Author: Peter Baldwin
DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2023 – 22/11/23
DF65’s
Today’s racing was held in an approximately North Westerly breeze, with all the usual holes and shifts with the wind coming over the houses. Turnout was again great with 15 DF65 sailors.
No one wished to go wading, and with the Port end of the line somewhat favoured the starting was all pretty close. In fact as the morning progressed it was agreed that one of the other gate marks would make a better line, although it remained so shifty this didn’t really affect the first beat much.
A rigs were chosen, and although boats were underpowered some of the time, the gusts would clearly have been difficult with A+.
Once again racing was very close, with 4 different winners, and the first two boats only one point apart after the 10 races sailed, with John Carlin the winner and results as shown below:
1. John Carlin 13.5 pts 4 wins
2. Mike de St Paer 14.6 pts 1 win
3. James Douglas 26 pts 3 wins
4. Clive Warren 29 pts 2 wins
5. Dave Williams 35.3 pts
6. Neil Westbrook 37,5 pts
7. Alan Watkinson 39.5 pts
8. Andrew Potter 42 pts
9. Malcolm Harvey 58.2 pts
10. Richard Walker 62.6 pts
11. Don Mackinnon 71pts
12. John Beech 76 pts
13. Frans King 77 pts
14. Dave Howard 80 pts
15. Paul Little 91.2 pts
DF95’s
The afternoon found 8 boats on the water for the DF95 racing, The wind remained similar to the morning racing, that being from the North West, with gusts and shifts to help or hinder depending if the helm picked the right one or not. B rigs were chosen with the wind forecast to increase throughout the afternoon. Clive was the first casualty finding the eye on the head of the mainsail pulled out, with no spare he was left with the choice of A or C, he plumped for A and an exciting afternoon. Second to fall was Paul with his new 95 which needed the rudder reversing, the problem being nobody was used to the new FlySky transmitter and it cost Paul a start in the first race. The same course as the morning was agreed, and the first home would record the positions of the fleet which allowed all 8 boats to compete in each race.
Alan got off to a flyer having his boat set up just right for the conditions which resulted in him winning the first 3 races, with Clive, John and Richard each sharing the second and third positions equally between them. Race 4 had Richard breaking Alans winning streak, with Alan in second. Race 5 saw Malcolm suffering forestay / jib halyard failure and was unable to finish the race, which was won saw Clive taking the honours Alan again taking the second spot. Unfortunately Alan had to leave and Malcolms breakdown left 6 boats to fight out the last 2 races, Richard won the 6th with Clive second and Dave having his best race in third. The 8th and final race saw Clive getting his 2nd win and John picking up his best finish of the day in second.
Once again the day was very competitive with everyone showing good boat speed at some stage.
Final Results were:
- Clive Warren 93 12pts 2 wins, 2 seconds
- Richard Walker 52 13pts 2 wins, 2 seconds
- Alan Watkinson 23 14pts 3 wins, 2 seconds (6 races)
- John Beech 288 19pts 2 seconds
- Dave Howard 00 26pts
- Frans King 59 31pts
- Paul Little 14 38pts
- Malcolm Harvey 2019 44pts
Although Clive won, its fair to say that if Alan had been able to continue he would have been top of the leader board.
Another New menu “Boats Available to Loan”
The club would like to maximise the number of boats on the water on any racing day. If members have boats that they do not wish to sell and are willing to loan to other members, a page has been set-up to try and bring loan boats and sailors together. This service is for club members to use primarily for club racing, although that could perhaps be extended to open events away from the club with the express agreement of the owner loaning the boat. The boat classes that are appropriate to list are:
- DF65
- DF95
- RG65
- IOM
To use this service go to the appropriate page on the website by following this link
New Section added to Website
I have added a new section and menu Item under “Information”
“Boats for Sale or Wanted”
If you have a boat for sale or want a boat that meets the classes sailed at the club, please let me have further details and I will add it to the page. The page outlines the process, but send me an email (if you have my email address) or a message via the contacts pages and I will confirm details with you. If you are emailing you can of course send details direct as a description and a couple of pertinent photos. If you have more photos also state that in the advert so that any potential buyer can request them if required.
I was not planning to place contact emails or phone numbers in the advert only the sellers name. They can then make contact directly if they know you or send me a message via the Contacts link on the page and I will pass the interest on.
Have a look at some point to become familiar with the page which may be accessed directly through this link. The intention is to try and get more boats on the water and encourage boats to remain within the club and be used rather than sitting in a garage (or loft!) gathering dust.
DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2023 – 15/11/23
DF65 Racing
A blustery day, with a strong breeze blowing along the lake from the North West, greeted the 16 sailors who started racing with B-rigs all round. Charles Legg opted to act as Race Officer, ably assisted by Malcolm Harvey who elected not to sail and our thanks go to them for running the days racing. The course was set with a wide start line at the clubhouse end, a port-hand mark with a spreader at the far end of the lake and a gate just beyond the start line. The finish was halfway up the lake between two buoys. Even with B-rigs, racing proved challenging, with positions changing place on the downwind legs as even the best sailors experienced spectacular nose dives. In the face of these conditions two sailors, Alan Watkinson and Peter Baldwin, later opted for C-rigs (with Peters an enforced one due to gear failure), each with mixed fortunes. The final results were:
- Peter Baldwin 63 16pts 1 win
- James Douglas 73 19pts 1 win
- Mike de St. Paer 35 21pts 1 win
- John Carlin 11 22pts 1 win
- Neil Westbrook 03 26pts
- Andrew Potter 174 38pts 2 wins
- Dave Williams 233 38pts 1 win
- Alan Watkinson 373 39pts 1 win
- Richard Walker 39 41pts
- Clive Warren 53 46pts
- Don MacKinnon 933 52pts
- Franz King 93 52pts
- John Beech 80 55pts
- Sally Collings 29 62pts
- Paul Little 45 68pts
- Dave Howard 00 81pts
DF95 Racing
With people having various commitments there were only 4 x 95 helms which was a shame as the wind was a good B Rig and touching C rig leading to some nose diving on the run, unusual for Gautby Rd and not to far off straight down the lake from the far end of the lake. The same course as the morning was used
With only 4 boats it was more about social racing and enjoying the good conditions with a couple of 1 lap, sighting races before half a dozen 2 lappers. No official results were recorded, but great fun was had with each of the helms recording at least 1 win each the racing was also very closely contested.
Thanks to John Beech, Dave Howard, John Carlin and Clive Warren for participating
IOM Winter 2023 #1 – 11/11/23
A simple Report of:
- No Wind
- No Sailors
- No Racing
Unfortunately the weather gods were not with us for the first of the IOM Winter Series, with a high pressure giving very little or no wind, although the sun was very pleasant the three sailors who might have turned up found other things to do. Fingers crossed for better luck with Round 2 on 2nd December.