c

Author: Peter Baldwin

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.

IOM Veterans Championships Day 2 (and Overall) – 16/4/23

Day 2 began with totally different conditions to Saturday.  The breeze had swung around and was blowing (even at 8:30) at 5 to 8 mph from the clubhouse end and pretty straight down the lake, although we did start with light rain which dampened things down a bit.  The format followed that on Day 1 with a 4 race group followed by a break with the aim of completing an additional 16 races by the end.

After moving the start and changing the spacing of the new windward marks and gate, racing got underway soon after 9:30, with Peter Baldwin having a good first session taking three of the four wins, whilst Nigel Barrow took the remaining one.  Podium places were shared between Nigel, Bill Culshaw, Simon Robinson and Roger Errington. As usual for Birkenhead,  there were some good shifts in the breeze which could help or hinder you around the course and some made better use of them than others.

In the second session (after biscuits and more sweet treats from Jocelyn Watkinson) the rain had stopped and the wins were shared around more with Nigel, Alan Watkinson, Simon Robinson and Roger Crates all taking one each.  Podium places also shared around with Simon, Roger, Peter and Nigel all picking up good places.

At the lunch break and with 24 races now completed, Nigel was leading, 13 points clear of Peter in second and Roger Crates in third some 30 points further back.

The weather changed again after lunch with steady drizzle that continued through until the end of the day, although the only good part was that the wind held up, although did soften slightly towards the end of the final session.  Suitably refreshed by lunch, Peter took two wins in this session, with one each to Nigel and Bill.  Podium places were taken by most of the previous names, with David Adam now picking up a third.

Onto the final four races, Nigel was well clear barring any disasters.  The races this time were shared between Roger E, David Adam, Roger C and Bill with Nigel, Simon, Peter and Graham Whalley with podium places.

Veterans Podium

So when the final results were entered, Nigel Barrow became the new Veterans Champion 2023 with Peter Baldwin in second and Roger Crates in third.  Bill Culshaw took fourth place from Simon Robinson on countback.

At the prizegiving, Nigel thanked the Birkenhead Club for hosting the event and all of the volunteers – Martin Roberts as RO assisted by Neil Westbrook and Dave Williams (our photographer) and Bernie McNulty in the galley, who all helped make the event a very enjoyable weekends sailing.  Thanks were also given to all competitors for attending and sailing the event in a competitive but non confrontational manner.

All the photos taken by Dave Williams are available in the Gallery here

Overall Results Page 1
Overall Results Page 2

A report for Day 1 is here

IOM Veterans Championship Day 1

The forecasts for this the first day of the Championship were not looking very hopeful, although with bright sun forecast for most of the day, there was a good chance of a light sea breeze forming.  There were some short lived breeze from the right direction early on, but it was very short lived. We did however, manage to start soon after 10:00 after a short briefing from Race Officer Martin Roberts.  The initial breeze did not last and the first race was one where there was breeze, but plenty of holes and changes in direction and two laps of the lake took 20 minutes to complete, with Roger Errington taking the first race win from Nigel Barrow and Roger Crates.  Nigel then strung a series of three wins before the first break for “coffee” with homemade biscuits courtesy of Jocelyn Watkinson.  There were good performances in these initial races from Graham Whalley, Roger C, Peter Baldwin, Alan Watkinson and Simon Robinson.

Suitably fortified after the break, Peter Baldwin strung three race wins together to Nigel’s single one with the podium filled variously with Nigel, Simon, Bill Culshaw, David Adam, Peter and Neil Davies.  We then had a lunch break after 8 races, with Nigel leading on 8 points, Peter second on 12 and Roger Crates third on 25.  The sea breeze had now formed reasonably well, although there was still the opportunity to get in a hole or on the wrong side of a shift, with some opportunities to therefore make up (or lose) places.

We then continued the theme of aher 4 race block before a drink break.  Race wins were gained by Peter (2), Alan and Nigel, with the podium places shared between Roger E, Peter, Roger C, Bill, Simon, Graham and Nigel.  The wind was starting to get more variable in both strength and direction as some cloud cover probably affected the sea breeze and allowed the gradient to have more influence.  The top three remained as at lunch time, with Nigel still leading on 18 points, Peter second on 23 and Roger C a further 15 points behind.

Martin advised everyone that we would finish after 16 races and so the final 4 races began with the breeze more variable again, resulting in some difficult decisions for everyone on where to start.  Nigel had the best of the final session, with three wins and a clean sweep only spoilt by Roger C who came from behind and sailing through his lee side after the last gate.  To be fair, this was anyones race from the leading bnch of 4 with the breeze filling in from the rear, before disappearing altogether as the leaders finished, vindicating the decision to finish on 16 races.  Once again, the same names figured in the podium positions, with no one person dominating.

So at the end of Day 1, Nigel leads on 20 points, now 8 points clear of Peter with Roger C a further 20 points adrift.  All still to play for tomorrow on day 2 when we will hopefully complete a further 16 races in the available time.  A cloudy day is forecast with a light SE breeze of 6-7mph, so the course is likely to be rotated by 180 degrees, giving a further test for everyone to choose the right way around a new course.

Thanks must go to Martin Roberts assisted by Neil Westbrook and Dave Williams (who also acted as photographer) for running the racing and Bernie for manning the galley all day.

More photos from Dave will be added to a Flikr Album on Monday when time allows.