The wind today could not really make up its mind. Very light on arrival, picking up to a good WNW in front of the rain followed by little or nothing by the start from the South. Still, I guess that can be Gautby Road for you.
Racing got underway soon after 11:00, after Peter had reset the marks after Saturday and with Dave’s help retrieved the finish line bench that had made its way into the lake. We started from the clubhouse end and although it was initially a reach to the far end, it did straighten up a little , becoming a fetch by the end of th beat. The run downwind became very light as the rain started. We then had to take at least 10 minutes break as the rain was so heavy and not everyone was kitted out to get wet, including a visitor from the US (Clyde Jones) who was staying on the Wirral with the pen pal of his wife.
We restarted with a light and fickle wind which was generally from the West, but could easily flick to SW or NW at times. With the rate of progress around the one lap course and the wide range in ability, each race took some time to complete and we only managed to finish 7 races by the time we finished at 12:45., by which time the wind (what existed) was more or less straight down the lake.
Peter took the lions share of the wins (4) with Paul Plested and James Douglas taking one each. This left Peter with the clear win and Paul and James 10 points behind separated by the number of thirds gained.
There were some very close finishes even in the light breeze, with Race 1, where 4 boats finished with only a boat length between them. This was won by Frans after he picked up a freeing breeze along the shoreline to overtake two or three boats on his way in. Then in Race 5 it looked (from behind) like a tie between James and Neil, but James was awarded the win by the RO. Overall a tricky day, but some good results across the fleet, including Neil who had a consistent day and ended up fourth.
Thanks go once again to Dave for running the morning taking the photos and also working out the scores (A+ rig problems apparently in case you were wondering).
- Peter Baldwin 8pts 4wins
- Paul Plested 18pts 1win, 1x2nd, 3x3rds
- James Douglas 18pts 1win, 1x2nd, 2x3rds
- Neil Westbrook 24pts
- Richard Walker 32pts
- Alan Watkinson 36pts
- Clyde Jones 38pts
- Paul Little 44pts
- Frans King 49pts 1win
- John Beech 51pts
- John Lee 57pts
- Malcolm Harvey 58pts
- David White 69pts
After the rain and light wind of the morning there was no appetite for any DF95 racing after lunch, although by leaving time at 2pm it was much warmer with a decent breeze down the lake.
