There was a good turnout of 17 boats for this years Strebor considering the rather dire forecasts for between 1 and 4mph E/ESE. As the early bird sailors started to arrive at 8:15, there was no sign of any breeze and it remained this way until around 9:15, when there was a hint of the forecast breeze starting to fill in. Having rigged his boat “just in case”, Peter proceeded to lay a Windward/Leeward course, guessing at the likely direction and the marks fortunately remained in the same location all day.
Our RO for the day was Commodore Dave Williams who started us off with a one lap race to test the water and if that proved sailable we would continue as long as the breeze allowed us. After a few races, the wind filled in sufficiently for a few ripples on the water and the course was extended to two laps. We completed seven races before a break for a late coffee. These races were dominated by Brad Gibson with five wins, until Graham Elliott spoilt his run of wins in races 6 and 7. Simon Fairman and Peter Baldwin both picked up podium places along with some good results by Graham Birkett (Widget), David Potter, Roger Crates, Graham Whalley and Gary Parkin.
After the break, we sailed another four races before lunch and once again Brad dominated the scores with another 4 wins. The remainder of the podium places were once again filled by similar names, with Simon, Peter, Roger and David figuring and Martin Roberts getting in the groove to pick up two second places in the last two races before lunch.
When we restarted after lunch, there was some concern that we might not get too many more races completed as the forecasts had indicated there may be a shift of the wind to the SE and even South later. However, we fortunately saw only a small shift towards the South and although the wind was lighter requiring a drop back to single lap races (which caught a few front runners out at times), we did manage to complete an additional five races for a total of 16, with the final race being a two lap course and all completed by 15:30 with both the wind and light fading.
Brad remained in charge and scored another 3 wins, with only Simon and Peter taking one each to spoil it. This left Brad with a commanding win counting 12 firsts and one second. Graham managed a consistent set of second and third places in the last six races, which cemented his position in second ahead of the chasing pack. Simon Fairman finished third on countback against Peter Baldwin on the basis of three seconds vs two. David Potter was fifth and Roger Crates was sixth and first Classic boat with his “Little Wing” Woodie from 1995.
Thanks go to our Race Team of Dave, Neil and Steve, our galley team of Joss and Chris and Paul Plested for the photos of the racing today with a complete set in the Event Flikr Album here.
Our prizewinners along with Commodore Dave Williams were captured below.
We hope to see you all back again for our IOM Xmas Race on Saturday 12th December, entry via the Event page here.
Peter donned the waders and helped to retrieve the latest debris (a footstool!) from the lake assisted by Stuart. This was in addition to two trolleys removed yesterday, by the Clubhouse update crew! He then moved a few marks around with the hope that we might get a breeze to race with.
With Neil acting as RO, we started soon after 11:00, but should not have attempted to sail a course using the full length of the lake. The wind (when it existed), swirled around the boats, with small bursts of speed followed by stationary periods, plus tacking and gybing without moving the tiller. It eventually took around 25 minutes to do the course as set, with Peter taking line honours, with Stuart and Charles passing Clive on the last leg as the breeze swung temporarily to the West and most boats finished within 10 seconds or so. At this point Dave called it a day, even though we decided to shorten the course significantly and only use half the length of the lake.
A further four “races” were sailed with the gusts increasing slightly, but never for very long and always from a different direction, with beats becoming a run and vice versa.
Peter continued to dominate the front of the fleet, until the last race, when Clive’s persistence paid off and rewarded him with a deserved win. A number of sailors were close to the front of the chasing bunch and lady luck often determined who might get to the finish line first. Andrew came out just ahead of Clive to take second spot, although third to fifth were all in close contention and the final result may have been different with additional races sailed.
Alan started the afternoon in command of the fleet winning the first race and although Peter got close to him, was never really challenged for the lead. This was the pattern for the next four races until we took an early break. Meanwhile, Dave and Alan W(sailing a 3D printed Orion for the first time) were having a tussle for who might take third or fourth place behind Peter and Alan B, until Alan W had a minor issue and dropped out of Race 4, so we called an early break to allow him to fix his boat. Charles missed the first 3 races after an (under deck) sheeting pulley failed at switch on and needed changing.
After the break we completed a further seven races, this time under the watchful eye of Neil who kindly acted as RO for the rest of the afternoon. Initially Neil remarked that he was getting bored with the scoreline being so consistent as for three races the score sequence was identical. Alan B continued his winning form, with Peter second, Charles third , Dave fourth and Alan fifth. A few adjustments on the rig of Alan W from Alan B and he then picked up a couple of thirds, before Dave took the third place in the final two races.
Peter got lucky with his approach to the finish in Race 10 and just caught up with Alan B on the finish line, picking up his first of two wins. The second one came in the last race when an electrical problem led to Alan B completing tight circles at the gate allowing Peter through, with Charles in second and Dave third. However, it didn’t change the overall result, with Alan B taking the overall win by counting 9 wins, Peter second on 16 points and Dave third on 32, closely followed by Charles and Alan W
DF65 and DF95 social racing is back up and running after an extended late summer of disruption from low water, followed by water quality issues.
Today saw a fleet of 10 DF65’s on the water who were greeted with a 5-8kt breeze on arrival which was clearly A+ rig conditions. The forecast was for wind from the SW which is technically straight through the houses and across the lake …… i.e. horrible. In reality it was more westerly which was considerably better than SW and provided some good racing with plenty of the usual Gautby Rd jeopardy that could help or hinder. Dave kindly did RO duties rather than sailing and set the usual course apart from extending the beat to the far orange buoys.
Starts just about favoured a port tack start at the port end of the line …. a trick that Clive pulled off in a couple of early races before he bottled out and joined the rest of the fleet on starboard at that end of the line. The first beat was a case of not getting suckered into sailing across to the far side of the lake on port on what was clearly a permanent wind bend. It always felt good until you had to tack at which point it was a disaster. The best option was to take some starboard tack pain halfway up the beat to get on the inside of the bend and therefore sail the shortest distance to the mark. Those that got the tacking points right invariably ended up leading at the windward mark. Downwind was puffs and lulls with gains or losses to be made depending on whether you got a puff or sat in a lull. Nothing was over at the leeward gate with plenty of overtaking opportunities for those that got it right or disaster for those that got it wrong
Clive carried on his previous weeks performance in race 1 winning it in style and the omens looked bad for everybody else ….. until he confirmed that he had failed to buy a lottery ticket after last weeks efforts at which point he lost his mojo a bit and despite winning 2 further races had to count some mid table results to come third overall
Andrew was the most consistent on the day and never out of the top 5 with 2 race wins to come second overall but with 2 discards allowed John was able to nick the day with his 4 wins counteracting some other mid table results
With the lake is now full of water and the water condition very good, for the first time in 3 months we were back to our standard racing programme with DF65s in the morning and DF95s after lunch. A good quality field of 10 skippers lined up on the start line for the first race including 2 new members John Mackie and Rod Darling.
The breeze had freshened a little from the morning and was perfect for A Rig. With the gusts well within the A Rig range. The same standard course as the morning was used utilising the full length of the lake, windward mark with spreader, leeward gate and beat the finish. We were honoured to have Trunkys’ partner Alison “volunteer” to be our RO for the afternoon, Commodore Dave reminded us to watch our Ps and Qs with Alison in charge and we were ready to start and just about on time.
The wind direction was generally westerly which could swing to northerly as you approached the windward mark, in laymans terms it was generally blowing down the lake from the far end with a slight bias from the houses but as you approached the windward mark the bias would swing to the industrial estate. This gave plenty of alternatives for the skippers to choose, although with the wind direction westerly, the start line was perfectly aligned and with 10 boats a port end flyer was never an option. Right from the get go, the racing was very competitive and it continued the same throughout the afternoon.
After 10 races sailed there were 5 different winners, and 7 skippers posting a 3rd or better. Special mentions for our 2 newbies, John Mackie, who was very quick in the first half of the session but faded in the second and Rod Darling, who sailed his 95 for the first time posted 3 fourths and 3 fifths and I’m sure he will soon be near the front of the fleet sometime soon. Congratulations to Clive for his victory and Alan for his second place.
Thanks go to Alison for keeping us in check and Dave W for the photos and tabled results
