Well! that was a breezy day of racing for the last of the DF95 Winter Series. Top end of C rig straight down the lake, with gusts that would have challenged the D Rig. As folks seemed focused on rigging their boats it was down to Paul Plested to climb into the waders, then lay a missing starting buoy and move the leeward gate upwind away from confused wave patterns on the leeward shore.
Thirteen skippers had turned up to race and it ended up being the John Brierley/Martin Roberts show, with these racing neck and neck all afternoon, with the rest of the fleet following on behind. Besides these two there was only one other race winner, which was Paul Plested in race 8.
In the session before lunch, John Brierley bagged two 1sts and four 2nds, with Martin fairing a little better with four 1sts and 2nd having missed the first race. Whilst most struggled early on if not all day, Bill Culshaw demonstrated his experience in the conditions posting a 2nd in race one and two 3rds in this session. Alan Watkinson also bagged two 2nds, and Duncan Neale picked up a 3rd and 4th. Paul Plested, opted to drop down to a D rig after the first race, but was too late for the start of race two and only found out in race three that it was the wrong decision, finishing 9th and last on the water. Charles Legg had a very short sailing day having to retire from race one and not making it to the start line again.
After a pit stop for lunch and the opportunity to fix damaged boats, the fleet got away again in what initially looked to be slightly less wind. However, the marginal drop in breeze was short-lived and it was top end C for all of the second session until the last race when the wind did start to ease.
As with the early session Martin and John continued to trade positions in races 7 to 12, only this time Paul Plested managed to get in the mix on several occasions, although not quite able to hold either John or Martin off until the finish. Martin took line honours in three of these six races and John picked up two, with three 2nds. Paul, after his poor sailing (and decision making) in the first session, bagged four 3rds and a 1st, which bumped him up to third overall on the day, but a long way back from the top two.
Both Duncan and Bill continued to sail well in the conditions, picking up 3rds and 4ths, with Bill edging out Duncan on the day to finish 4th overall. Clive was also consistent with a string of 4ths and 5ths throughout the day leaving him 6th overall. Guy Cowper was also quick around the course and if he’d managed to stay out of trouble he could well have been higher up the final scoreboard.
As for the two guys racing on their own for most of the day, it was Martin who took the overall win only one point over an equally quick John.A challenging, but enjoyable day for all… well at least for those who managed to get through the day with their boats intact. Great to see Stuart Trunkfield and Stuart Mearns getting to grips with the conditions and to see John Beech back at the club after a long lay off.
Thanks go to Neil Westbrook and Alison (who came down with Stuart T) for running the racing and to Dave Williams for the photos.
To avoid the very choppy area at the leeward gate it was decided to start between the inner start mark and a pole on the shore, and also use this mark as a port rounding leeward mark. All the top marks were in place, and this turned out to be a good course although the resulting start line was slightly short of which more in a moment.
Given the chilly temperature, eight skippers seemed a good turnout, not forgetting a shout out for Dave White who didn’t have a C rig and very kindly volunteered to RO for the morning.
John won the first race, Peter the next two and Guy the fourth setting a pattern for the day with these three winning all of the morning’s races. Peter was really in a league of his own winning 5 races, discarding a second and finishing comfortable clear of the field. Guy sailed very consistently with one win and three seconds but couldn’t quite match Peter, while John and Clive finished close behind, equal on points, with John winning on countback from Clive who sailed very steadily all morning as well.
This was a day where boat handling was really at a premium, and those who dealt successfully with the sailing conditions right at the top end of C rig, were clearly better. Tacking was also tricky for most, and with the short line requiring a quick tack onto port in conditions where it was easy to miss a tack made for some rafting at the bank after the start, although fortunately with no apparent boat damage.
An interesting and quite challenging mornings racing for all, with thanks again to Dave White – assisted by Neil – for ROing, to Commodore Dave for keeping us all organised (and taking the photos) and to Malcolm for the results which are shown in detail below.
Sadly only seven IOM sailors came to the starting line for this last round of the Winter Series. Having decided to make this a longer racing session, starting at 11:00, the weather forecasts and illness reduced the fleet size to be our smallest on the series.
We were all pleasantly surprised to see a gentle 4 to 6knots blowing down the lake from WNW as we arrived, having had forecasts that were generally no more than 2 knots. Racing got underway soon after 11:00, under the watchful eye’s of Neil Westbrook and Dave Williams. Four races were completed in a breeze that started to die away afte race 3, such that the last race took over 20 minutes to complete and a decision was made to have an early lunch break. Brad won all of races in this early session, with Peter, Olly, Martin and Graham all making up the podium places.
This became an extended lunch break, with racing recommencing at 13:30, with a sea breeze that cane and went through the afternoon. However, we still managed to sail an additional eight races in a breeze that could vary from near zero to 6 knots and change its’ direction as the sea breeze fought with a Northerly gradient.
Brad once again managed to get to the front in most races (picking up five more wins), although the front bunch of five boats were usually not separated by much in most races. Martin had a better afternoon after changing his rig and was usually pushing the race leaders. Olly continued his good form from the morning, still picking up some good results, whilst Graham Elliott was much more on the pace in the afternoon. Peter unfortunately faded after taking a win straight after lunch, but unable to match his form from the morning session.
Clive and Alan meanwhile were having their own race battles behind the leading pack with little to choose between them, although Clive did come out on top in the final reckoning.
So, Brad took the day comfortably from Grahamin in second after a great second session, with Martin third. Thanks to Neil and Dave for running the racing and Dave for the photos once again.
A+ rig was selected for the conditions wind strength around 6 to 10 mph.
The first start had a strong starboard end bias but the real advantage was gained as always picking the right shifts and lifts some of which were false, so places exchanged frequently both up and down wind as the wind veered.
The bulk of the fleet started the day at the starboard end for the first few races but gradually moved down the line as the wind changed. The far side started to look good and sometimes worked but there were large flat patches to fall into.
John got off to a good start winning the first race followed by Clive winning the following two. Competition was close through the fleet Simon getting a first and second followed by Charles with a second in the 5th race. Dave, Stuart and Richard battled it out for the remaining places with nothing clearly settled until crossing the finish which was very close at times.
The sun was out and a lovely afternoon was to be had at Gautby Rd, The wind remained nominally easterly meaning that it was blowing from the clubhouse end with a bias from the industrial estate. Eight 95’s (including visitor Matt Pritchard from GOMYC) were ready to race on time and we were lucky enough to have Sadie (Joe’s girlfriend) volunteer to RO for us again. The same course as the morning was used, being a standard windward mark, spreader and leeward gate.
Similar to the morning, the wind was tricky with a number of holes and false shifts catching everyone out, but it was also a great leveller with 5 of the 8 skippers notching up at least 1 win and only Matt not dropping into the bottom 2 at some stage of the afternoon.
The first decision for the skippers was whether to tack down the near (control) bank where in theory there was better wind or whether to start at the far end of the line on starboard and look for the shift that was ‘sometimes’ present which provided a great lift on port. It was a 50 / 50 chance. The second decision was how to approach the top windward mark where the wind was swirling with no consistency and many a place was lost or won at this point. The run was equally challenging with probably the centre to control side of the lake being the safe option. But sometimes the mid to far side paid off, and on one occasion Stuart T picked up 4 places in 30meters after rounding the spreader by staying further out. The gate was just as tricky, much like the start, do you head for the port tack to the line, or stay in the better air and put more tacks in. The truth was it was a day to be in the right place at the right time.
Matt was the pick of the bunch and notched up a very consistent scorecard including four x 1st places and three 2nds. Stuart T sailed consistently fast all afternoon and notched up three 1st and three 2nds, and in the end after 12 races with 2 discards the two could only be separated by 1 point.
Meanwhile a little further back Clive was also consistent with two 1sts and four 2nds with Alan also picking up two 1sts but his consistency didn’t match Clives and finished 5 points adrift.
Stuart M also sailed well and picked up a deserved 1st in the penultimate race but a couple of bad results kept him (just) in the bottom half of the finishers.
Joe , Malcolm and Steve had flashes of brilliance with Steve and Malcolm both leading (in separate races) when rounding the gate mark only to drop back on the tricky last beat to the line.
Another great afternoons fun, although frustrating at times for everyone. Congrats to Matt for the overall win, also to Stuart T who takes the bragging rights home over son Joe (who beat Stuart last time)
