DF65 Social Racing
Today was the last day of racing at the club prior to Christmas and only 7 DF65’s turned out on a breezy and at times damp December morning. Racing got underway after Peter moved the marks around to give a decent windward/leeward course over the whole length of the lake. Malcolm opted to be RO and was assisted by Mark Warren, who was also busy taking photos. Links to these photos will be added when they are available. John Br proved early on that there was just too much breeze in the gusts to easily sail in a B rig and so everyone other than John Be sailed with a C rig. There was a large ratio of mean to gust wind speed which tested the C rigs in the lulls (they stopped!) and the B rig in the gusts, overall though, the C rig did win out in most races as being the correct choice.
The morning belonged to John Br who picked up 7 wins from the 8 races and gave him first place with Peter the only one to spoil his clean sweep in one race, ending up second, and John Carlin in third. There were some close finishes throughout the fleet, although if you missed a shift or got on the wrong side of one, then a good lead could suddenly disappear. Getting a tack in first time was always essential, but easier said than done with gusts that might hit you unexpectedly.
Thanks to Malcolm for running the racing and Mark for assisting and taking photos.
- John Brierley 84 6pts
- Peter Baldwin 63 9pts
- John Carlin 11 19pts
- Mike De St Paer 35 24pts
- John Beech 80 27pts
- Dave Williams 233 32pts
- Clive Warren 53 33pts
No racing for the DF65 next week (27th), with racing resuming on Saturday 30th for the DF & RG65.
DF 95 Social Racing
Following on from the morning 65s the 95 fleet took to the water in similar if not a little windier conditions. The choice of rig should have been C Rig but as some helms didnt have a C the choice was to use B Rig for a fun afternoon. 7 boats took to the water, The course was the same as the morning starting at the clubhouse end up to a spreader and back down through a gate and across the finishing line half way up the lake, The start line was port start biased but the better wind was on the factory side of the lake so there was a choice to be made, middle line on starboard was the safe option!!
Not many of the seven helms had previously sailed their 95s in these conditions so set up was difficult. Clives son Mark offered his services as RO for the afternoon (thanks Mark). 1 lap races were used, to enable rig adjustment and repairs where necessary.
The short ‘chop’ on the water along with the the over-sized rigs made sailing difficult with a lot of the boats having to gybe up the beat instead of tacking. Downwind was a brisk walk to keep up with the boats with some spectacular sights along the way. Thanks should also go to Peter for sharing his “boat set up” knowledge with the fleet, before and in between races
The races were dominated by Peter showing all his experience in the very testing conditions taking 4 wins out of the 5 races sailed. The rest of the fleet was very closely contested with 4 of the remaining helms achieving 3rd place or better, Dave Howard taking the other win. Clive and John C were both consistent and John B showed some very good boat speed but struggled to tack in a couple of races which cost him dearly. The wind strength increased throughout the afternoon and after 5 races we decided a tactical withdrawl was the sensible option to prevent damage to boats
A great fun sailing day was had today in unusual conditions (for Gautby Rd) for all the right reasons
Final Standings with 1 discard
1. Peter Baldwin 4pts (4 wins)
2. Dave Howard 11pts (1 win, 1 second)
3. Clive Warren 11pts (2 seconds, 1 third)
4. John Carlin 11pts (1 second, 3 thirds)
5 John Beech 19pts (1 third)
6 Malcom Harvey 20pts
7 Frans King 24pts
Merry Christmas everyone
