DF65’s
Nine DF65 skippers today – still an excellent turnout, and a lovely summers day with a bit of wind (well in some places) and a comfortable mid 20s temperature.
The wind was approximately N.West, so blowing down the lake from the far end and it was possible to use marks in their existing position for the usual course format. The line was once again somewhat pin end biased, although with a slightly smaller fleet than last week this didn’t prove to be too much of a problem. Neil had again very kindly agreed to RO, and he had to call a number of individual recalls although we avoided any generals this week.
The beat – as ever – proved tricky, with a flat spot around half way up which caught everyone out at some stage. It paid to get away on Starboard from the pin and usually then paid to stay on Starboard as far as possible before tacking, but this didn’t always work as expected.
The top end of the beat was again very tricky with some major shifts and flat spots making for an interesting days racing. This was a day where starting well and boat speed, while necessary of course, were not the deciding factors overall, but positioning on the course and patience in dealing with the windless areas were key.
John Brierley aced the day with 5 race wins from 9 races, other winners being James, Clive, Stuart and Commodore Dave with one apiece – very good racing with only a few infringements and 2nd, 3rd and 4th covered by 3 points and then 5th, 6th and 7th covered by three points and quite a few positions decided by a few centimetres at the line .
Full results shown below with thanks again to Neil for ROing and to Dave for keeping it all running and doing the results.
DF95’s
A smaller turnout than normal this week, possibly due to holidays and the good spell of hot weather in the UK we are currently experiencing. Gautby Rd wasn’t any different with 26degrees, blue sky and a light to medium A rig breeze blowing down the lake from the far end to the clubhouse. The same standard course as the morning was used with a slightly different weather mark to make the approach a little more difficult.
The wind was interesting, a starboard biased start line meant a starboard start was preferred but and generally a long starboard beat paid off, if you could put a hitch in on a wind shift even better but generally three quarters of the way up the lake there was a shift to port to take you into the weather mark. The run as also tricky with the clubhouse side and middle favoured but it was pot luck which paid off. Finally the beat back from the gate to the finish was no certainty either, with both gate marks paying off in different races.
The normal practice for small fleets of self monitored starts and the first to cross the finish line records the results. Racing got underway on time, despite Guy querying his mast stability, we all thought it was fine, only for it to snap in half at the insert in the foot. Fortunately he had a spare A rig so a quick change and all was well.
The pre-start problems didn’t seem to affect Guy and he was fast out of the blocks taking the first race with Martin 2nd and Clive finishing up the podium positions.
Martin went one better in race 2 posting a deserved win, with Guy 2nd. The third race then saw Clive start to get into then groove, taking the first of his wins, with Guy being Mr consistent with another 2nd, Stuart managed 3rd.
The fourth race saw Clive and Martin a long way clear, and duelling for the top honours until Martin hooked the gate buoy which moved him to the back of the field, Guy and Stuart profiting from Martins’ mistake.
Race five and Guy was back in the hot seat with Clive and Martin completing the podium. Race six and Stuart got his just reward finally posting a win, with Guy and Martin filling the 2nd and 3rd spots, Clive finishing 4th fractionally ahead of John B, who was having an off day by his normal standards.
At this stage after 6 races with 1 discard, Guy was leading the way with his consistency with 8pts, Clive was second with 10pts and Martin third with 13pts, so all to play for through to the finish. Race 7 to 11 and Clive had a dream end to the session posting five straight bullets, leaving Guy and Martin to fight for the remaining podium positions.
In summary a testing wind direction with enough swing to make life interesting around the course, Martin sailed extremely well probably his most consistent for a long time and Guy was super consistent with top 3 places in each race. Stuart and John have had better days but were still smiling at the end, which is all that really matters!!!!
