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Author: Peter Baldwin

DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2023 – 27/9/23

12 sailors braved the threat of storm Agnes to be greeted by a very gentle breeze blowing down the lake. By the time general greetings and pleasantries had been exchanged the wind had filled in from the Southeast and the general opinion was a B rig would be the sensible choice. A standard course using the full lake was set with the first leg towards the clubhouse end followed with a short spreader leg then down to the gate, and then a beat to the finish.

The B Rig was the perfect choice and sailing got underway on time, The wind was reasonably steady but with enough shifts to make it interesting and meant the skippers had to keep their wits about them. The sailing was extremely close and competitive throughout the fleet with 9 of the 12 helms finishing in the top 3 in at least 1 race. The rain arrived after race 5 and got heavy enough at the end of race 8 to call a halt for lunch.

The day turned out to be far better than any of the weather forecasts had predicted and was very enjoyable for those who chanced their arm.

Final positions are shown below but the top honours went to John Carlin (4 wins), James Douglas (3 wins,) and new member Tony Sedgewick (1 win). A special mention to Frans King who had his most competitive days racing to date

Finally a special thanks to Neil Westbrook who volunteered to be the Race Officer for the day

  1. John Carlin              8
  2.   James Douglas    14
  3.  Tony Sedgewick  21 (1 win)
  4.  Alan Watkinson   21
  5.  Clive Warren         22
  6.  Dave Williams      25
  7.  Frans King              29
  8.  Andrew Potter       36
  9.  Richard Walker     39
  10. John Beech           53
  11. Dave Howard       54 (1 x 5)
  12. Malcolm Harvey  54

Over lunch the rain stopped and the wind freshened slightly from the morning session to welcome the 4 die hard DF95 sailors, (John C, Frans, Malcolm and Clive). Informal racing took place over about 90 mins, no results were recorded but a great time was had by all four in one of the best winds we have seen in quite a while at Gautby Road.

DF65 Social Racing 2023 – 20/3/23

Eight skippers came along to sail on a lake with a light breeze and reduced algae levels after the recent rain.  The decision was to go with an A+ set up and everyone rigged up their boats and this is where the day set its course when David Howard realised that tensioning his back stay had caused the jib crane to split his mast and he had no replacement.

It was intended to race a course set over the familiar pattern with the wind from the club house, however before the start of the first race it had switched to blowing down the lake towards the club house and back again.  The first race demonstrated how difficult the day would be with the light wind switching, gusting and disappearing as is swirled around the lake.  The course was revised to have the start at the club house end and the finish half way up the lake from race 2 onwards.

As the races progressed, frustration with the conditions seemed to be the main feeling of all the skippers and Malcolm called it a day after race 3 with sail winch creep.  Only 8 races were completed with Alan Wilkinson winning overall having 4 wins and 2 seconds and Dave Williams was second with 1 win and 4 seconds.  Other winners on the day were Richard Walker, Clive Warren and John Carlin who managed to win race 7 after struggling in the first 6 races.

DF65 Social racing 2023 – 13/9/23

With a nice warm day but very little wind from the Clubhouse end, eight sailors arrived ready to compete. Whilst Clive and Paul did a litter pick Dave returned the pristine clean finish mark to its normal position.(thanks Andrew).

Sailing got under way on the usual course with Clive showing his intent for the day. With low numbers the first over the finish line scored. Start line discipline was very good resulting in only one general recall. Clive had writers cramp with his five wins, Alan two and Dave W the other one.

Paul finally sorted his tuning and had close battles with Clive and Alan. The highlight of the morning was new sailor Dave H taking a fourth place on the final race.

  1. Clive Warren            7pts 5 wins
  2. Alan Watkinson    17pts 2 wins
  3. Paul Little                17pts
  4. Richard Walker     19pts
  5. Dave Williams       21pts 1 win
  6. John Beech              32pts 1 x 3rd
  7. Malcolm Harvey  32pts
  8. Dave Howard         42pts

DF65 Social Racing 2023 – 6/9/23

A light breeze generally from the club house end of the lake greeted the 6 sailors, down on our normal numbers, 2 working clubhouse restoration, holidays and DF95 nationals accounting for others but this still a competitive fleet.

A lake inspection and algae free trial sail meant racing got underway about 15 mins late. A full size course was set with the start line at the far end of the lake, to a windward and spreader mark before a run down to a gate at the far end. The wind had freshened slightly but there were shifts and holes to test all competitors. With only 6 in the fleet it was agreed that first across the line would record the results.

In the first race, the fleet split very quickly into 2 groups with Clive and Mike leading the way with the remainder battling it out for the minor placings. Mike taking the win, and Richard piping Dave for 3rd.

The second race followed a similar pattern with Mike and Clive doing battle at the front, and Dave and Richard having a tight dual for 3rd, Dave taking the honours this time.

The 3rd race saw Mike over the line a he took Clive out whilst returning, the 2 remained entangled for a while. Meanwhile Martin took full advantage and lead Dave for most of the race until Clive passed both on the final beat as the wind began to die. Martin holding on to 2nd place.

The 4th race was a test of patience for sailors as the wind continued to drop, meaning the holes got larger and the wind shifts even harder to pick. Once again Martin sailed a great race to lead virtually from start to finish with Clive 2nd and Mike 3rd.  At this stage it was agreed to call it as the wind dropped further and the lake was like a mill pond.

Final results after 4 races (one discard)

  1.    53        Clive Warren                                      4pts
  2.    35        Mike de St Paer                                 6pts
  3.    54        Martin Wittingham-Jones          8pts
  4.    33        Dave Williams                                  10pts
  5.    39        Richard Walker                               12pts
  6.    45        Paul Little                                          15pts

Vintage/Open Sailing Day – 26/8/23

A very enjoyable and successful Open Day, with an amazing variety of boats, many of which we managed to sail, some with radio control and others free sailing.

Apart from a single shower, the weather and wind was very fair, a westerly force 2 increasing to a steady 3-4 by late afternoon, giving great conditions for the free sailing boats.  Peter Schofield’s beautiful ‘twin’ 10 tonner Cutters looking and sailing magnificently.  Bill and David’s veteran R10 Raters and Andrew’s RA also made for an impressive sight on the water, and Peter’s A Class had more than one outing on the lake, and then a session in the measuring tank.

With such a variety of boats to view, rig, sail, discuss and measure, it made for a very hectic and extremely enjoyable days sailing.

A big thank you to Peter Schofield from the VMYG Vintage Group who travelled in convoy from Sawley with his extended family of 7, all of whom were required on duty to attend to his free sailing yachts. Graham Reeves grandchildren also added to the fun with two DF65’s on the water.

It was wonderful to see our lake being used for such a wide variety of sailing craft, especially the Free Sailing yachts, for which the lake was originally built.  Everyone who attended expressed their delight in such an enjoyable day, and some wanted to see more Open Days for ‘mixed fleet’ and maybe even ‘ handicap’ racing events. Let us not forget that BRSC lake and clubhouse do offer a great venue for freshwater Model Yacht Sailing
which few other venues can better.

The following boats were sailed during the day:

A Class – Peter Schofield – Free / Radio
A Class – Andrew Peter – Radio

10 Rater – Peter Schofield – Free sailing
10 Rater – Bill Culshaw – RC
10 Rater – Dave Williams – RC
10 Rater – Andrew Peter – display, for restoration

10 T Cutter – Peter Schofield – Free Sailing
10 T Cutter – Peter Schofield – Free Sailing

42” Sloop – One design – RC – Dave Williams
IOM Triple Crown – RC – Andrew Peter

24” Triang Tinplate Cutter – Free sailing – Peter Schofield & family
24” Keil Craft Clockwork Vintage Speedboat – Peter Schofield & fa mily – display only.

2x DF65 – RC – sailed by Graham Reeves & family

Peter Schofield took a number of photos during the day (some of them used above) and the full set are available on this following Flikr Album