DF65’s
Almost spring like feel to the weather today, with a light S.S.E. breeze and no rain. The marks at the top end of the course were just outside the clubhouse flat patch, although not ideally placed, and at the leeward end the start line looked to be heavily pin biased although that varied significantly over the mornings racing. The first race used a course with the beat running inside the start mark, but thereafter it was agreed to go direct to the top mark. Using a single bottom mark and not a gate resulted in some close encounters of the DF65 kind, and although there were a number of minor contacts during the morning in general everyone was good about doing turns where they were required.
It was great to see such a good turnout, and of the twelve skippers there were some very welcome returning faces including Paul Little, Don, and Andrew Potter.
Conditions were shifty as always with the wind direction, and racing was very keen right from the start, with four winners in the first five races, Alan, John, Andrew, and Mike. The other two race winners during the morning were James, and Paul Little who was sailing a brand new hull after his previous one failed. The excitement of winning race five was clearly too much for Mike’s boat which had to be retired with a failed rudder servo, and Stuart missed a couple of races fixing a minor rigging problem.
The wind went somewhat left during the morning and got lighter, but John continued at the front by winning two more races to finish on 13 points well clear of the rest of the fleet. Behind John second to fifth was extremely close as shown below, with only 2 points covering the next four boats, with full results shown below.
A really tight days racing, with the usual thanks to Dave for keeping us all in order, Clive for the photos this week and to Malcolm for doing the results.
DF95’s
If we thought the morning wind was tricky, well in the afternoon it was twice a tricky and half the strength. It swung from SSE in the morning to SSW, which doesn’t sound a lot but meant it was now coming straight across the lake from the houses. This possibly counted or the reduction in strength but definitely provided a difficult and frustrating challenge.
The same course as the morning was used and the starts were self monitored, with the first across the line recording the finishing positions. A slightly disappointing turnout of 6 skippers were up to the challenge.
The conditions were a great leveller and it was literally anybody’s race and the skippers couldn’t relax. Beats turned into runs and you could change from starboard to port tack without changing course. Added to this there were more holes than on a golf course to catch even the better skippers out. Its fair to say that Ian probably suffered the most going from the front of the fleet to the back on more than one occasion. As an indication of how competitive it was, 5 of the 6 skippers all recorded at least one 2nd place or better. However generally speaking it was Ian, and Clive leading the pack with Stuart T a close 3rd and the others making the most of when the front 3 got into trouble or just sat in a hole, which was frequent. Ian who had the worst of the luck decided enough was enough after 5 races, and after 8 races providing 2 discards the rest of us followed his lead back to the clubhouse
Summary
If you didn’t laugh at times you could have cried, but it was the same for all and in the end it was quite enjoyable in a masochistic sort of way. Good competition throughout the fleet, good banter and sailed in a social manner.
Thanks to Clive for photos and Malcolm for tabulating the results
The breeze was forecast to be SW and so it was always going to be a tricky day for deciding on a course and getting around the race track. During the early practice period the wind would swing back and forth between a fetch to the clubhouse followed by one the opposite way. Peter tried to keep our options open as to which way to start by setting some form of start line at both ends, along with a pair of Windward marks for each class and a single leeward rounding mark.
In the end, there was more West than South in it and so we started at the clubhouse, up to the finish mark and then a reach/fetch (and an occasional run!) to the far end. Then it was nearly a run back to to the clubhouse end and beat back to the finish. This was sailed for a couple of races, before the breeze picked up and straightened from the far end. This allowed us to sail a course without using the finish as a Windward mark and did involve quite a bit of tacking as the gusts swung the breeze back and forth. Oh and the sun was out at the start making for a very pleasant sail in the first session.
Knowing that there was rain forecast for later, Dave suggested that we sail seven races before a break, although with the wind being light at times we only sailed a single lap and finish leg, so race duration was about seven or eight minutes. We sailed and scored as a single fleet, with the DF fleet using a nearer mark, the fleet were closely matched, with the edge going to the RG’s (although Clive would prefer a bit more separation between the Windward marks for another week).
The first session belonged to Peter, with seven straight wins, although the chasing pack were often not far behind. A good number in the fleet posted seconds and thirds, with Alan and Clive posting similar results by the break. Dave had a difficult first race, but then posted a second and two thirds later on. It all depended on where you were positioned on the water and whether you saw the gust or not. Overall, we saw some very close finishes, with only inches separating boats in many races.
With a ridge of high pressure offering a brief respite from the continuously rainy month of February, it was a sparkling sunny scene that welcomed the seven skippers to Gautby Road. Great to welcome Phillip Barnes of Budworth SC for his first time racing his new 95. Philip and Graham Birkett of Budworth SC have done an amazing job at enthusing 16 of their members to buy DF95’s from a standing start only a few weeks ago and we wish them great success with their fleet.
Racing commenced in a light WSW breeze of about 5 knots max down the lake. A slight port bias was accepted on the line with clean starts and overall a good standard of rule compliance, following the excellent racing rules talk given by Clive and Paul the previous Wednesday.
Race one was a close battle of the “dynamic duo “of Clive and Guy with Clive taking the bullet. Phillip had some minor transmitter set up niggles on race 1, but with help of a tweak from Clive soon picked up the pace to take a well deserved second overall on the day.
Clive decided in race two to park on a yellow mark, which was not part of the course and several boats attempted to free him but to no avail. In assisting him Guy damaged his rig slightly, which caused him a few issues down the line scuppering his chances of a podium finish.
Eventually it was time to get the waders out to rescue Clive who by now had been stuck for ten minutes. Guy elected to wade out and got to within three feet of Clive’s boat when it miraculously freed itself! Was this another classic Clive wind up on Guy, or just Sods Law in operation?!! Either way racing could now recommence.
Neil Westbrook had a good day with great pace in the light airs often choosing to break away from the pack onto port into clear air and gain some good lifts. Dave Williams and Stuart Mearns both had a mixed bag of ups and down finishes, as did Charles Legg who looked strong in the early races.
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