DF65’s
Bit grey to start with for the DF65 fleet, but enough breeze to make for a good days sailing. We had all expected much more pressure based on the various forecasts, but in the event the day was top end of A+ with some lulls and a few punchy gusts as the morning sailing progressed.
The start line at the far end was pretty good although it seemed to be better up at the clubhouse side rather than at the pin, Another excellent turnout of 10 skippers, although there was a bit of coming and going as James missed the first race due to transport problems, and Duncan Neale made it later on but after only two races got a call out and had to leave straight away. It was great to welcome IOM and 95 sailor Guy Cowper to the 65 fleet, and after a long absence it was also very nice to welcome Frans back. He had decided not to sail so very kindly offered to RO for the morning.
Start 1 was pretty much on time and was won by Clive. James just made race 2 but only due to a general recall after a very confused (omnishambles? / snafu?) start which was then won by Mike. James then put in a second and three straight wins on his way to win.
As always the conditions were tricky with a bit of easterly in the breeze, and got more so as the direction went slightly right during the morning. Starting the first beat with a long starboard tack looked right but then getting back across didn’t work reliably. At the same time taking some shifts to get closer to the windward side of the lake paid off well but wasn’t entirely consistent.
Behind James there was some very close racing with Clive, Mike and John all winning one or more races. There were also a number of boat to boat touches and some mistakes at mark roundings. James ended four points clear of Clive in second, with second to fourth all within four points. Guy and Richard also had a number of good results with Guy becoming very competitive with a bit of boat tweaking input from Clive.
A really competitive day with many thanks to Frans for ROing and Malcolm for the results as shown below, plus Dave as resident photographer of the 65’s. Finishing on a slightly sad note, Sally has decided to retire from the fleet due to other commitments – we will all miss you Sally.
DF95’s
The morning southerly breeze continued for the majority of the afternoon providing a good mid range for A rig. Six skippers took to the water, a couple of regulars down but enough for some good close racing. The starts were self monitored and the finish recorded by the first home. The same course as the morning was used using the full length of the lake, to a windward mark, spreader a single leeward rounding mark and to the finish line ¾ of the way up the lake providing a good beat. Before racing started Clive gave some useful rigging pointers to Andy, Stuart and Steve which was well received.
The Southerly breeze was tricky enough to cause some place changes, mainly due to picking wrong shifts rather than holes. Racing was competitive from the start but in reality split into 2 groups, with Guy, Andy and Clive in the first group and Steve, Stuart and Malcolm in the second, although occasionally someone would jump up or slip down. Nine races were sailed in total before bad light and heavy storm clouds threatening an imminent rain storm forced a stop.
Race 1 saw close competition between the whole fleet with Guy taking the win, Andy who sailed extremely well and consistently throughout the afternoon taking 2nd which turned out to be the first of 6, and Malcolm filling the final podium spot.
Race 2 and 3 ended the same way with Clive taking the wins, Andy theb 2nd and Guy the 3rd spot
Race 4 and Guy returned to the top spot followed by Stuart who sailed well to finish 2nd and Andy with the only blotch on his score sheet if you can call a 3rd blotch.
Race 5 and it was Clives turn to take the win with Andy continuing his run of 2nds with Guy 3rd. The minor placings were being well contested with Steve Miller just about getting the better of Stuart and Malcolm, however Stuart suffered boat failure in race 5 which ended his afternoon
Race 6 and after another close race at the front Andy got his first well deserved win, with Guy 2nd and Clive 3rd. After sailing in the 65s in the morning and 6 races in the afternoon Malcolm decided it was time to put his feet up and call it a day.
For Races 7, 8, and 9 and after Malcolms retirement only 4 helms remained, the wind was probably the best it had been all day, so 3 more races were sailed. The results were to close to call with Guy on 2 wins, Clive on 3, Andy on 1 but with a bag full of 2nds it was all to play for The final 3 races were just as close and resulted in 3 different winners Guy, Clive and Andy with Andy, taking 2 seconds, and Clive taking the other. Steve Miller sailed a great last race to take a 3rd spot.
To summarise, it was a very enjoyable afternoon with a pretty good breeze providing a very good afternoons racing.
This years IOM Xmas Open attracted a decent fleet of 18 sailors including 4 of the GBR Team for the 2026 IOM Worlds, so it was always going to be a difficult day to get a good result.
After a short briefing by Peter Baldwin standing in for the Sailing Sec, we got started on time at 10:15 and completed five races before a short drinls break. This first session was doominated by Brad Gibson (first in every race) and Graham Elliott, who took second in the first three and then a third in Race 5, with Darin Ballington picking up a couple of thirds, Josh King two seconds in races 4 and 5, with Peter Baldwin and John Brierley a third each. There was some close racing throughout the fleet, with errors in the middle bunch being penalised by plenty of lost places it was so tight.
John Tushingham had an unfortunate early bath after gear failure before the start of Race 3 and Robbie Mac lost three races in this early session with gear problems.
Lunch taken, we sailed an additional seven races, but with only 17 starting as John Brierley also had un-fixable gear failure ending his day. Starts were interesting as we could be fetching, reaching or running off the line. Surpisingly considering the conditions, very few General recalls were called and only an occasional single OCS by someone who was well proud and visible to the Start Line Judge.
Overall a decent days racing with some close competition and some tricky close finishes to call for our Line Judge in training. Not surpringly, Brad Gibson took the day, with Graham Elliott in second and Josh King in third.
Brad thanked the Race Team (Dave Williams, Steve Miller and Judith Baldwin) and Joss Watkinson who did a sterling job in the galley, keeping everyone supplied with hot drinks and tasty snacks. More photos to follow in the Gallery tomorrow. There will be an additional post to provide the link.
A lovely bright start to sailing today, although the South West wind blowing right over the houses provided a somewhat lucky dip element to the days sailing. One of the clubhouse end start marks remains missing despite a pre-sailing search party, but the remaining start mark and the nearer gate mark provided a good start line, and it was agreed to use the finish mark as a windward mark providing a good – if very unpredictable – beat. The first few races then used the rest of the usual course, but as races were proving quite lengthy it was agreed to use a shortened course using the finish mark, outer start mark and gate.
Racing got away promptly from the clubhouse end with the line working OK. It was really very shifty (Neil would say people kept opening and closing doors in the next road) and it was somewhat of a lucky dip where to start. The first beat to round the finishing mark was also very tricky with different tactics working for different races.
Overall it seemed to pay to start on Starboard at the outer end and then sail until headed closer to the windward bank, but there were plenty of exceptions meaning there were five different winners during the mornings eight races. Almost everyone had at least one good result during the morning with Mike managing to stay clear overall.
Thanks to Commodore Dave for keeping things moving, taking pictures and doing the results which are shown below. A really pleasant day to be outside followed by an excellent Christmas meal very well organised by Malcolm – many thanks again
Another crisp start today at Gautby road, but sunny and very happily nice and dry. The wind direction was South Easterly or South S. Easterly, but varied during the morning going slightly right mid-morning and then back again towards the end of the racing.
Good turnout of 8 skippers despite one or two regulars missing, and really close racing with everyone putting in some good results over the 8 races. The close racing also resulted in a number of close encounters of the boat to boat kind with the resulting turns affecting results. There were also a couple of proper entanglements with John being particularly unlucky to be collected while clearly leading a race.
As there were only 8 skippers it was agreed that race winners would record the results, while starts were “self-monitored”. Perhaps because of this the fleet wasn’t at all line shy, and although the starts were in fact pretty fair a dedicated RO might have called a few generals during the morning.
There were three winners during the morning with John starting where he left off last week with a clear win. Mike then managed three bullets and James then put in a couple. As always the start was critical and starting from the favoured pin end and getting the bow down on starboard worked for the first four or five races, but then – as mentioned – the gusts started to pull right, and it payed to start further up the line towards the committee end. James also made a couple of early port tacks pay to pick up a starboard lift along the club side of the lake.
The approach to the windward mark remained tricky, with some really flat patches in some races and the run had some very slow areas as well. Despite doing his share of turns during the morning Mike held on to win from James who had to miss the last race due to time pressure. .
7 skippers wrapped up well to combat the bitterly cold wind with sunny intervals. Much like the morning, the wind was predominantly blowing from the south, blowing from the club house corner of the lake. A similar course to the morning was used with the usual windward mark, spreader and gate, and finishing half way up the lake. The breeze was perfect for ‘A Rigs’. With only 7 boats the starts were self monitored, and first to finish recorded the results. 19 races were sailed providing 2 discards.
It was good to see John Carlin on the start line for the first time in a while and from the start showed the way for the rest of the skippers to follow. The start line looked to have a heavy port bias but this was not necessarily the case, with some skippers starting on starboard and tacking early onto port whilst others held the starboard start as far as possible up the lake before tacking. In the end it didn’t seem to matter with both options proving successful in different races, typical Gautby Rd unpredictability. It was much more about which shift to tack on and which ones might leave you headed going nowhere. This was never more in evidence than when approaching the windward mark where the wind was at its trickiest. The downwind wasn’t as much of a test with not many places being exchanged. The final beat from the gate to the line was a conundrum, port gate or starboard gate was the question the helms had to answer, there wasn’t an easy answer and many places were lost or gained on the final leg.
John C was off to a flyer with 3 straight wins, although Clive did push him right to the line in the first 2 races before Andy took over and pushed him in the 3rd. Further down the battle was just as competitive between Malcolm, Steve, Stuart and John B with positions being swapped throughout the race.
Race 4 and Andy went one better taking the win from Clive with John C 3rd.
Race 6, Clive followed John C to take the 2nd spot and it was John Bs turn to take the final podium spot. Unfortunately we lost Andy for the rest of the day with technical failure. Races 7, 8 and 9, saw John C taking the last of his run of wins with Clive taking the win in the final race, with Malcolm taking a 2nd and John B and Steve picking up a 3rd place each.