Nine competitors for the DF95 afternoon race. The light wind from just about over the houses at the top end of the lake. It was also warm, so what could go wrong? Unfortunately, the algae seemed to like the fins on the 95’s which caused extreme frustration. Joining us from The Great Orme club was Mathew Pritchard, with this his first competitive race.
Racing started on time with the usual course starting at the Clubhouse end, windward and spreader mark to starboard down through the gate and finish halfway up the lake. The first race saw the only call over of the day with Guy just pushing it to extreme, lesson learned. This race saw Ian taking a commanding lead to the first mark with John Br. catching him on the run to the gate but then losing it over the final lap. It was decided to go to one lap after a long 25 min race.
With the boats moving slowly in the light wind, allowing the algae to coat the fin and lead keel. This caused great frustration so we lost two sailors early on. The next race saw a new leader with Dave taking honours from Mr consistent John Brierley ( he managed 4 seconds) before also retiring. Race three saw Ian take another win with Alan and Dave fighting for third. Race 4 saw Alan take the win. Race 5 saw John Beech. come in to his own taking an easy win.
At the break the constant uncertainty of the algae situation saw us lose another two sailors. Mathew was given a little tuning advice during this time which he promptly put to good use on the next five races. Guy refreshed after the break took the next race from Mathew with one of the closest finishes of the day.
The next race saw Alan’s rudder servo burn out and then we were down to 4. We decided to carry on to complete 10 races which suited Mathew taking three firsts. John unfortunately seem to struggle with the algae problems even though the wind had now picked up. Overall Mathew took the event by one point from Dave. Thanks go to Dave for acting RO and for the few photos.
