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Author: Peter Baldwin

RG65 & DF65 Winter Series #2 Report & Results

A nice 6 to 8 knots straight down the lake from the clubhouse greeted the 10 sailors today for the second of the RG65 & DF65 Winter Series.  There were four visitors (only 3 sailing) from Gresford who helped swell the DF65 fleet to 5 and five club Pocket Rocket’s competing in the RG65 section.  Racing got underway very shortly after 12:00 with a Windward/Leeward course and separate windward marks for each fleet, well set-out by John Brierley.

In the DF65 fleet, Richard Robinson had the best day winning eight of the eleven races, with visitor David Bradley pushing him hard later in the day for two wins and the final win taken by Andrew Peter, before he had to leave early.  As the light faded Richard was a clear winner on 10 points, David second on 19 and Bob Andrews (Gresford) in third, only three points ahead of Russel Owens (Gresford), who improved markedly during the day to be one of the top three at the end.

The RG65 fleet ended up being a two way fight for the top spot between Peter Baldwin and John Brierley, although both Neil Westbrook and Alan Watkinson also had spells at the front of the fleet during many of the races.  At the end, Peter scraped the overall win with six firsts to John’s five, having overtaken John in the last race just30 metres to the line.  A day of very close racing much of the time, with no clear indication of the “right way” up the beat and lots of guessing going on which sometimes paid off.  A day that ended with only a light 3 knot breeze when a light keel seemed to pay off.

Thanks once again to Bernie for running the racing today – the last racing at Birkenhead in 2019.  See you in 2020 on January 8th (DF65) or 11th (IOM)

DF65 Fleet

  1. Richard Robinson           01      10pts
  2. David Bradley                    98     19pts
  3. Rob Andrews                     835    30pts
  4. Russel Owens                    903    33pts
  5. Andrew Peter                     919    38pts

RG65 Fleet

  1. Peter Baldwin                    63      12pts
  2. John Brierley                     84       13pts
  3. Alan Watkinson                23       26pts
  4. Neil Westbrook                  03      33pts
  5. David Williams                  33       41pts

RG65/DF65 Winter Series Round 2

The second round of the RG65/DF65 Winter series takes place on Saturday 21st December with a start time of 12:00.   Both classes will start on the same line, with the DF65 sailing to a separate windward mark at a reduced distance compared to the RG65.  Results will be calculated as two separate fleets.

This is a series open to all sailors in the Northern District and visitors are always welcome.

DragonForce Autumn Series #12 18/12/19

With a gusty 10 knot breeze, the rig of choice today was an “A” and even then there were some dicey moments in the gusts on the downwind leg.  Nobody was immune to the effect of those gusts, although some managed the conditions better than others.  The air temperature was 3 degrees, but with the wind chill factor it felt sub zero and everyone was feeling the cold after 10 races had been completed and glad to get a warm drink inside them.

Ernie set a good long course which gave a number of overtaking opportunities if the right shits were taken. John Brierley took the lions share (7) of the wins today, with Peter two and Dave Williams taking the final race after a few equipment problems earlier in the day.  That left John in first, Peter second and consistent newcomer to the fleet John Carling in third.  Thanks once again to Ernie for braving the cold and sitting (and standing) in the wind for over an hour to run the racing.

  1. John Brierley                    84      9pts
  2. Peter Baldwin                   63     16pts
  3. John Carling                      11      35pts
  4. Richard Robinson           01     38pts
  5. Sally Collings                 829     41pts
  6. Neil Westbrook               03      52pts
  7. Mike St Paer                      35      58pts
  8. Dave Williams                 233     60pts   1x1st
  9. Richard Walker                 39     60pts   0x1st
  10. Alan Watkinson              373     65pts
  11. Don McKinnon                933     72pt

That completes the Autumn DF65 series for 2019 and overall results are on the Current Standings page.  Racing for the DF65 on a Wednesday morning will begin again on the 8th January at 11:00 with the first race of the Winter Series of 2020.

Christmas IOM Open (and ND IOM Winter Champs #1) Report and Results

Wind, sun and enthusiasm by all the entrants for this years Birkenhead Christmas race for the IOM, was evident today at Gautby Road.  As this was the first round of the Northern District Winter Series for the IOM, there were 9 club’s represented, including the host club. This produced the 20 entrants and 16 races were achieved by the Race Officer and Commodore John Brierley, before the light finally closed in. Racing was in 2nd suit all day with some viscous but short lived gusts providing testing moments for most of the competitors.
Early front runner by the lunchtime break after 8 races was John Tushingham from Keighley (Vision) but as the day progressed Graham Elliott (Britpop) from the host club came back into contention and eventually proved a worthy winner in the testing conditions. There was a big battle for the final podium position with Peter Baldwin (Lintel MMX) securing it with a fine win in the last race from Derek Priestley (Dead Reckoning).

It was good to see 10 designs of IOM’s ranging form the Asset of Dave Stewart right through to the current range of popular designs. All boats had their moments today which kept everyone on their toes.

As this was the clubs Christmas race there was no entry fee charged by the club, but all competitors gave a wrapped gift and all those at the prizegiving went away with a prize (not there own gift!).

Thanks must go to John Brierley for acting as Race Officer together with Bernie, Jack and Joyce who provided the supporting roles to make this another successful event.

The next Birkenhead IOM race is our 3rd Winter series on 11th January, all visitors as usual are always welcome.

Merry Christmas.

Next Week (Saturday 21/12/19) is Round 2 of the Winter Series for RG65/DF65.  Visitors always welcome – Start time 12:00.

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