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DF95 Winter 2026 #4 – 14/2/26

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.
After tea and several of Phil’s chocolate digestives, Guy seemed to recover and relish the ultra light airs to finish the  day with two wins, although overall it was our resident “Maestro” Clive who took  the win with a healthy lead of 7 point over 2 nd place Phil Barnes.  Another very enjoyable days racing with these  excellent pure one design boats.

IOM Winter Series 2025/6 #4 – 7/2/26

With a number of skippers away in Southport representing the club at other events, it was a small but keen group that fronted for Round 4 of the IOM Winter series.

Racing got underway in a steady 5 – 8 knot south easterly wind that gave us a windward return course over the full length of the lake.
Brad took the first 2 races pushed hard by Alan, Robbie and Guy who is fast coming to grips with his new boat. After a delayed start, Martin was fired up and was never headed in races 3 and 4.
Our visitiors John Tideswell (Keighley) and Andrew Backhouse (Birmingham) were fast in coming to grips with the streaky shifts and benefitting from some tuning tips from the lead group. The proof was in a number of races leading up to and following tea break where all boats were finishing within 30 seconds of the leaders.
With tea taken, Alan, Martin and Brad took wins with both Robbie and Graham scoring top 3 places. Races went down to the wire with a duff tack or missed puff being the difference.
In the end after 12 races with 2 discards Brad took the win from Martin in second and Alan rounding out the top 3. An excellent days racing to which we again that Dave and Neil for keeping us in order.
Our next IOM event at the club is Saturday the 28th of February with all welcome to join us for some hot racing in the Northwest!
  1. Brad Gibson               42   Post Punk  13pts
  2. Martin Roberts         22   BritPOP!     23pts
  3. Alan Bennett            178   BritPOP!     27pts
  4. Rob Mcintosh            64   Venti           36pts
  5. Graham Birkett       133   Widget        45pts
  6. Guy Cowper                39   BritPOP!     49pts
  7. Andrew Backhouse 70   BritPOP!     65pts
  8. John Tideswell          88   BritPOP!     66pts

DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2026 – 4/2/26

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.

 

DF/RG65 Winter 2025/6 #3 – 31/1/26

Following on from the mornings DF95 sailing we had seven skippers take to the water with DF65’s.  Unfortunately, with a number of RG65 cancellations and a missed message meant that Alan did some testing with new foils on his RG65 before calling it a day.  The weather was similar to the morning and the decision was taken to use A rigs. The same standard course was set utilising the full length of the lake and initially 2 laps were set. Our thanks go out to new member Stuart Trunkfield who after sailing in the morning DF95 session volunteered to be RO for the afternoon and got us underway on time at 12.00

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.

Results

Peters 3 bullets at the end of the afternoon proved the deciding factor in taking line honours from Paul by a single point. Guy maintained his consistency with 9 fourth places, and in the second group Phyl just beat Dave again by a single point.  Thanks to Stuart Trunkfield for being RO and taking the photos.

DF95 Social Racing 2026 – 31/1/26

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.
Although it was gusting 19 knots at nearby Speke Airport, it was ideal on the lake for A rigs all round.
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!
It was great to see Steve  Miller doing so well and looking swanky with his new black livery on the aptly named “Black Pearl“.  Steve has really come on these last few weeks and thanks to members such as Clive and Paul and others  who have taken time out to coach and help him tweak his rig.  New member Stuart Trunkfield showed great potential in a number of races and will no doubt be a force to reckon with once he gets a bit more time on the water.
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.
All in all a cracking session with laughter and dockside banter aplenty.
Thanks to Clive for the photos and Paul for working the results out.