Birkenhead Radio Sailing & Power Club
The second round of the RG65/DF65 Winter series takes place on Saturday 21st December with a start time of 12:00. Both classes will start on the same line, with the DF65 sailing to a separate windward mark at a reduced distance compared to the RG65. Results will be calculated as two separate fleets.
This is a series open to all sailors in the Northern District and visitors are always welcome.
With a gusty 10 knot breeze, the rig of choice today was an “A” and even then there were some dicey moments in the gusts on the downwind leg. Nobody was immune to the effect of those gusts, although some managed the conditions better than others. The air temperature was 3 degrees, but with the wind chill factor it felt sub zero and everyone was feeling the cold after 10 races had been completed and glad to get a warm drink inside them.
Ernie set a good long course which gave a number of overtaking opportunities if the right shits were taken. John Brierley took the lions share (7) of the wins today, with Peter two and Dave Williams taking the final race after a few equipment problems earlier in the day. That left John in first, Peter second and consistent newcomer to the fleet John Carling in third. Thanks once again to Ernie for braving the cold and sitting (and standing) in the wind for over an hour to run the racing.
That completes the Autumn DF65 series for 2019 and overall results are on the Current Standings page. Racing for the DF65 on a Wednesday morning will begin again on the 8th January at 11:00 with the first race of the Winter Series of 2020.
Entry is now Open for the IRSA Marblehead and Ten Rate Class World Championships and the following document has been issued by the Event Management Group. Check out the Entry Guidelines:
Wind, sun and enthusiasm by all the entrants for this years Birkenhead Christmas race for the IOM, was evident today at Gautby Road. As this was the first round of the Northern District Winter Series for the IOM, there were 9 club’s represented, including the host club. This produced the 20 entrants and 16 races were achieved by the Race Officer and Commodore John Brierley, before the light finally closed in. Racing was in 2nd suit all day with some viscous but short lived gusts providing testing moments for most of the competitors.
Early front runner by the lunchtime break after 8 races was John Tushingham from Keighley (Vision) but as the day progressed Graham Elliott (Britpop) from the host club came back into contention and eventually proved a worthy winner in the testing conditions. There was a big battle for the final podium position with Peter Baldwin (Lintel MMX) securing it with a fine win in the last race from Derek Priestley (Dead Reckoning).
It was good to see 10 designs of IOM’s ranging form the Asset of Dave Stewart right through to the current range of popular designs. All boats had their moments today which kept everyone on their toes.
As this was the clubs Christmas race there was no entry fee charged by the club, but all competitors gave a wrapped gift and all those at the prizegiving went away with a prize (not there own gift!).
Thanks must go to John Brierley for acting as Race Officer together with Bernie, Jack and Joyce who provided the supporting roles to make this another successful event.
The next Birkenhead IOM race is our 3rd Winter series on 11th January, all visitors as usual are always welcome.
Merry Christmas.
Next Week (Saturday 21/12/19) is Round 2 of the Winter Series for RG65/DF65. Visitors always welcome – Start time 12:00.
Entries are now up to 20! If you are going to attend, please email Graham Elliott ASAP.
Full information on the event page with entries and links to NoR.
There was a light breeze as the 16 sailors started to arrive (including two very welcome visitors in the form of Gary and Mike Benson from Fleetwood). However, by the time 11:00 arrived, it had all but disappeared and there were no ripples on the lake. The breeze proved to be fitful and from just about any direction accompanied by light rain for the hour that it took to complete the first four races. At this point, the top 4 were very close as Neil had two wins and sat on 6 points, Peter one win with 7 points, Richard with one win and 8 points and finally John no wins and 8 points
It was then agreed to call a halt and have a warming drink and take stock on conditions. Another race was run but with only 12 sailors, after a few had decided to call it a day due to minimal wind and the rain. Conditions had not however improved and as it was now past one o’clock everyone agreed to call it a day at 5 races. The extra race did however change the results at the top and the final positions were:
Next Wednesday (18th December) will be the 12th and last race in the Autumn DF65 series. We then restart with the Winter series on Wednesday 8th January.
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