albeit with little wind.  What breeze there was, proved challenging for both the course setter and the sailors alike.  As the wind was mostly across the lake from the NNE a figure of 8 course (a la Uncle Derek according to one member) which gave a variety of windward, leeward and reaching legs with most races of only one lap duration to avoid the fleet getting too split up.  A couple of 2 lap races were completed later before the wind died away again for the last race, giving only 8 races completed by 3:30.

The afternoon belonged to Martin in his Slimchine taking 3 of the 8 wins with John Brierley and Bill Culshaw taking two apiece and Peter Baldwin one.  It was good to get out on the water again after 5 weeks, although hopefully we will see more breeze next week for the IOM Xmas Race (with a full entry of 13 boats) when the first race starts at 11:00.  The next IOM Winter Series Race is on 2nd January – start time 12:00.

  1. Martin Roberts         22     slim chine        9pts   3 wins
  2. John Brierley             84     britpop             11pts   2 wins
  3. Bill Culshaw                21     britpop             15pts   2 wins
  4. Peter Baldwin             63    Lintel mmx     16pts   1 win
  5. Neil Westbrook          03     Widget             28pts
  6. Lawrence Drennan   57     britpop             29pts
  7. Charles  Legg               25    Rubix                 39pts

Thanks once again to Bernie and Jack for running the racing for us.