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DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2024 – 6/3/24

DF65’s

A bit of breeze this week again, from the ESE/SE and getting towards the top of A+ in some of the gusts, and starting off quite chilly in the mist for the 15 skippers. Some significant shifts to make the sailing – and the beats in particular – very interesting, with the usual short shifts at the top end of the course.

Peter Baldwin went for his customary wade, and reset the course with a line which allowed a spread of starting positions. Not at times that you might have thought this was the case, as there was a certain amount of boat to boat contact and a couple of entanglements over the morning’s sailing.

As an indication of the conditions, the first 5 races had 5 different winners, and over the 10 races John Carlin had 3 wins, Peter Baldwin and Jon Whitehead ended up with 2 race wins apiece and the remaining race wins spread over three further sailors.  Much place swapping, quite a bit of frustration, and once again very close racing right across the fleet.

  1. Peter Baldwin       18pts            2 wins
  2. John Carlin            20 pts           3 wins
  3. Simon Bates          26pts            1 win
  4. Jon Whitehead      32pts            2 wins
  5. Alan Watkinson    33 pts           2 x 2nd
  6. Mike de St Paer     33 pts            1 x 2nd
  7. Andrew Potter       38 pts
  8. Clive Warren          40 pts            1 win
  9. Tony Sedgewick    43 pts            1 win
  10. Andrew Peter         65 pts
  11. Dave Williams        66 pts
  12. John Beech                75 pts
  13. Richard Walker       78 pts
  14. Dave Howard           99 pts
  15. Frans King                101 pts

DF95’s

Following on from the morning DF65 sailing, 7 helms enjoyed a lovely sunny afternoons 95 sailing. The wind was generally more southerly meaning the houses came into play more providing the normal Gautby Rd holes and shifts. While this can provide good overtaking opportunities it can be very frustrating if you get the wrong side of a wind shift or sat in a hole watching boats pass you on either side. The choice of rig was an A which perfectly suited the conditions. Unfortunately, John had rigging problems during the practice before racing and had to swap to a B rig, and as the wind started to recede, he struggled against the A rigs.
Normal 95 protocol of self monitoring the start, thank you Peter for monitor duty. First home recorded the results, this gives maximum sailing opportunities for all the helms. After 7 races were sailed, part of the fleet had to leave, a further 5 races were sailed for fun but not recorded as part of the overall results
Peter mastered the conditions and sailed very consistently winning 6 and was second in the other. The rest of the places were closely contested with both Dave and Richard showing good boat speed, culminating in Dave posting one of his best run of results in the last 3 races, a second and 2 thirds. However it was Alan and Clive who battled it out for the second and third places. Competition throughout the fleet was as competitive as ever with 6 helms posting a third place and better (not surprisingly, only John on his B rig struggled in the lighter airs)
Final Results (with 1 discard)
1   Peter Baldwin         6 pts  (6 wins)
2   Alan Watkinson   17pts  (1 win)
3   Clive Warren         18pts
4   Dave Howard       24pts
5   Richard Walker   26pts
6   Frans King             27pts
7   John Beech             37pts