c

DF65 & DF95 Social Racing – 26/2/25

DF65’s

A good day weather wise, the sun was out and a slight breeze over the houses from the top corner with A+ being the appropriate rig. The regular course was sailed with the start at the Clubhouse end.

Sailing started promptly at 11:00 with ten sailors and then joined by two more for the rest of the morning.

John Beech took the first race easily while the rest of the fleet were trying to decide the correct place to be. Mike dap then joined us and took the next three races, he was not having it easy though and was involved in several close finishes. Mike then lost his touch, with the next three races going to Simon, Dave W and Clive before taking the last two.

Sailing was very close thoughout the fleet with the Windward mark becoming very congested. As the morning progressed so did the wind strength with most boats imitating submarines on the run and the beating boats flattened so after nine races it was decided to call it a day. It was good to see Simon and James back with us their results showing they are still ones to watch.  Thanks to everyone for taking their turn as RO and to Dave Williams for the photos taken at the start of racing.

  1. Mike De St Paer   8pts 5wins
  2. Clive Warren      14pts 1win
  3. James Douglas   18pts
  4. Alan Watkinson 23pts
  5. Simon Bates       26pts 1 win
  6. Dave Williams    29pts 1win
  7. Frans King           39pts
  8. Paul Little            40pts
  9. John Beech          45pts 1win
  10. David Worron    60pts
  11. David White       63pts
  12. Phyl Fanning     72pts

DF95’s

4 Skippers from the morning 65 racing stayed on to be joined by John C and Martin W J for the afternoon DF95 session. The wind was similar to the late morning and was perfect for the top end of the A rig. The direction was south westerly which in real terms it was coming from directly behind the houses so the south westerly became a westerly or southerly  with a few holes, but picking the shifts was the key. Pick a wrong one and the unsuspecting skipper would end up with his boat head to wind and dropping down the fleet.
With only 6 boats competing, the starts were self marshalled and first across the finish recorded the results. The same course as the morning was used providing a windward mark (port) spreader mark (port) to a leeward gate and back to the finish.
Racing was tight at the front and provided some excellent scraps around the circuit, Clive came out with all guns blazing using the knowledge gained from the morning, in fact the top 3 in the first race all sailed in the morning with Alan taking second place. Clive continued his winning streak in race 2 with Dave (guest from Gresford) second having his best result of the afternoon and the improving John C  who was ‘learning  the lake’  taking third. Race 3 and the improving John continued the trend with win and saw Alan moving up the fleet in third. Race 4 and 5 and this time it was Alan who continued his improvement taking 2 wins as the wind continued to increase. Race 6 and only 3 made the start line with honours going to John.
Summary
Good wind strength which built through the afternoon provided some very close racing in challenging conditions. With 3 different winners each picking up 2 wins it was Clive who came out on top backing up his 2 wins with 4 seconds.
Results
  1. Clive Warren                            8pts    2 wins
  2. John Carlin                              11pts    2 wins
  3. Alan Watkinson                    12pts    2 wins
  4. Dave Worron                          15pts
  5. Martin Withington Jones  26pts
  6. Phyll Fanning                         29pts