Positives – Water level is absolutely fine with no grounding issues for DF65s and close to being full.
Weed – still bits of weed floating and sub-surface but not causing a major problem ….. you had to be unlucky to pick up any during racing. Thanks to all the personnel who have been netting and removing most of the weed. What weed is left is clearly dying off as the water temp drops and will hopefully sink to the bottom and rot away soon.
However, Although we didn’t experience our traditional summer algae bloom largely due to Clive’s efforts with the dye, but it has now returned with a vengeance. It’s certainly possible to sail in it, as everybody is pretty much affected equally, but it is still a nuisance as it collects onto the keel and rudder, slowing you down and making the boat harder to sail and manoeuvre. I think we are past peak algae and as with the weed, the colder weather should speed up its death and decline so we are hopeful that algal conditions will only improve from here on in.
Sailing conditions today: Difficult/Awful! …. possibly the worst i have experienced at Gautby Rd which is saying something when we all know what a “normal” bad can can be.
With a NW 15-22kts at Hilbre today, I was expecting a B rig day with wind straight down the lake. In reality it was A+ rigs with the wind from any direction usually all at the same time. I can’t comment too much on the actual racing as i suffered from a winch problem early on and then got frustrated with conditions and went home early. In the races I did complete, it was quite possible to go from first to last and back to first, all in the space of sailing 30m. Clive certainly seemed to ‘master’ the conditions better than most closely followed by Dave then Alan and James. For everybody else it was a total lottery unfortunately. Thanks as always to Dave for the results and photos.
To quote Tony Blair and New Labour In 1997 ‘Things can only get better” – and hopefully they will do soon.
