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Author: Peter Baldwin

DF95 Summer 2024 #4 – 13/7/24

We arrived to a  westerly light breeze, which comes generally from the top left hand end of the lake and the houses and provides the typical Gautby road conditions. Enough shifts to tax the patience and skills of the 6 helms on the starting line, numbers were lower than usual due to a date clash with IOM event, holidays and illness.
The threatening rain stayed away for the majority of the first session and very timely, persisted down when lunch was taken, good planning by the RO for the day Neil Westbrook. Neil kept us on our toes with a number of early starters getting called back.
The course was set, with the start line at the club end, a beat up to the top right hand corner (to port), to a spreader mark (to port) Down the full length of the lake to a gate and a beat back up the lake to the finish halfway up.
Racing was extremely competitive from the start with the whole fleet scoring either a first  or second during the 12 race series, and in most races the lead changed hands on more than one occasion, thanks to the shifts.
Seven, 1 lap races were sailed in the morning session and with the wind dying and rain threatening a break for coffee was called by Neil, which was a great shout as 2 mins later the heavens opened for about 20min. At the half way stage Alan was leading the way with 4 wins, chased by a group containing Clive (2 wins) and Andrew (1 win). After race 6 Andrew had a play with Martins setup which saw Martin leap up the running order and fighting it out at the front. Meanwhile John and Dave were also having moments of inspiration but without consistency
After the lunch break the rain subsided and the wind improved a little but there were still a lot of shifts to trap even the best helms. The racing was even tighter than the morning especially for Martin with his new setup and resulting speed. But there was no stopping Aln who followed up his morning success with 4 straight wins, only stopped by Clive who took the last race honours, racing was very tight throughout the fleet with many duals being fought all the way to the line, Andrew sailed very consistently with a string of 2nds and 3rds.  Photos courtesy of Dave Wlliams.
The final standings after 12 races, 2 discards
1.   Alan Watkinson                       23     12pts        8 wins
2.   Clive Warren                            93     26pts        3 wins
3.   Andrew Peter                         179     28pts        1 win
4.   David Williams                       33      36pts
5.   John Beech                             288     40pts
6.   Martin Withington Jones   77     43pts  (only 9 races sailed)

 

DF/RG65 Summer 2024 – 29/6/24

Five entrants for the RG65/Df65 race with the DF65 of John Pritchard co-opted into the RG class even though sailing with his A+ rig With a very light wind from the Clubhouse end the usual course was sailed but only one lap.

John B, was soon into his stride, easily taking the first two races. Then the wind swung around 180 degrees. This seemed to favour Alan who had a few good starts and was usually up to the windward mark first but then the experience of John B came through especially downwind. Due to the holes in the wind at times the other four boats ended up together on the last leg creating a few photo finishes.

John P unfortunately ran out of battery power for the final races after scoring a well deserved win after John B caught a submerged bag. With the rain settling in, still little wind and with eight races completed, it was decided enough was enough. Thanks to Dave H for his stint as RO for the races after dinner.

  1. John Brierley        84    6pts 7 wins
  2. Alan Watkinson  23    12pts
  3. Charles Legg         26   18pts
  4. Dave Williams      33    21pts
  5. John Pritchard      94   23pts 1 win

DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2024 – 26/6/24

DF65

The forecast was for a hot, hot day at the lake but at least we were promised some wind.  The existing mark positions were deeemed suitable for a standard one lap windward/leeward course with the breeze blowing down the lake from the clubhouse and so we managed to get started very soon after 11:00 with 10 sailors each taking it in turns to be RO for 10 races completed by 13:00.

Peter managed to get clean away in race one as nobody else seem to spot the left shift that arrived shortly before the start and give him the first of four consecutive wins, only interrupted when he acted as RO allowing Paul P to take his first win.  The top 4 or 5 slots were keenly contested with Paul P, Mike DSP, John C and Alan all achieving podium spots, although after a difficult firstrace, John C was looking good and consistent.  After Race 5, the race wins were shared between John C (3), Paul P (1) and Peter (1).

Peter helped a number of sailors to adjust their boat settings after some difficult races and the fleet then seemed to be more compact  with some good tight racing.

Peter took the morning with his 5 wins, closely followed by Mr Consistent John C with 3 wins and then Mike DSP in a creditable third and had no wins.

  1. Peter Baldwin              63  10pts
  2. John Carlin                    11   13pts
  3. Mike DSP                       35  19pts
  4. Paul Plested                 54  20pts
  5. Alan Watkinson        373  29pts
  6. Neil Westbrook           03  33pts
  7. Charles Legg                21   40pts
  8. Paul Little                      45  43pts
  9. Dave Howard               00  45pts
  10. Malcolm Harvey     1019  55pts

DF95

There was a little less wind for the nine DF95 sailors, but still more than enough to give decent racing for nine sailors in the A rig.  Unfortunately though, the wind had started to veer more towards the South and so the beat could turn out to be nearly a fetch, but mostly needed some deft tacking in the shifts to make the best gains to a revised windward mark closer to the shore.  we were joined this week by visitor Paul Shepherd where this was only his second time on the water. Again we took it in turns to be RO and completed 9 races.

After the first race where Paul P finished a close second to Peter, he unfortunately had to drop out for the day with electrical issues.  This left eight sailors to complete the afternoon, with much rig tweaking, advice and adjustment to suit the conditions.

It was also Peter’s afternoon in the 95 after his sucesses in the morning, with only Alan taking a win from him, with Martin picking up the other win whilst Peter was RO.  Alan and Neil were having a good tussle, which looked to be going Neil’s way for second place, until battery failure enforced him to sit out the final two races.

Close racing again, with much to be gained or lost depending upon how you managed to deal with the shifts and gusts that came down the course, with some of them not always being predictable or long lasting!

  1. Peter Baldwin           172    6pts
  2. Alan Watkinson         23   13pts
  3. Neil westbrook           03   16pts
  4. Martin W-J                  77   21pts
  5. Paul Little                     14   24pts
  6. Dave Howard               00  26pts
  7. Malcolm Harvey     2019  33pts
  8. Phil Shepherd              49  40pts

DF65 Social Racing 2024 – 19/6/24

Just 8 boats turned out and completed two races in very light winds before the breeze turned off completely and racing was abandoned.  This allowed the lake clearance working party to commence early.  A variety of debris was removed from the lake including 2 small pedal bikes, 2 small scooters, 6ft x 3ft insulation slab,, golf 3 wood , bottom of a traffic cone.Nothing was found that could be considered a fixed obstruction towards the top end of the lake.

After lunch the team also did a litter pick around the lake and a netting of all the bottles, feathers cans and bags at the lakeside.  Some of the grass and weed overgrow was also removed in the time available.

Many thanks to all those who attended.

DF95 Summer 2024 #3 – 15/6/24

The forecast for the day suggested that the 6 sailors who turned out would probably get soaked, with the added risk of possibly being struck by lightning, but whilst the surrounding areas seems to suffer deluges of rain, Gautby Road escaped with a very light shower early on, with increasingly bluer skies as the afternoon wore on. Winds were light from the NW with some big shifts, so A rigs were the order of the day.
Paul got off to a good start winning race 1 followed by Clive and then Peter. After that the first session went more to form, with Peter notching up 4 wins on the bounce followed by a third. Paul continued to post some good results, all being in the top 3. Clive and John were also pushing for the front, with Clive posting 2 seconds and John securing a 1st and a 2nd. In race 4 John decided to moor up on the leeward gate mark for a rest, which ultimately required a spell in the club waders to recover his boat. Both Dave and Martin were getting good starts. Dave was struggling with upwind speed having only just finished rigging his new A set minutes before going afloat.
The big talking point of the first session, was what were we all hitting below the water? All strikes were in the same broad area, but not in one spot. Clive seem to have more than his fair share. All we could conclude was that we were hitting fish, or that they were attacking us!
After the tea break, normal service was resumed at the front with Peter scoring another 5 firsts and a third, although he was having to work hard for some of those. John thought he’d won one, only to realise he still had another lap to go, but he was consistent in the second session posting 4 seconds. Paul did manage another 1st, but was not as quick around the course in this session with only one other podium result. Clive was getting some great starts and was in the mix for the front in most races. Dave was far more competitive after a bit of rig tweaking by Peter over coffee. Martin was also quicker in the second session. The fish were still causing problems, but they were less fussy, with everyone being impacted at some point.
As it turned out, it was a very enjoyable afternoon’s racing.
  1. Peter Baldwin                            172 12pts 9 wins
  2. John Carlin                                   50 23pts 1 win
  3. Paul Plested                               154 25pts 2 wins
  4. Clive Warren                                93 31pts
  5. Dave Williams                             33 46pts
  6. Martin Whittingham-Jones  77 59pts