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Birkenhead members at the Marblehead Ranking #1 and DFTT #1&#2

Last weekend Birkenhead club members were competing at opposite ends of the country with the Marblehead ranking race in Poole and the DF TT series in Southport. The Poole event was the start of the qualifying for the World Championship in 2020 at West Kirby, and two members Bill Culshaw and Dave Potter made the long journey south. Bill had an excellent day finishing 6th including a race win and a 2nd and Dave’s new Starkers showed potential with a 2nd in one of the races. At Southport the DF club members of Alan Watkinson, Andrew Peters, Peter Baldwin and John Brierley arrived to find the lake frozen but after a delay of one hour the 35 competitors managed a good days sailing in A+ rig conditions. At the end of day one, John benefited from winning the last race to finish 3rd, with Peter in 7th and Alan and Andrew getting to grips with the A+ rigs as the day progressed.

On the Sunday there was again another delay for thicker ice and as only seven races could be achieved, the fact of only one discard was to make the racing tight across the fleet of 35 boats.  John was level on points with “Uncle Derek” but on count back had to settle for 2nd overall.  Peter had a late charge to finish 5th and Andrew and Alan had close competition all day .
Next weekend it is back to Gautby Rd for the next round of our Winter Series in IOM, Start time 1300. Come and join us at this Open Series.

IOM Winter Series 4

A welcome fleet of 15 boats for round 4 Of this years Birkenhead IOM winter series greeted our PRO Bernie McNulty under cold grey skies. A rigs were unanimously chosen with a light 3-8 knot SE wind blowing mostly straight down the course from the clubhouse end.

From the outset the usual names of Roberts, Potter, Brierley and Culshaw and Gibson got away well in the shifting conditions. Others to do well at times were locals Lawrence Drennon and Neil Westbrook with a podium heat finish apiece.
After 11 races in total were completed with 2 discards, Brad Gibson took the day with a score of only 9 points with his 23 year old ‘pimped’ boat that enjoyed the light conditions. Rounding out the podium were Bill Culshaw with another strong showing in second and John Brierley edging out Martin Roberts for third by a single point.
A number of both new and visiting skippers from as far north as Fleetwood and east of the Pennines with designs new and old enjoyed a great days sailing and we welcome more in future rounds. Plenty of advice and tuning tips were shared throughout the fleet with none more evident than top skipper Graham Elliott sharing the controls for the day with daughter Millie. Congratulations Millie in leading us to the windward mark in the penultimate race showing the rest of us how it’s done.
Our next round of the Winter Series is on February 2nd feel free to join us

1st      Brad Gibson                 9pts
2nd     Bill Culshaw                  23pts
3rd      John Brierley               30pts
4th      Martin Roberts           31pts
5th      Dave Potter                 41ots
6th      Lawrence Drennan    52pts
7th      Neil Westbrook            59pts
8th      Alan Watkinson           66pts
9th      Andrew Peter               75pts
10th    Gary Benson                  84pts
11th    Howard Garner             86pts
12th    John Berry                       94pts
13th   Michael Benson             103pts
14th    Phillip Davies                 119pts
15th    Millie Elliot                     120pts

 

DragonForce Winter Series#3 16/1/19

On arrival in heavy rain, there appeared to be a good 8-10 knots with strong gusts coming generally down the lake and so everyone decided to opt for A Rig.  By the time that the course was being set, the rain had stopped and taken a lot of the wind with it.  All 8 sailors decided to stay with A Rig as the wind was likely to pick up again before racing finished.  After a few heavy showers, the rain stopped and the wind increased a little, but came from numerous directions but mostly from a WSW direction.  In the end 9 races were completed before everyone decided that a warm drink was required.

Some social racing was undertaken after lunch in a good 10 knots straight down the lake in nearly full sun with 5 boats taking part.

1st.        Peter Baldwin       9pts
2nd.      Neil Westbrook   12pts
3rd.       John Brierley        15pts (gear failure for last two races)
4th       Andrew Peter        20pts
5th       Sally Collings        24pts (1x1st)
6th.       Alan Watkinson  24pts (2x2nd)
5th.      Dave Williams         24pts (1x2nd)
6th.       Richard Walker      33pts

9 races sailed, 2 discards

Dragonforce Winter Series #2 09/01/19

After last weeks race (#1 of the Winter 2019 Series) was abandoned due to lack of wind, this weeks DF 65 race today was held in an extremely gentle wind which struggled to make its way down the top half of the lake. The sun made an appearance so a pleasant morning with 6 boats and 10 races completed.

1st.       John Brierley.        8pts
2nd.      Alan Watkinson.   20 pts
3rd.       Andrew Peter.       21 pts
4th.       Richard Walker.     30 pts
5th.       Ernie Rice.             32 pts
6th.       Dave Williams.      39 pts

IOM Winter Series 3

Happy New Year and this was round 3 of the Birkenhead Winter Series and a lovely gentle top suit wind down the middle of the lake with plenty of shifts for all to anticipate, depend upon or hope for.
The early pace setter was Bill Culshaw with two wins and two second places in the first four races sailing immaculately, following him was Martin Roberts and Graham Elliott going into the tea break.
There were many close battles all day with not much love lost but no shouting, just good hard but fair sailing.
Noticeable results were Lawrence and Alan both gaining second places in races 5 and 6, well done, and after 9 races with 4 different race winners it was Graham Elliott who won the day with 5 wins.
Many thanks to Bernie and Dave for starting and finishing the fleet and Joyce for the half time cuppa.

1st      Graham Elliot            10pts
2nd     Bill Culshaw               18pts
3rd      Martin Roberts         19pts
4th      John Brierley             31pts
5th     Dave Potter                32pts
6th     Lawrence Brennon    33pts (2nd place)
7th      Peter Baldwin            33pts
8th      Alan Watkinson         47pts
9th      Neil Westbrook           51pts
After 9 races