DF65’s
Another grey day with a real chill in the air, but dry and with an A+ S.E. Breeze blowing straight (or at least as straight as it ever does) down the lake from the clubhouse end. Even better the marks were in an almost perfect position with a good start line and gate, and as there were only five takers for the mornings 65 racing it was agreed to us a single windward mark with no spreader.
As ever with sailboat racing nothing is quite as straightforward as it looks, and the conditions proved tricky resulting in some excellent racing and quite a bit of frustration, with hero to zero and back again. Initially it definitely paid to start at the committee end on starboard, but during the morning the breeze went left for a while allowing some good starts from further down the line. Even then the beat proved tricky with the timing of when to tack back on port changing all the time. There were also some significant dead patches which weren’t apparent from the shore and these affected positions both upwind and downwind. The gate was also interesting, as although it was slightly favoured to the club side, there were enough shifts to make the far side pay some of the time, and Clive made some excellent beats to the finish sailing right out to the far bank before tacking back.
Alan was Mr Consistency with four wins and two seconds to finish on 15 points, well clear of Guy on 19 – who also won three races – in second. Mike followed one point later, with Clive on 22 and Dave on 25 with the detailed results shown below.
Despite the overcast weather there was a lot of really close racing, with place swapping on all legs of the course in most races. Thanks as always to Dave for keeping us organised, whilst managing to take a couple of photos and to Malcolm who not only did the results but gave up his morning sailing to do some maintenance assessment work.
DF95’s
A South Easterly light breeze settled in for the afternoon, providing big wind shifts especially around the approach to the windward mark where the buoy was in the lee of the clubhouse. Given the light breeze the good turnout of 11 skippers had an easy choice of A rig.
The full length of the lake was used with a standard windward mark, spreader and gate set, 1 lap races in order to fit more races in. Malcolm Harvey volunteered to keep us in check and be the RO for the afternoon, and unfortunately we lost commodore Dave before the first race with a main winch servo issue.
As seems to be the case recently, the racing was very competitive with 6 of the remaining 10 helms recording at least 1 win. Paul was fast out of the blocks posting back to back wins with Ian second. Clive was next to post a win with Guy second. Stuart T sailed a brilliant fourth race and build a 20m lead at the first mark which he held to the finish, Stuart M. posted his best result of the day taking second. Unfortunately we lost Paul in race 4 with a burnt out rudder servo. Race 5 and our fourth different winner, this time it was Ian’s turn who had been knocking on the door in a couple of the previous races but made it to the line this time.
Clive then switched on his motor and took 4 bullets from the last 6 races with Alan and Andy each picking a deserved win. The minor places were split between Ian, Alan, Guy and visitor for the day Matt Pritchard from Great Orme MYC.
At the end of 11 races, the light was beginning to fade and we decided to finish. Because the racing had been so competitive nobody knew who would walk away with the overall win. It had been a very closely fought taxing afternoon of sailing, with some big wind shifts and plenty of passing opportunities, and also plenty of opportunity to lose out by picking a wrong shift or by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Thanks to Malcolm for the results, being our RO and getting some photos of the action as well.
It was soon very apparent that the SE wind was going to provide an interesting afternoons racing. There were plenty of false shifts to leave the unknowing skipper looking red faced and 20 yds further down the fleet after attempting to tack only to be headed. Added to this there was no rhyme or reason where or when the proper shifts would occur. The windward mark would also pose its own problems being in the lee of the clubhouse. So all in all a testing afternoon for the skippers.
Unfortunately Andy was late arriving and missed the first 5 races. From the start, the racing was split into 2 groups with Peter, Paul and Clive doing battle at the front of the fleet and Guy, Phyl, and Dave a bit further back. It was soon apparent that with 2 laps the field was getting very spread out, so it was decided to reduce to 1 lap. Up front, at the halfway stage it was all to play for with Peter on 2 wins, Paul on 2 wins and Clive on 1 win, with Paul edging the lead thanks to 3 seconds to Clive and Peters 1 each. In the second group, Guy was Mr Consistent notching up 5 fourth places with Dave just edging it from Phyl.
The forecast showers started to set in at this stage and with the wind dropping an early coffee break was called to let it pass. Before the second session started, there was a short debate whether or not to change up to Top set but decided to stick to A in the hope that the wind would return and stay. The racing followed a very similar pattern to earlier. Paul took race 6 and Clive race 7 before Peter turned on the style and posted 3 bullets on the run. Guy had found a second gear which moved him up from the front of the back group to the back of the front group, and managed to break into the top 3 in race 7 at Peters expense. Meanwhile, Andy took over Guys position at the front of the back group, posting five fifth places on the spin, leaving Dave and Phyl to dual it out at the back.
An “all persons bulletin” was distributed among the WhatsApp group of DF sailors polling for an early 09:30 Saturday session prior to the DF/RG 65 racing in the afternoon.
Five Skippers braved the rather dank and blustery morning at Gautby Road, with a fresh south easterly looking promising for some exciting sailing.
Starts were self monitored and to a good standard. Guy had to bail a few starts at the last minute, as Clive hounded him until his nerve cracked!
On a day with some huge shifts near the weather mark throughout the eleven races sailed, it was a masterclass by Clive drawing no less than seven “bullets” from his holster to win the day on 11 points. In second place was Neil Westbrook, sailing consistently well and only 6 points behind Clive. Guy seemed to fade a little mid morning but enjoyed some good tussles with the top three. Phyll Fanning finished the day with a well earned fourth having finally had a bit more luck with some wicked wind shifts.
Nine skippers were greeted to blue skies and a lightish, but promising, breeze blowing from the clubhouse end of the lake. Racing got underway with A+ rigs a little after 11:00 using the standard one lap windward/leeward course with a beat to finish, with skippers self policing the start line and first finisher logging the results.
The early pace setter was Paul Plested who scored a 1,2,2 in the first three races. Clive Warren and Alan Watkinson also took a top spot in each in this spell. Peter Baldwin, who was quick all day, had a relatively slow start recording his two discards in this session to go with a 2nd place. Guy Cowper, who took a bronze medal spot in race two, was competitive all morning with plenty of boat speed, especially upwind.
In the next three races the wind continued to switch back and forth and getting into the rhythm of the shifts was key. Paul and Peter had very close racing to the line in all three, with Paul just edging out Peter with two 1sts and a 2nd, with Peter notching up two 2nds and a 1st. Alan picked up another 3rd as did Guy. Clive was a little off the pace for a spell, but did pick up a third. Dave Williams also picked up a 4th, his best of the day.
In race seven Paul picked up his fourth 1st of the day followed by Peter and then Clive not far behind. The final race of the day proved to be the most tightly fought with places continually changing on the last beat. Alan took line honours very closely followed by Peter, Clive and Paul, with Guy just a few boat lengths behind them.
Paul, with four wins and discarding a 2nd was the overall winner on the day, followed by Peter. Alan finished off the podium positions, followed by Clive in 4th. Also worth noting that David White was much closer to the fleet especially as the morning progressed, he would have scored higher in at least two races if it wasn’t for misjudged tacks boat lengths from the finish line.
The sun was shining and a light breeze was blowing down the lake from the clubhouse end for an afternoon of social sailing with the 95. The same course as the morning was used which meant the approach to the windward mark would be very tricky being in the lee of the clubhouse. The starts were self monitored and first to finish recorded the results. Seven skippers including new member to the club and DF95 racing, Stuart Trunkfield, took to the water to contest the first 2 races and there were 2 different winners in Andy and Guy, with Alan and Stuart M sharing the other podium slots. The seven were then joined by Clive, Paul and Dave to bolster the fleet to 10, a good turnout considering a couple of regulars were unavailable.
The racing was keenly contested as ever, with the pack roughly split into 2 groups, Guy, Alan, Clive and Paul all setting the pace upfront, but there was no exclusivity and both Stuart M, Andy and New member Stuart T all posting top 3 places at some stage. Unfortunately, Commodore Dave suffered winch problems in race 5 and had to sit the rest of the afternoon out, but he kept busy looking after the starts and finishing and taking the days photos. Meanwhile further down the fleet John B and Steve M had a couple of fourth places each but were also a bit inconsistent. Stuart T started slowly but climbed steadily through the session managing to take top spot in the final race. A great achievement in his first outing.
After 10 races (2 discards) the sun was below the neighbouring houses and it started to get chilly so we called it a day.
There are a good number of photos from Saturday’s IOM Racing (IOM Winter #3 24/1/26) taken by Stuart Mearns and available to view in the Gallery 
The wind was a lovely shifting, gusting 2nd suit from Gautby Road, no rain and a pleasant 8 degrees. The course was perfect, especially the positioning of the leeward gate. Nothing could be taken for granted and there were big gains and losses to be had from start to finish.
Alan Bennett made the early running winning 3 out of the first 7 races before lunch but the following pack of Graham Elliott, Brad Gibson and Peter Baldwin were not too far behind.
After a short break another 9 races were completed, the wind increased a small amount and centred ever so slightly, plenty of nose diving and you had to choose the correct time to tack.
A good finish in the final 3 races gave Graham Elliott the win from Brad Gibson with Alan Bennett rounding off the podium. Other notables today were Alan Watkinson with great speed and managing a 2nd in race 11, also Graham Birkett returning from a break with a very strong final 5 races, Tracey Ballington getting 5 single digit scores in the final 6 races.
Race wins went to Graham Elliott (4), Brad Gibson (4), Alan Bennett (4), Peter Baldwin (2), Martin Roberts (1) and Darin Ballington reunited with his BritPOP! also with one.
