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Author: Peter Baldwin

DF95 Winter Series 2024 #3 – 18/1/25

A gentle A rig breeze from the Clubhouse end greeted todays fleet of DF95 sailors.  We had hoped for 12 boats on the start line, but unfortunately some last minute technical issues precluded two sailors from starting and so they very kindly ran the racing and scoring instead.  In addition, a dropped turn on the boat of Dave Williams led to both himself and his helper Alan missing the first race with RO Neil Westbrook starting on time at 12:00.

Race 1 and 2 had the first three boats in the same finishing positions with Peter taking two wins and John Brierley second place.  John B then won Race 3 after Peter was called OCS, although he did recover to third behind John Carlin in second.  John C then went one better to win Race 4 swapping places with John B (Peter picked up another OCS call and had to return once again losing vital time!).  Martin, meanwhile had a technical issue and missed these two races.  He made up for it in Race 5 with a second to Peters win and then John B won Race 6, this being the last race before a break for an early lunch as Neil had decided to run races as just a single lap as the fleet was often well separated even after one lap.

At the break, the top 3 was Peter first on countback from John Brierley and John Carlin in third.

The second session after lunch saw the breeze drop for a few races, before picking up again for the final couple of races.  There were however some big wind shifts and holes that could easily  catch you out and result in a lead change before the windward mark.

The afternoon session belonged to Martin and Peter, who shared the wins between them. with John B seemingly off the pace with both his discards in this second session.  The results probably don’t show it, but the fleet was often closely contested up the first beat with at least half the fleet often rounding in close contention, with Alan and John C well in the mix. Also, after some boat adjustments from Martin earlier in the afternoon amd from Peter at the break, saw Phyl keeping up with the fleet and picking up a good result in Race 11.

When Malcom had worked out the final scores, Peter ran out the clear winner, with Martin powering through into second place after the second session results, with John B having to settle for third.  Many thanks to Neil and Malcom for running the racing and getting the scores ready soon after we finished.

DF65 Social Racing 2025 – 15/1/25

A lovely day at Gautby road for the first DF65 social racing day of 2025 – blue sky and sun but alas almost no wind – and an excellent turnout of twelve racers. All the ice from last week had disappeared leaving a large armchair in the lake just below the start area.

Armchair? Why was it there we might ask…..armchair ice curling practice? / it seemed a good idea at the time? / why?  – answers on a postcard please.

Having decided not to sail all the races John Carlin very kindly went paddling and retrieved it, assisted by Paul Little (who very sensibly stayed on the bank to supervise) but John reported that there is more debris in that area which will need to be removed as soon as practicable.

Back to the sailing which looked unlikely when we all arrived as there was hardly a breath of wind. A very, very light S.Easterly breeze did come in, but all of the mornings sailing was a real dead slow and stop drifting match.

Dave set a short course using the start line which was good for the wind direction, the finish buoy as a windward mark, the outer start mark as a leeward mark and then back to the usual finish line. Races were taking more than 15 minutes on this course giving an indication of just how light conditions were.

Having said all this the racing was really very good with four different winners for the four races completed, with the first three boats covered by one point as shown below. Neil sailed very well having missed the first race and his 1,2,2 results were good enough to win from Paul P who in turn beat Mikedsp on countback.

After four races the general consensus was that enough was enough, and a finish was called. Thanks to Dave for ROing (and being chief photographer) and, as always, for doing the results, and finally thanks again to John and Paul L for removing the lake debris.

  1. Neil Westbrook                5 pts       1 win
  2. Paul Plested                      6 pts       1 win   (ahead on countback)
  3. Mike de St Paer               6 pts        1 win
  4. Clive Warren                  10 pts        1 win
  5. Charles Legg                  14 pts
  6. Alan Watkinson            16 pts
  7. Richard Walker             16  pts                   (ahead on countback)
  8. Frans King                     21 pts
  9. David White                  23 pts
  10. Malcolm Harvey         30 pts                  (ahead on countback)
  11. John Carlin                    30 pts                  (rtd after R1)
  12. Paul Little                      39 pts

IOM Winter 2024 #2 Cancelled – 11/1/25

Unfortunately with the snow earlier in the week followed by very low overnight temperatures this week, the lake is well frozen and the walkways are still icy and dangerous to walk on.  IOM Winter series #2 has therefore been cancelled and all existing entries have been emailed.  It’s a pity as there were 14 entries and so it could have been a good afternoon.

DF/RG65 Winter 2024 #3

The first Birkenhead race of the New Year was for RG65 sailors and at the start held with as much water on the banks as in the lake.

The first job was to unblock the drain weir and then decide on a course. There was a slight reluctance to don the waders and move marks ude to the depth of water lapping over the path. Neil arrived and took on the RO’s position and due to the very light wind sorted a short course, sailing from half way up the far bank to a starboard rounding of the windward mark at the Clubhouse end across to a spreader mark, then downwind to a starboard rounding of the outer start mark which had been positioned by a good throw from John B. We sailed two laps and had a downwind finish.

Racing started at 12.00pm but unfortunately Charles was unable to compete due to the depth of water on the pathway likely to affect his wheel chair. The starts were very close with a couple of general recalls, the first race set the pattern for most races with Alan Bennett and John Brierley having very close races with Alan on top but unable to shake of John, both sailing very closely matched Ivy’s.

The other trio sailing Uno’s were also very close most of the time with George just finding the extra speed on the final leg. Due to Alan B and John match racing most of the time, they missed out when Dave and George caught them unaware’s in two races stealing a win each.

Thanks must go to Neil for keeping the racing going with twelve races, even though at times the wind died altogether, and thanks also to Dave for the creating the final results sheet.  Unfotunately we have no photos to share of the racing this week and so a stock photo has had to suffice.

  1. Alan Bennett         Ivy 13pts 8wins
  2. John Brierley        Ivy  19pts 2wins
  3. George Bennett   Uno 33pts 1win
  4. Dave Williams      Uno 34pts 1win
  5. Alan Watkinson   Uno 42pts

Good showing by Club at Fleetwood Twixmas IOM Event

Seven club members travelled to Fleetwood for the annual Twixmas Regatta on Sunday 29th January.  It was a great days sailing with everyone in B rigs for the whole day with the wind very nearly straight down the lake.  The forecast of an increasing wind never materialising during the racing period so no rig changes were needed.

All seven club sailors finished in the top ten (just) with Brad Gibson narrowly winning the event from Rob Walsh of Fleetwood.  Chris Harris (Windrush) was third and then Graham Elliott and Martin Roberts took fourth and fifth places.  The day proved to be difficult to be consistent for some and after the top 5, the next seven places were separated by only ten points.  Fleetwood at its best and a great but challenging days sailing.  Always worth travelling to if you can at this time of the year.