The forecast for the day suggested that it could be a very challenging event for the Race Officer and competitors alike with negligible wind expected from the SE moving around to the North by mid afternoon. However, for the 12 skippers who turned up to race there was breeze, albeit it light, blowing straight down the lake from the clubhouse end.
After a short briefing by Paul Plested, RO for the day, the fleet got away on time at 10am racing a typical 2 lap windward/leeward course with a short final beat to finish. In the first session of four races before a coffee break Alan Bennett, Tobias Laux and Peter Baldwin managed a degree of consistency in the light and shifty winds, each picking up at least three podium positions. Tobias managed two bullets, Peter one with Alan B having to make do with three 2nds. Chris Elliott had a good third race also picking up a 1st.
After a short refreshment break the fleet got away to continue the snakes and ladders racing, with positions constantly changing depending on whether you managed to steer clear of the holes in the wind. Alan B kept the pressure on his competitors scoring two firsts, with Tobias remaining consistent with another bullet and two 2nds in this four race session. Chris bagged another podium position picking a 2nd in race 6 and Paul Middleton took top spot in race eight. Bob Conner also picked up a 3rd place to go with a couple of 4ths earlier in the day, one achieved after being over the line at the start.
During the lunch break the wind, as per the forecast, switched 180degrees, which lead to a course change. As with the morning’s racing, there were still holes to catch folks out, but the breeze was a tad stronger and made for better racing across the fleet. Five races were sailed back to back and it was the usual suspects hogging the top three spots with Peter adding two more bullets to his scoreline, Tobias adding two and Alan B picking up another. Alan B also achieved a 2nd in race thirteen after what looked like a potential discard when he managed to pick up a nice little breeze down the shore to sail around several becalmed boats further out. Peter also looked at risk of losing 1st place, but he just managed to get around the last leeward mark to pick up the breeze to the finish. Bob picked up another two 3rd places and Paul added another 3rd place to his scorecard in this session. Alan Watkinson, who had been searching for boat speed all day, got his boat going in race eleven picking up a well earned 3rd place. Vernon Appleton, who was also in the mix in various races, picked up a 4th in race ten.
After a final break for a quick cuppa, it was clear that it was very close at the top. Tobias was in the driving seat with Alan B only a point or two behind. Peter also had it all to play for, especially as getting to sixteen races would mean he could ditch a counting sixth.
In race fourteen Alan B turned the screw by taking the win, with Tobias picking up 2nd and Peter 3rd. In race fourteen Tobias put more pressure on himself with a penalty close to the start, which he didn’t recover from, with Alan B taking his 2nd bullet of this session. Peter picked up 2nd. So, it was all down to the last race, with Tobias one point ahead of Alan B before a third discard came into play. Alan B got a good start but Tobias was even quicker off the start line, with perfect timing and speed at the pin end. For the first lap Tobias was a few boat lengths ahead at the leeward gate, but by the top of the beat, after splitting tacks, Alan B had managed to cross Tobias, only to just get nudged out by Tobias rounding just inside him at the windward mark. At the spreader mark Tobias, in the lead by a boat length, misjudged the rounding and touched the mark, which put him a boat length or two behind Alan B after taking a penalty turn. Alan B managed to stay ahead and took the race win, and, when the final results were compiled, the overall win over Tobias by just one point. Peter Baldwin was third overall with Chris Elliott fourth.
Despite the challenging conditions it proved to be a good of racing throughout the fleet.
Thanks go to Joss and Christine for keeping all competitors supplied with coffee, tea and cakes throughout the day and all of the members who came to help out during the day. Finally, thanks also to Paul and Sharon Plested for managing the racing, and also to Paul for taking the photos.
A most interesting day at Gautby road which started with an excellent 65 and 95 tuning talk by Paul Plested and Peter Baldwin. This was followed with close attention by a good crowd of regular club racers, and covered the basic dos – and some dont’s – of pre sailing setup. Paul did remind everyone that you still have to start well and hit the shifts, but there was definitely something in the talk for everyone to take away.
As someone said afterwards – I’m still confused, but confused at a higher level! Thank you Paul and Peter.
Onto the sailing with a Eastish wind blowing from the clubhouse slightly diagonally down the lake maybe favouring port tack slightly. Neil very kindly RO’d for the morning and used the standard course with the longest beat available. The line was plenty long enough and enabled good starts at various places as the conditions changed.
Starting the first race on A+ it became immediately clear that a smaller rig would be needed, and everyone went straight to B which initially seemed like overkill (as you can see in some of the photos), but as the gusts increased during the morning it proved to be the correct choice.
Clive put in two bullets straight away, Peter won the third race and Mike dsp the fourth and these three won all the morning races between them, with Clive eventually winning four of the seven races completed to run out a clear winner having sailed consistently well. Mdsp scraped a second , one point in front of Peter, with Andrew fourth, and John and Richard fifth and sixth only separated by countback.
There was a lot of very close racing with decisions at the downwind gate making a big difference, and major variations in both pressure and direction right across the course making it a challenging but enjoyable days sailing for all.
Big thanks again to Paul and Peter for the tuning session, to Neil for ROing and to Dave for doing the results – shown below – plus having time for some photo’s (once we went to B rig) and keeping everything together as always. The one photo from the first race with everyone in A+ at the start of the report is from Paul Plested.
Sadly Stuart Trunkfiekd got hooked on a gate mark in Race 6 and so missed out on T+Race 6 and 7 and needed the waders on to untangle his boat.
(c) Paul Plested
DF95’s
The morning conditions continued into the afternoon with lovely sunshine and a good easterly breeze. A practice by some skippers using A rigs soon prompted a change to B rig and this proved a good compromise for the conditions. The same standard course as the morning was set by RO Neil Westbrook who kindly volunteered his services.
Nine skippers took to the water to enjoy the challenges. The easterly wind direction always throws up some tricky sailing with a lot of decisions for the helm, where to start on the line, although port tack was the tack to take you down the lake it wasn’t strong enough to clear starboard boats by the time you had tacked and built up speed again. It was therefore a case of how quick could you get onto port and away. The non clubhouse side was also in the lee of the trees on that side with all the problems they could cause.
There were plenty of shifts and false knocks to fall foul of and make even the best skippers look silly at times, but it did also give everyone a chance to pick up a place or two. The approach to the windward mark was probably the most difficult part of the course as the wind bounced of the clubhouse and often this would be where the race could be won or lost. The run could be problematic with localised gust leaving a boat 2m away stranded whilst the others screamed past fighting a nosedive. The final decision on which gate mark to take was the final major decision to be made, take the starboard mark to gain the port tack but perhaps suffer the tricky wind through the trees or go port mark in clearer air and hope for a lift. The truth was it was a toss up which way to go and was never the same twice in a row
With all that said the sailing was closely contested with six of the nine skippers notching up at least 1 podium position and 5 helms posting at least 1 bullet. Peter was the pick of the bunch with 4 firsts, Paul with 2 and Stuart T and Alan 1 each. The racing was tricky and closely fought but really enjoyable especially with the sun on our backs.
Thanks to Neil for volunteering to RO, Clive for the photos and Paul for compiling results in A fleet.
A glorious sunny day greeted the sailors as they arrived, but would the wind show up to make it complete? That question was soon answered as a light breeze started to blow down the lake from the far end once boats were rigged and Peter was moving marks around to suit the wind direction.
We started on time at 13:00 with 10 sailors coming to the start line for a few self monitored starts and the winner recording the finishing positions. Guy Cowper started well and led the first couple of races for a while, before Peter Baldwin overhauled him, usually because of a minor tactical error or mark contact at the Leeward gate. Also up there in these races were Clive Warren, Duncan Neale and Alan Watkinson and the podium places were usually taken up by this group of 5; with the top 5 in Race 2 being in exactly the same positions as Race 1. In Race 5, John Beech came to the fore and led around the first mark and although overtaken by Guy and Peter, he held onto a solid third place. By now, Robbie Mac had turned up and offered to run the racing and write the finishing scores, which proved very useful.
At the halfway stage, Peter was clear ahead, with Guy in second and Clive in third. The wind had held up although varying in strength we rarely saw it dropping away to nothing. However, there were some holes and shifts to catch you out in some unexpected ways.
In the second session after the break, Peter didn’t achieve all the wins, with Alan taking one and Clive picking up the last two after a minor tweak to the twist in his main, giving him a slight edge over Peter. Alan also had a better afternoon and had podium scores for all of these six races. Guy unfortunately couldn’t seem to replicate his form from the first session and only had one podium position. There was plenty of close competition through the fleet however, with many close finishes in the middle order requiring a keen eye to split boats just inches apart on the finishing line.
At the finish, Peter took a clear win, with Alan’s afternoon results lifting him to second and Clive picking up third, due to his two wins in the last races. An afternoon of close to champagne conditions for the ten skippers. Do join us next time on Saturday 16th May for Round #2 of the Summer series. Many thanks to Robbie Mac for acting as RO and taking this weeks photos, plus Dave Williams for pulling the scored together.
Sunshine and wind … what more do you need for a fun morning of DF65 racing? The forecast and a look at the lake on arrival both suggested we were on for a B rig day so I was a little surprised to find everybody setting up with A+ rigs. John was first to be ready and was sent out to test the conditions. He returned 5 minutes later and unconvincingly confirmed the A+ rig selection, then went back to have another test. As soon as everybody had got their A+ rigs on, John returned to say that A rigs were required … so we all changed down.
The wind was blowing predominantly straight down the lake from the clubhouse end. I say ‘predominantly’ as rarely is anything straightforward at Gautby Rd. The usual course was set (no need to waste time and space explaining it!) and we all set off on the first race. A rigs proved to be right and the first half of the beat was reasonably consistent. However as we got towards the windward mark the bit of easterly in the forecast had a pretty dramatic effect with unpredictable 30 degree shifts coupled with big puffs and even bigger lulls. These conditions persisted throughout the morning and proved to be a great leveller in every race. Starts weren’t critical and it was only how you managed the final third of the beat that really made a difference. First around the windward mark generally got away and went on to win the race.
By race 3 the wind strength had increased another notch which turned it into a lottery downwind as everybody started nose diving, which led to a change to B rigs for the rest of the morning. Clive proved the most consistent winning the day with 2 race wins. Alan also showed consistency to come second without winning a race. Dave might have won overall if we had been on B rigs all day … he came third winning 2 races and was only let down by his race results with the A rig, and a special shout-out to Stuart who won race 4.
Thanks to Neil and Andy for doing all the RO duties and Dave for the photos.
Clive Warren 16pts. 2 wins
Alan Watkinson 18pts
Dave Williams 20pts. 2 wins
Andrew Potter 21pts. 1 win
Stuart Mearns 28pts. 1 win
Guy Cowper 28pts
John Carlin 29pts. 1 win
Don McKinnon 48pts
David White 49pts
Simon Bates 51pts
DF95’s
The sun continued to shine, and the easterly wind continued to blow providing a great afternoons sailing for the 13 boats preparing to take to the water, including Phil Hackney from Budworth and prospective member Rob Riddle (a friend of Guys). We were also very pleased to welcome back Paul Mearns after his illness and Graham Birkett.
The conditions warranted B rigs and this proved correct but in a couple of races the conditions increased to top end B but was just about manageable. The standard course was set using the full length of the lake. The normal format of self monitoring of the start and the first to finish records the results was to save average points for RO’ing, and also to maximise sailing for all.
Joe was the first casualty, with a broken on / off switch which kept him out for the first races, Alan started as he meant to go on taking the win in race 1, with Graham and Clive filling up the podium. Steve had a very good race taking 4th as did our visitor Rob but unfortunately we lost John Carlin with boat failure.
Racing was very competitive and in the second race it was Graham who took line honours followed by Clive and Stuart M who sailed a great race to take 3rd.
Alan took the next two races and Guy picked up a second place finally showing some boat speed picking up a second, the conditions also picked up a further casualty with Andy Mearns having boat issues.
Race 5 and it looked like Clives’ consistency would pay off, but just 5m from the line. he caught a bag around his keel allowed Graham, Stuart M and Guy all to pass and fill the top 3. Clive finally got his revenge in the next race with Alan and Guy chasing, Phil Hackney pulled up at this stage having only an A rig and sailed well considering he was so over powered.
The final races saw Guy take 2 bullets with Alan taking the other with Graham, Stuart M, Stuart T and Clive filling the podium spots.
After 9 races time ran out which was a shame as the racing was first class with 4 different race winners and 7 different podium finishers. Congrats to Alan, taking the overall honours and to Graham, Guy and Clive with a point between each of them.
Thanks to Clive for the photos and Mal for the results in A fleet.
The seventeen sailors who turned out for this second Jack Turner Trophy IOM Open, arrived to find a decent westerly breeze nearly straight down the lake and some sunshine starting to show. Paul Plested was out in the waders getting the “competition marks” in the water with a rough course for the practice session. These were then tweaked before the briefing to take account of a slight shift and the course remained without any changes for the rest of the day.
After a short briefing (and no questions), by Paul, racing got underway on time under the watchful eye of our RO duo of Neil Westbrook and Dave Williams. The start line was probably port biased at the start of the day, as long as you had the room to tack off and not get pinned all the way to the bank. Later on it became more even and occasionally slightly starboard biased, before returning to port.
First blood went to Robbie Mac, closely followed by Paul Plested and Graham Elliott. Brad Gibson then had a run of three wins, with Roger Crates, Martin Roberts, Graham and Paul Middleton all getting on the podium. Graham then took the final race before a coffee break, with Peter Baldwin and Brad following behind. Sailors were treated to a variety of Cakes and biscuits (mostly home made) all served up with free tea and coffee by Joss and Chris in the galley.
Following the break, Graham had three more wins, with Brad and Robbie taking one apiece. Podium places were gained by Brad, Graham, Martin and Bill Culshaw, who was starting to get to grips with the tricky conditions. The wind was not easy to manage with some strong gusts barreling down the course at times, usually knocking at least half the fleet over on the run, whilst a few might escape “scott free”. Lunch was then called, soon after 12:30 with ten races completed.
As the fleet emerged after the lunch break, conditions seemed pretty similar to just before lunch, but a few nasty gusts sent a number of sailors back to the clubhouse to change rigs and a small delay ensued.
As we resumed with about 5 boats on B rig’s Bill put his to great use and rounded the Windward mark well in the lead holding onto this through to the finish, with Graham chasing hard but unable to catch him. In this next session of five races, Graham took an additional win, Martin had two and Simon Fairman had a great start and picked up a win in Race 14. Podium spots once again taken by pretty much the same top 5 boats.
So, into the final session of five races and most were back in A rigs as the gusts were not as strong as earlier and having been good straight after lunch, never showed the same promise later in that session. Peter took the first win after the tea break, with Brad then picking up two and Graham and Robbie one each.
After twenty races, our RO decided to call it a day, a little before time, but useful for those who had travelled some distance. When the results were entered, the day went to Brad Gibson sailing his Post Punk design, closely followed by Graham Elliott sailing his 2011 BritPOP! with Martin Roberts third also sailing a BritPOP!
At the prizegiving, where Jacks’ daughter Debbie presented the prizes, Brad thanked everyone involved in setting up and running the event, Joss and Chris for running the galley all day, then thanked the six visitors for travelling to the event. He also wished Graham and Martin every success at the forthcoming World Championship being held at Datchet Water in mid May.
Thanks to Stuart Mearns for the photos in today’s report, with additional photo’s in the event Flikr Album here.
First to sixth place Prizewinners
The next IOM Club racing is on Saturday 9th May, just one week before the World Championship begins.
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The forecast for the day suggested that it could be a very challenging event for the Race Officer and competitors alike with negligible wind expected from the SE moving around to the North by mid afternoon. However, for the 12 skippers who turned up to race there was breeze, albeit it light, blowing straight down the lake from the clubhouse end.
After a short briefing by Paul Plested, RO for the day, the fleet got away on time at 10am racing a typical 2 lap windward/leeward course with a short final beat to finish. In the first session of four races before a coffee break Alan Bennett, Tobias Laux and Peter Baldwin managed a degree of consistency in the light and shifty winds, each picking up at least three podium positions. Tobias managed two bullets, Peter one with Alan B having to make do with three 2nds. Chris Elliott had a good third race also picking up a 1st.
After a short refreshment break the fleet got away to continue the snakes and ladders racing, with positions constantly changing depending on whether you managed to steer clear of the holes in the wind. Alan B kept the pressure on his competitors scoring two firsts, with Tobias remaining consistent with another bullet and two 2nds in this four race session. Chris bagged another podium position picking a 2nd in race 6 and Paul Middleton took top spot in race eight. Bob Conner also picked up a 3rd place to go with a couple of 4ths earlier in the day, one achieved after being over the line at the start.
During the lunch break the wind, as per the forecast, switched 180degrees, which lead to a course change. As with the morning’s racing, there were still holes to catch folks out, but the breeze was a tad stronger and made for better racing across the fleet. Five races were sailed back to back and it was the usual suspects hogging the top three spots with Peter adding two more bullets to his scoreline, Tobias adding two and Alan B picking up another. Alan B also achieved a 2nd in race thirteen after what looked like a potential discard when he managed to pick up a nice little breeze down the shore to sail around several becalmed boats further out. Peter also looked at risk of losing 1st place, but he just managed to get around the last leeward mark to pick up the breeze to the finish. Bob picked up another two 3rd places and Paul added another 3rd place to his scorecard in this session. Alan Watkinson, who had been searching for boat speed all day, got his boat going in race eleven picking up a well earned 3rd place. Vernon Appleton, who was also in the mix in various races, picked up a 4th in race ten.
After a final break for a quick cuppa, it was clear that it was very close at the top. Tobias was in the driving seat with Alan B only a point or two behind. Peter also had it all to play for, especially as getting to sixteen races would mean he could ditch a counting sixth.
In race fourteen Alan B turned the screw by taking the win, with Tobias picking up 2nd and Peter 3rd. In race fourteen Tobias put more pressure on himself with a penalty close to the start, which he didn’t recover from, with Alan B taking his 2nd bullet of this session. Peter picked up 2nd. So, it was all down to the last race, with Tobias one point ahead of Alan B before a third discard came into play. Alan B got a good start but Tobias was even quicker off the start line, with perfect timing and speed at the pin end. For the first lap Tobias was a few boat lengths ahead at the leeward gate, but by the top of the beat, after splitting tacks, Alan B had managed to cross Tobias, only to just get nudged out by Tobias rounding just inside him at the windward mark. At the spreader mark Tobias, in the lead by a boat length, misjudged the rounding and touched the mark, which put him a boat length or two behind Alan B after taking a penalty turn. Alan B managed to stay ahead and took the race win, and, when the final results were compiled, the overall win over Tobias by just one point. Peter Baldwin was third overall with Chris Elliott fourth.
Despite the challenging conditions it proved to be a good of racing throughout the fleet.
Thanks go to Joss and Christine for keeping all competitors supplied with coffee, tea and cakes throughout the day and all of the members who came to help out during the day. Finally, thanks also to Paul and Sharon Plested for managing the racing, and also to Paul for taking the photos.
A most interesting day at Gautby road which started with an excellent 65 and 95 tuning talk by Paul Plested and Peter Baldwin. This was followed with close attention by a good crowd of regular club racers, and covered the basic dos – and some dont’s – of pre sailing setup. Paul did remind everyone that you still have to start well and hit the shifts, but there was definitely something in the talk for everyone to take away.
As someone said afterwards – I’m still confused, but confused at a higher level! Thank you Paul and Peter.
Onto the sailing with a Eastish wind blowing from the clubhouse slightly diagonally down the lake maybe favouring port tack slightly. Neil very kindly RO’d for the morning and used the standard course with the longest beat available. The line was plenty long enough and enabled good starts at various places as the conditions changed.
Starting the first race on A+ it became immediately clear that a smaller rig would be needed, and everyone went straight to B which initially seemed like overkill (as you can see in some of the photos), but as the gusts increased during the morning it proved to be the correct choice.
Clive put in two bullets straight away, Peter won the third race and Mike dsp the fourth and these three won all the morning races between them, with Clive eventually winning four of the seven races completed to run out a clear winner having sailed consistently well. Mdsp scraped a second , one point in front of Peter, with Andrew fourth, and John and Richard fifth and sixth only separated by countback.
There was a lot of very close racing with decisions at the downwind gate making a big difference, and major variations in both pressure and direction right across the course making it a challenging but enjoyable days sailing for all.
Big thanks again to Paul and Peter for the tuning session, to Neil for ROing and to Dave for doing the results – shown below – plus having time for some photo’s (once we went to B rig) and keeping everything together as always. The one photo from the first race with everyone in A+ at the start of the report is from Paul Plested.
The morning conditions continued into the afternoon with lovely sunshine and a good easterly breeze. A practice by some skippers using A rigs soon prompted a change to B rig and this proved a good compromise for the conditions. The same standard course as the morning was set by RO Neil Westbrook who kindly volunteered his services.
Nine skippers took to the water to enjoy the challenges. The easterly wind direction always throws up some tricky sailing with a lot of decisions for the helm, where to start on the line, although port tack was the tack to take you down the lake it wasn’t strong enough to clear starboard boats by the time you had tacked and built up speed again. It was therefore a case of how quick could you get onto port and away. The non clubhouse side was also in the lee of the trees on that side with all the problems they could cause.
There were plenty of shifts and false knocks to fall foul of and make even the best skippers look silly at times, but it did also give everyone a chance to pick up a place or two. The approach to the windward mark was probably the most difficult part of the course as the wind bounced of the clubhouse and often this would be where the race could be won or lost. The run could be problematic with localised gust leaving a boat 2m away stranded whilst the others screamed past fighting a nosedive. The final decision on which gate mark to take was the final major decision to be made, take the starboard mark to gain the port tack but perhaps suffer the tricky wind through the trees or go port mark in clearer air and hope for a lift. The truth was it was a toss up which way to go and was never the same twice in a row
With all that said the sailing was closely contested with six of the nine skippers notching up at least 1 podium position and 5 helms posting at least 1 bullet. Peter was the pick of the bunch with 4 firsts, Paul with 2 and Stuart T and Alan 1 each. The racing was tricky and closely fought but really enjoyable especially with the sun on our backs.
A glorious sunny day greeted the sailors as they arrived, but would the wind show up to make it complete? That question was soon answered as a light breeze started to blow down the lake from the far end once boats were rigged and Peter was moving marks around to suit the wind direction.
We started on time at 13:00 with 10 sailors coming to the start line for a few self monitored starts and the winner recording the finishing positions. Guy Cowper started well and led the first couple of races for a while, before Peter Baldwin overhauled him, usually because of a minor tactical error or mark contact at the Leeward gate. Also up there in these races were Clive Warren, Duncan Neale and Alan Watkinson and the podium places were usually taken up by this group of 5; with the top 5 in Race 2 being in exactly the same positions as Race 1. In Race 5, John Beech came to the fore and led around the first mark and although overtaken by Guy and Peter, he held onto a solid third place. By now, Robbie Mac had turned up and offered to run the racing and write the finishing scores, which proved very useful.
At the halfway stage, Peter was clear ahead, with Guy in second and Clive in third. The wind had held up although varying in strength we rarely saw it dropping away to nothing. However, there were some holes and shifts to catch you out in some unexpected ways.
In the second session after the break, Peter didn’t achieve all the wins, with Alan taking one and Clive picking up the last two after a minor tweak to the twist in his main, giving him a slight edge over Peter. Alan also had a better afternoon and had podium scores for all of these six races. Guy unfortunately couldn’t seem to replicate his form from the first session and only had one podium position. There was plenty of close competition through the fleet however, with many close finishes in the middle order requiring a keen eye to split boats just inches apart on the finishing line.
At the finish, Peter took a clear win, with Alan’s afternoon results lifting him to second and Clive picking up third, due to his two wins in the last races. An afternoon of close to champagne conditions for the ten skippers. Do join us next time on Saturday 16th May for Round #2 of the Summer series. Many thanks to Robbie Mac for acting as RO and taking this weeks photos, plus Dave Williams for pulling the scored together.
Sunshine and wind … what more do you need for a fun morning of DF65 racing? The forecast and a look at the lake on arrival both suggested we were on for a B rig day so I was a little surprised to find everybody setting up with A+ rigs. John was first to be ready and was sent out to test the conditions. He returned 5 minutes later and unconvincingly confirmed the A+ rig selection, then went back to have another test. As soon as everybody had got their A+ rigs on, John returned to say that A rigs were required … so we all changed down.
The wind was blowing predominantly straight down the lake from the clubhouse end. I say ‘predominantly’ as rarely is anything straightforward at Gautby Rd. The usual course was set (no need to waste time and space explaining it!) and we all set off on the first race. A rigs proved to be right and the first half of the beat was reasonably consistent. However as we got towards the windward mark the bit of easterly in the forecast had a pretty dramatic effect with unpredictable 30 degree shifts coupled with big puffs and even bigger lulls. These conditions persisted throughout the morning and proved to be a great leveller in every race. Starts weren’t critical and it was only how you managed the final third of the beat that really made a difference. First around the windward mark generally got away and went on to win the race.
By race 3 the wind strength had increased another notch which turned it into a lottery downwind as everybody started nose diving, which led to a change to B rigs for the rest of the morning. Clive proved the most consistent winning the day with 2 race wins. Alan also showed consistency to come second without winning a race. Dave might have won overall if we had been on B rigs all day … he came third winning 2 races and was only let down by his race results with the A rig, and a special shout-out to Stuart who won race 4.
Thanks to Neil and Andy for doing all the RO duties and Dave for the photos.
The sun continued to shine, and the easterly wind continued to blow providing a great afternoons sailing for the 13 boats preparing to take to the water, including Phil Hackney from Budworth and prospective member Rob Riddle (a friend of Guys). We were also very pleased to welcome back Paul Mearns after his illness and Graham Birkett.
The conditions warranted B rigs and this proved correct but in a couple of races the conditions increased to top end B but was just about manageable. The standard course was set using the full length of the lake. The normal format of self monitoring of the start and the first to finish records the results was to save average points for RO’ing, and also to maximise sailing for all.
Joe was the first casualty, with a broken on / off switch which kept him out for the first races, Alan started as he meant to go on taking the win in race 1, with Graham and Clive filling up the podium. Steve had a very good race taking 4th as did our visitor Rob but unfortunately we lost John Carlin with boat failure.
Racing was very competitive and in the second race it was Graham who took line honours followed by Clive and Stuart M who sailed a great race to take 3rd.
Race 5 and it looked like Clives’ consistency would pay off, but just 5m from the line. he caught a bag around his keel allowed Graham, Stuart M and Guy all to pass and fill the top 3. Clive finally got his revenge in the next race with Alan and Guy chasing, Phil Hackney pulled up at this stage having only an A rig and sailed well considering he was so over powered.
After 9 races time ran out which was a shame as the racing was first class with 4 different race winners and 7 different podium finishers. Congrats to Alan, taking the overall honours and to Graham, Guy and Clive with a point between each of them.
After a short briefing (and no questions), by Paul, racing got underway on time under the watchful eye of our RO duo of Neil Westbrook and Dave Williams. The start line was probably port biased at the start of the day, as long as you had the room to tack off and not get pinned all the way to the bank. Later on it became more even and occasionally slightly starboard biased, before returning to port.
First blood went to Robbie Mac, closely followed by Paul Plested and Graham Elliott. Brad Gibson then had a run of three wins, with Roger Crates, Martin Roberts, Graham and Paul Middleton all getting on the podium. Graham then took the final race before a coffee break, with Peter Baldwin and Brad following behind. Sailors were treated to a variety of Cakes and biscuits (mostly home made) all served up with free tea and coffee by Joss and Chris in the galley.
Following the break, Graham had three more wins, with Brad and Robbie taking one apiece. Podium places were gained by Brad, Graham, Martin and Bill Culshaw, who was starting to get to grips with the tricky conditions. The wind was not easy to manage with some strong gusts barreling down the course at times, usually knocking at least half the fleet over on the run, whilst a few might escape “scott free”. Lunch was then called, soon after 12:30 with ten races completed.
As the fleet emerged after the lunch break, conditions seemed pretty similar to just before lunch, but a few nasty gusts sent a number of sailors back to the clubhouse to change rigs and a small delay ensued.
As we resumed with about 5 boats on B rig’s Bill put his to great use and rounded the Windward mark well in the lead holding onto this through to the finish, with Graham chasing hard but unable to catch him. In this next session of five races, Graham took an additional win, Martin had two and Simon Fairman had a great start and picked up a win in Race 14. Podium spots once again taken by pretty much the same top 5 boats.
So, into the final session of five races and most were back in A rigs as the gusts were not as strong as earlier and having been good straight after lunch, never showed the same promise later in that session. Peter took the first win after the tea break, with Brad then picking up two and Graham and Robbie one each.
After twenty races, our RO decided to call it a day, a little before time, but useful for those who had travelled some distance. When the results were entered, the day went to Brad Gibson sailing his Post Punk design, closely followed by Graham Elliott sailing his 2011 BritPOP! with Martin Roberts third also sailing a BritPOP!
At the prizegiving, where Jacks’ daughter Debbie presented the prizes, Brad thanked everyone involved in setting up and running the event, Joss and Chris for running the galley all day, then thanked the six visitors for travelling to the event. He also wished Graham and Martin every success at the forthcoming World Championship being held at Datchet Water in mid May.
