c

Author: Peter Baldwin

DF65 Social Racing 2023 (15/2/23)

DF65 sailors were met with a very light south east(ish) breeze on arrival, which gradually picked up to make a pleasant A+ breeze.

Starting from the far end Mike De St Paer set the usual windward leeward course with top spreader and leeward gate. Three different winners in the first three races gave a taste of the conditions, but then a 180 deg windshift arrived as a front went over followed by a thin persistent drizzle, although the wind remained.

Now starting from the clubhouse end, Andrew Potter started to make the best of the conditions with some consistent sailing, chased hard by Clive Warren, Neil Westbrook and John Carlin.

Tricky conditions with gusts and flat patches resulted in close racing all through the fleet, but after eight races – the last one being a drifter – all agreed that enough was enough.

Andrew ran out a clear winner with three firsts followed closely by Clive, Neil and John with detail results as below:

  1. Andrew Potter      10 pts           3 wins
  2. Clive Warren          14 pts           2 wins
  3. Neil Westbrook    16 pts           2 wins
  4. John Carlin             17 pts
  5. Alan Watkinson   20 pts           1 win
  6. Don MacKinnon  32 pts
  7. Dave Williams      37 pts
  8. Charles Legg         46 pts
  9. Stan Metcalfe       47 pts
  10. Malcolm Harvey 52 pts
  11. John Beech            61 pts
  12. Frans King             64 pts

DF95 Social Racing 2023 #1

There was a healthy turnout of nine boats for this first Saturday Social Racing day for the DF95.  A light Westerly breeze blew down the lake and racing got underway shortly after 12:00 with the course marks tweaked slightly for the prevailing conditions.

There were four different winners from the eleven races, with a number of other helms also figuring at the front of the fleet.  Getting a decent result was all about finding the best pressure and staying in it, both upwind and down as the best lanes could quite narrow and never predictable or regular.

Peter Baldwin managed to win five of the races, with John Brierley taking three, John Carlin two and Andrew Peter one.  This left Peter on top with 14points and 3points ahead of John Brierley, with Andrew and John Carlin only 1 point apart in third and forth.  Clive Warren, Neil Westbrook and Alan Watkinson also had spells at the front, but were unfortunately unable to capitalise on their positions to take a win by the end of the race.

Thanks go to Bernie for running this afternoons racing and making a brew at “half -time”.

  1. Peter Baldwin             172  14pts  (5 wins)
  2. John Brierley                84  17pts  (3 wins)
  3. Andrew Peter             179  28pts (1 win)
  4. John Carlin                   50  29pts  (2 wins)
  5. Neil Westbrook          03  45pts  (1x3rd)
  6. Clive Warren               93  45pts
  7. Alan Watkinson         23  54pts
  8. Dave Williams            33  64pts
  9. John Beech                288  78pts

DF65 Social Racing 2023 – 8/2/23

A good A+ wind from the Clubhouse greeted the 12 sailors, a long course was set using the full lake with the start at the top end, down to the Clubhouse windward mark to port spreader to port then a long run to the gate at the top end of the lake with the finish halfway between mark and finish post.

Simon started well with a 3rd and 5th then unfortunately electrical problems took over and he had to retire. A welcome return by Stan showed he still is a force to be reckoned with taking two 2nd places. As usual the top places were contested by John, Alan and Neil with John taking overall honours. Relatively new member Clive again showed he is one to watch taking 2 wins and always finishing in the top half.

With each sailor as RO in turn, and with Simon retiring, 11 races were held.

  1. John Carlin             14 pts 4 wins
  2. Alan Watkinson   19 pts 3 wins
  3. Neil Westbrook    22 pts 2 wins
  4. Clive Warren         27 pts 2 wins
  5. Richard Walker    37 pts
  6. Paul Little               38 pts
  7. Stan Metcalf          42 pts 2 x 2nd
  8. Charles Legg          42 pts  0 x 2nd
  9. Malcolm Harvey  55 pts
  10. John Beech             76 pts
  11. Frans King             78 pts
  12. Simon Bates          99 pts

IOM Winter Series 2022/3 #5 (4/2/23)

There was only a very light breeze from over the houses today, with some occasional pressure, but also some holes.  A course was setup starting from the far end with a windward mark and spreader at the clubhouse end and a gate on the far side below the start.  Boats usually had to tack to make the Windward mark, but it was never too clear cut which was the favoured way there.

Graham Elliott set the initial pace with a win in Race 1, before Brad Gibson took races 2 and 3.  Martin Roberts then got the measure of the conditions and picked up races 4 and 5 before Neil Westbrook had a storming first leg, and along with Brad pulling out a big lead on the fleet. This culminated in a final leg tackle with Brad with Neil’s Widget getting the win over the TS2.

After a tea break (thanks Bernie), there seemed to be a little more pressure when we resumed, but hopes of a better breeze were dashed, with little more for the remaining races after that initial burst.  In the final four races Brad took races 7 and 10 with Martin picking up the wins in races 8 and 9.  There was some close competition through the fleet and some place changes possible if the wind filled in from the rear, although it usually seemed to favour those who were in front from the start.

The final podium places were Brad first with 13 pts, then Martin and Graham tied on 16 pts, with Martin picking up second on account of his four wins relative to Graham having only one.  Thanks once again go to Dave Williams for running the racing this week and taking a few photos of the, err action??

  1. Brad Gibson            17  TS2                    13pts
  2. Martin Roberts      55  Widget            16pts (4 wins)
  3. Graham Elliott       70  Fractel             16pts (1 win)
  4. Bill Culshaw            21   Britpop!          30pts
  5. Peter Baldwin        63  Britpop!           37 pts
  6. Neil Westbrook      03  Widget            42 pts
  7. John Berry               123  Lintel MMX 52 pts
  8. Alan Watkinson      23  Britpop!         56 pts

DF65 Social Racing 2023 – 1/2/23

After weeks of A and A+ sailing, today made up for it with a strong wind blowing straight down the lake to the clubhouse end. Due to several sailors not having C rig it was decided to try B which was okay apart from the downwind leg. The usual one lap course was laid with racing starting soon after 11.00am. Alan got into his stride straight away taking the first three races with Richard revelling in these conditions and giving him a hard time.

During the fifth race the wind strength picked up making it advisable to change down to C rig. Unfortunately, we lost 4 competitors for the rest of the races so the results are a little artificial. Those four then helped with the pipe lagging which the Club is grateful.

Thanks to Clive for acting as RO for the last five races out of 10.

  1. Alan Watkinson     9 pts 7 wins
  2. Richard Walker    20 pts
  3. John Carlin             21 pts 1 win
  4. Dave Williams       24 pts 1 win
  5. John Beech              50 pts
  6. Charles Legg           54 pts
  7. Frans King               55 pts
  8. James Douglas       60 pts
  9. Clive Warren           65 pts
  10. Paul Little                72 pts 1 win
  11. Simon Bates            76 pts

After a dinner break, 5 DF95’s under the watchful eye of Richard completed 5 races all using B rig.

  1. Clive Warren 6 pts 3 wins
  2. Alan Watkinson 8 pts
  3. Dave Williams 9 pts 2 wins
  4. John Carlin 14 pts
  5. John Beech 16 pts

DF/RG65 Winter Series 2022/3 #5 (28/1/23)

Racing got underway soon after 12:00 after Peter had rearranged all of the marks following the recent ice which had moved everything around.  There was a decent Top suit breeze from the far end with occasional gusts causing some nose diving at times and plenty of shifts to gain (or lose) places on the course.

Peter took the win in Race 1 after splitting from Martin and John at the leeward gate before the finish, then catching a significant lift to jump from third to first.  John then took races 2, 3 and 5, with Peter  picking up race 4 and Martin race 6 and a short break.  After the break, Peter took 5 of the 6 races sailed, with Martin managing to pick up one win to spoil the run.

John retired after seven races as he was suffering with a bad leak and spent the time identifying the cause.  Charles and Martin also unfortunately lost a few races each after losing contact with their boats. There was, however, plenty of close racing throughout the fleet though, with nearly all of the fleet having some time at the front.

This left Peter as clear winner after 12 races and what had been a very close first session, with Martin second and John hanging onto third even counting three DNC’s. Thanks go to Bill Culshaw for running racing at a great pace and managing to fit 12 races in before 3:30.  Next week is back to racing for the IOM with race 5 of the Winter Series.

  1. Peter Baldwin              63  Uno                        13pts
  2. Martin Roberts           133  Pocket Rocket  21pts
  3. John Brierley                84  Uno                       37pts
  4. Neil Westbrook           03  Uno                        40pts
  5. Alan Watkinson          23   Uno                        43pts  (3x3rd)
  6. Dave Williams              33  Uno                        43pts  (2x3rd)
  7. Charles Legg                 26  Uno                       59pts