DF65’s
A forecast of heavy showers clearly deterred a number of sailors today, but 10 hardy individuals still turned up to brave the elements
The normal Gautby Rd elements were all in place …. gusty and shifty from the clubhouse end, traditional course, goose poo etc …. with unfortunately a new underwater element ….. WEED!
A rigs were selected, which proved the right choice on balance …. overpowered in the gusts downwind leading to wipeouts but enough power at other times to go forward with weed attached
Paul arrived hoping to get some practice in before the Nationals, but having cleared the lake of minor strands of weed on his keel in the first 3 races, he then decided this wasn’t the sort of practice he came for and donned the waders to clear some weed properly with the rake
Alan, perhaps confused having his rig set up badly with actually sailing with weed more times than others it appeared, also gave up early. The rest of us persevered with the racing, accepting the fact that occasionally you hit a lump of weed that stopped you dead, but mostly you collected a few strands on the way round the course which gradually made you slower, but since everybody had a similar problem, didn’t impact the racing as much as it might have done. On the plus side, the forecast didn’t meet expectations and we only suffered one shower
On the water it was a close fight in every race between Clive, Andrew and Dave, who all clearly had a bit more speed (or a bit less weed) than everybody else. Clive started slowly but finished with 2 wins to take the day. Dave had a couple of poor results he was able to discard but his other results got him second. Andrew was the most consistent, but suffered a couple of critical weed pickup’s when leading races to end up third.
- Clive Warren 10pts. 4 wins
- Dave Williams 11pts. 3 wins
- Andrew Potter 12pts. 1 win
- Stuart Mearns 22pts
- Malcolm Harvey 30pts
- Neil Westbrook 32pts
- Dave Worron 37pts
- Dave White 40pts
Plus, Paul Plested & Alan Watkinson unscored after retiring early.
DF95’s
Seven boats took to the water for a challenging afternoons sailing. As the skippers emerged from the clubhouse after the lunch break the first challenge was to set a course as the wind had swung 45 degrees from Southerly to South Westerly, meaning it was blowing directly across the lake from the houses. The challenge was to try to set a course which wasn’t a reach up and down the lake. This was achieved by starting at the clubhouse end, (opposite end to the morning) using the outer start mark and inner gate mark as the starting line and using the finishing mark as the windward mark, then continuing up the lake to a top mark and spreader before the downwind leg to the gate and then to the finish. This provided 2 short beats to the first two marks.The second challenge was for the skippers to remember the course.
The breeze remained from the morning but with far more shifts and holes than the morning so it was tricky racing as the results showed with 6 of the 7 starters recording at least one first or second. In addition to the tricky wind there was also some 2 or 3 clumps of weed to snag the keel or rudder which needed luck to avoid.
There were some early casualties with Dave Worron missing the first race which was won by Clive with Charles second. Stuart M took top honours in race 2 remembering to sail the right course this time and Dave W showing his boat speed taking second.
Andy M had rigging problems before race 3 which kept him out for the rest of the afternoon, whilst Dave posted 2 bullets. Race 4 also saw Charles struggle home with a winch issue before retiring for 2 races.
The last 4 races saw four different race winners with Steve M, Stuart M, Clive and Dave all taking line honours
In summary, a very tricky afternoons sailing with multiple winners and some close racing. An element of luck needed to avoid picking weed up, but at least the rain stayed away!!
Thanks to Stuart M for the photos and Malcolm for tabulating the results
11 skippers showed up for what looked to be a lively morning of racing under blue skies in a blustery E/ESE breeze. After a bit of a lakeside tidy up and mark repositioning, the fleet got away broadly on time, all sporting A+ rigs after a trial sail which suggested A rig would be under powered…how wrong that proved to be!
In the first two races on our typical windward/leeward course Peter Baldwin demonstrated his skill and experience leading from start to finish in the challenging conditions. Those behind struggled a little more with the gusty breeze. Paul Plested bagged a 2nd as did Charles Legg who kept his calm in race two, crossing the line ahead of Mike De St Paer in third, who also scored 3rd in race one. David White picked up a very creditable 5th in race one, and Richard Walker bagged a 4th.
By race three it was clear that the wind was too much for the A+ rig with plenty of nosediving and broaching downwind with places quickly changing. Paul Plested managed to get to the leeward gate first, which he held on to the finish. Mike was 2nd followed by Peter. Richard picked up another 4th and Dave Williams grabbed a 5th spot.
Guy Cowper had an excellent sail with his A rig scoring a pair of 2nds and 3rds, which gave him 3rd overall on the day. Mike struggled to get his A boat tuned correctly for two races, otherwise he would have been pushing for 3rd if not 2nd on the day. Conversely Andrew Potter, who had struggled with his A+ rig due to technical issues with his boat, did have some better racing with the A.
Overall an enjoyable if somewhat challenging morning of racing, watched over by Neil Westbrook and Malcolm Harvey who kindly acted as PRO and photographer this week.
It was a glorious sunny afternoon and the conditions made for some good sailing. The breeze was light at times but in the main steady, with occasional strong puffs blowing down the lake from the club house end in an east south easterly to easterly direction. There were plenty of shifts and headers to be had with all sailors benefiting and losing.
Overall, an enjoyable afternoons racing, the 95’s seem to handle the shifty/gusty conditions much better than the 65’s, or were we just getting more used to it? A few stock photos this week I’m afraid as we were all too busy keeping in control to take photos.
A SW breeze today pointed to a tricky day at Gautby Rd, and so it proved. Despite a forecast for quite some wind there wasn’t much to show initially, however the pressure slowly built during the morning until some of the gusts were right at the top of A+. Mixed in with this were 180deg shifts, flat patches and holes and a very erratic breeze.
Another good turnout of 10 skippers, although John Brierly had to get away to work after only one race – which he won! – leaving the rest to fight it out on the usual course format starting at the clubhouse end.
The line looked heavily port end biased with the port end just on the edge of the windward bank wind shadow and it seemed to be best to start somewhere in the middle third of the line. There were exceptions to this of course, and good starts were made from all points on the line but conditions were so shifty that this varied from race to race.
The beat was very nearly a port tack fetch, with big left lifts in the gusts and also some completely flat patches and then a very tricky area at the top mark and the spreader where it proved necessary to put in a tack to make the spreader in some races.
After all this the racing was extremely close so even when the leader, or a leading group, was able to make a break this was likely to be neutralised on the run or the beat back to the line.
Afer John B had to leave the wins were shared between Mike, James and Clive, with Mike just emerging the winner from James and Clive with these first three covered by three points as shown below. Racing remained very keen throughout the fleet with almost everyone counting both some good scores and having to count some poor ones as shown below in detail.
7 skippers took to the water, which considering 4 regulars were missing for one reason or another was a good turnout. As is almost the norm for the social racing, the starts were self monitored and the first to finish recorded the results. A standard course was set utilising the full length of the lake with single laps to keep the races flowing.
The racing was generally quite close, with 6 of the 7 skippers taking a podium positions and 4 posting bullets. Clive was the pick of the bunch posting 6 wins, and it was great to see the return of Neil after a few weeks posting a couple of wins and sailed as consistently as anyone notching up a good set of results. Consistency was the key to the day and taking the opportunities when you had the chance and Richard Walker was doing just this with all his results in the top 3, before he had to leave early after 5 races. Stuart took the overall win in the Mearns family although Andy had his fair share of wins over his brother, but the consistency let him down. Further down the fleet Malcolm and Steve were having there own private battle with Malcolm also posting a very impressive2nd in race 8. After 11 races with a softening wind we decided to call it a day.
Overall, an enjoyable afternoons racing, the 95s seem to handle the shifty conditions much better than the 65s, or were we just getting more used to it.
At the start of the day the wind (what there was) was from the east, meaning from the clubhouse end and slightly from the industrial park side, no option for Rigs it had to be top suit. A standard course was set utilising the full length of the lake, but due to the uncertainty of the wind or lack of, the number of laps varied between 1 and 2 depending on the wind at the start of each race.
Race 2 saw John Brierley get into his stride and take a narrow win from Clive and John Beech who showed good boat speed.
As the wind came and went John B and Clive were consistently at the front end of the fleet with John generally having the edge at the finish.
Race 5 and 6 John was out front again ,but this time in race 5 it was Dave who was chasing finishing in second with Clive third and in race 6 it was Clive second with Alan third.
Races 7,8 and 9, followed the familiar pattern of John B first, Clive second and third podium spot being filled by Dave, John Beech, and Alan (1 each)
Race 12, and it looked like Clive would make it a hat trick of wins leading for a lap and a half only to be becalmed at the weather mark and John B and Dave turn a 30m deficit and into a 10m advantage which was held to the finish.
Guy had his portable anemometer out and it showed gusts of 16 knots, although it must be a cheapo from Tandy’s because it lied! Speke Airport was gusting 36 knots blowing from the WNW so you can imagine it was very choppy down the clubhouse end of the lake.
C Rigs was the call as this is the smallest suit the 65’s carry. Boat handling and consistency paid off as ever. Very challenging conditions in the rain and squalls. Many a lament as skippers struggled to tack and found themselves in irons to great cost in the placings.
Our thanks to Malcom who sadly did not have a C Rig and so elected to be Rave (sic) Officer and photographer. Do join us again next week for yet another great Rave!
The wind continued to blow straight down the lake from the far end providing almost perfect sailing conditions for the six skippers who took to the water for an afternoon of DF95 sailing. The only downside was the intermittent rain showers and the cold wind, but you can’t have it all. The wind strength was perfect for C rigs an unusual sight at Gautby Rd.
A standard course was set with only one lap to maximise the number of races, with only six boats on the start line the starts were self monitored and the normal first to finish recorded the results.
Race 1, saw field split into 2 groups, with Clive, Alan and Guy taking the podium spots. There was then a gap to the other 3 boats.
The handicapping worked to close the gap between competitors, during the next 6 races all skippers visiting podium at least once. However they couldn’t catch Clive who had a very solid day posting 7 wins in the first 7 races. After bailing the water out of his boat Alan seemed to struggle to repeat his first race result whilst Stuart improved to post a string of 4 seconds. Steve also profited from the handicapping with 2 thirds, with Malcolm chipping in also with a third. It took a bit of team work in the last race to prevent Clive having a clean sweep, when Guy took Clive out whilst battling for the lead on the final leg to allow Alan and Stuart through.
In summary a great afternoon sailing, with near perfect C rig conditions, but after 8 races the skippers returned to the clubhouse to dry off and warm up.
