DF65’s
The first of May, Hurrah. Sun, blue sky, a breeze blowing straight down the lake – the DF65 fleet arriving at Gautby Road could have been forgiven for thinking that they had all magically emigrated to somewhere a long way south of Birkenhead. As always with sailing however the devil was in the detail, and although the SE breeze seemed reasonably steady and held in all morning, there were big shifts and lulls.
Racing was very close, with some very crowded mark roundings at both the windward and gate ends of the course, and various skippers had to take turns during the morning. Don and Richard both experienced boat problems during the morning and did well to keep going, with Don attempting to drain the lake using his boat – amazingly with no major damage – and Richard having to replace a rudder servo.
The start line proved a good compromise, with shifts meaning that both ends were favoured during the morning, and the beat also proved true, with roughly even times on both tacks, but with big variations which were difficult to spot ahead of time.
James, John and Mike were evenly matched for the first 5 races, but then James aced the next 5 with three wins and a second to run out the winner one point ahead of Mike with John third.
Another excellent days 65 racing, with thanks as always to Dave for doing the results which are shown below:
- James Douglas 10 pts 5 wins
- Mike de St Paer 11 pts 3 wins
- John Carlin 15 pts 2 wins
- Neil Westbrook 20 pts
- Alan Watkinson 28 pts
- Frans King 37 pts
- Dave Williams 42 pts
- Don MacKinnon 45 pts
- John Beech 47 pts
- Richard Walker 54 pts
DF95’s
Only six skippers made it for the afternoon session with the other contenders away on holiday or preparing for a race evening in big boats. The wind and sun were the same as the morning so the same course was ideal. The self regulated start worked well with no obvious clock beaters.
Neil had a brilliant session winning all six races but was pushed by Alan in the first two races. Unfortunately Alan then had to depart and it was now Richard Walker who then took over the challenge, taking three seconds with Frans taking the other. After six races it was decided to call it a day.
- Neil Westbrook 5pts 6wins
- Richard Walker 13 pts
- Frans King 18 pts
- Martin W-J. 19 pts
- John Beech 21 pts
- Alan Watkinson 25 pts
