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Author: Peter Baldwin

DF/RG65 Summer 2023 #5 (24/6/23)

Six RG65s took part in an enjoyable and often closely fought afternoon of racing across eight two lap races that started at the clubhouse end, saw a beat up to a mark at the far end of the pond to be rounded to port, a nearby spreader also taken to port, and a run down to a single red at the clubhouse end to be taken to port. Owing to the wind direction it was decided to dispense with a downwind gate. For the most part, the course worked as planned but there were a couple races late on in which we found ourselves reaching up to the ‘upwind mark’ and reaching back to the ‘downwind mark’, with some very fluky winds in between. For most of the afternoon the sun shone and the breeze was strong enough to get the boats with their A swing rigs up to a good turn of speed without serious nosediving on the downwind legs. In the end, John Brierley was the runaway winner with Dave Williams to be congratulated on a well earned second place. The results in full are:

  1. John Brierley                    84  Uno                 6 Pts
  2. Dave Williams                  33  Uno               13 Pts
  3. Alan Watkinson               23  Uno               20 Pts
  4. John Carlin                          11  Uno              22 Pts (1 x second)
  5. Charles Legg                     26  Uno              22 Pts
  6. Neil Westbrook                03  Uno              31 Pts

DF65 Social Racing 2023 – 21/6/23

Another warm day with a gentle wind from the top of the lake. A welcome turnout of eventually 15 boats all using A+ rigs, Neil set the usual course but without the gate.

Clive took the first win pushed all the way by Alan. Then John Brierley, after his weekend success got into his stride taking the next two. Andrew Potter was unlucky to catch an under water obstacle, so donned the waders to initiate a search. He took the next two races. The wind then decided to play tricks by disappearing completely at times creating a very unpredictable course. As ten races had been held it was decided to call a halt.

Due to there being more competitors than races the average score system had to be put in place. As the scores show below there was some very close racing between several groups. Unfortunately Martin and Paul were not able to compete in all races hence the high scores.

  1. John Brierley                            12.6pts 4wins
  2. Clive Warren                            22.8pts 3wins
  3. Andrew Potter                         25.1pts 2wins
  4. Neil Westbrook                       29.4pts
  5. Alan Watkinson                     30pts
  6. John Carlin                               30.8pts 1win
  7. Andrew Peter                           45.7pts
  8. Richard Walker                       46.8pts
  9. Dave Williams                         51.4pts
  10. Charles Legg                            66.2pts
  11. John Beech                                73.5pts
  12. Frans King                                 83pts
  13. Malcolm Harvey                      85pts
  14. Martin Wittingham Jones   96pts
  15. Paul Little                                 107pts

IOM Summer 2023 #3 – 17/6/23

7 skippers, 5 sailing BritPOP!’s, 1 Widget and 1 Chimera, the new design from Craig Richards. The wind was a beautiful top suit breeze from Gautby Road although it did gust up in a few races that caused everyone to cope with the odd nosedive.
The course was near perfect for the conditions and the start line well placed. 7 races before break with Graham Elliott winning 5 of them, Martin Roberts and Alan Bennett winning the other two. 5 races after break with Graham winning 4 and Martin the other one.
Sailing was quite tough and boat control and picking the shifts was key, some very close sailing in most races and lots of gains and losses if you never went on the shift at exactly the right time. 6 out of the 7 skippers got a second place or above in at least one race out of the 12 completed which shows how close the fleet were.
Dave Williams started and finished us and called at least 2 general recalls, many thanks Dave.
Race winners, Graham Elliott 9 wins, Martin Roberts 2 wins, Alan Bennett 1 win, well sailed Alan with a great average.
Graham Elliott                  09  11 Pts
Alan Bennett                    130  25 Pts
Martin Roberts                 22  27 Pts
Bill Culshaw                       21  34 Pts
Neil Westbrook                03  47 Pts
Alan Watkinson               23  49 Pts
Garry Benson                   68  63 Pts

DF65 Summer Series 2023 17/5/23

Blue sky, full sun, cold wind from the top of the lake, good A suit conditions.

Twelve sailors including a new member Martin, all anxiously waiting whilst Neil donned the leaking waders to move the start mark. With each skipper dropping out in turn racing commenced.

It was soon realised that the apparent steady wind was far from it and was proving very difficult to read, especially at the gate. On several occasions the leading boat made the wrong decision and ended losing a couple of places on the short beat to the finish. In the end it was down to the consistency of Neil and John C that enabled them to take first and second places. 12 races held.

  1. Neil Westbrook                       16 pts 5 wins
  2. John Carlin                                18 pts 3 wins
  3. Andrew Potter                         28 pts 2 wins
  4. Alan Watkinson                       38 pts 2 wins
  5. Dave Williams                          38pts
  6. Clive Warren                             46 pts
  7. 7th. Andrew Peter                   51 pts
  8. John Beech                                 56 pts
  9. Richard Walker                        59 pts
  10. Frans King                                  74 pts
  11. Malcolm Harvey                       85 pts
  12. Martin Wittingham-Jones   97 pts

DF/RG65 Summer Series 2023 #2

Competitors arrived to find the land breeze fighting the sea breeze but luckily all settled down by race 3 when we got a nice NW mid A rig wind plus wall to wall sunshine, hottest day of the year so far. A few members were missing today, Peter Baldwin PRO and John Brierley sailing at the Fleetwood DF Global race, good luck John.
Graham gave his Electronica one final outing for club racing and took the first two wins but Alan sailing his Uno and Bill sailing his Ivy were never too far behind. The next 4 races were all quite closely contested with Alan getting to the windward mark in first position in quite a few. Dave Williams very kindly shared helms with newcomer Clive Warren with whoever not sailing taking on the role of starter and finisher, many thanks for this, both of you.
In the end it was Graham Elliott with 9 wins from Bill Culshaw with 3 wins, ever so consistent  Martin Roberts, who actually scored a third in every race bar 2 races and then the consistently inconsistent Alan.
12 races sailed.
1st     Graham Elliott      Electronica            11 points
2nd    Bill Culshaw           IVY                            17 points
3rd     Martin Roberts     Pocket Rocket     30 points
4th     Alan Watkinson   Uno                          34 points
5th     Dave Williams       Uno                          49 points

DF65 Social Racing 2023 – 26/4/23

A bright sunny day but with a cold light wind from the Clubhouse end. Ten sailors using A+ rigs started sailing to suddenly realise although the wind looked steady it was far from it, with various holes strategically placed around the lake causing many problems. So the next race you tried to sail a different course only to find the holes had moved.

Racing at the front was very close with three boats on equal points before discards. The master of the Day was Neil with his four wins. Mike getting off to a good start unfortunately had to leave early. Ten races were held with each skipper acting as RO.

  1. Neil Westbrook   10pts 4 wins
  2. John Carlin            15pts 2wins, 2x2nd, 3x3rd and 2x4th (better last race)
  3. Clive Warren        15pts 2wins, 2x2nd, 3x3rd and 2x4th
  4. Dave Williams     28pts
  5. Charles Legg        30pts 1 win
  6. Stan Metcalf         37pts
  7. Frans King             48 pts
  8. Malcolm Harvey  45pts
  9. John Beech             45pts
  10. Mike de St Paer     47pts 1 win

Don’t forget that next Saturday (29th April) is the inaugural race afternoon at Birkenhead for the DF95.