A rather depleted field today with only six skippers showing up for the morning DF65 session – possibly deterred by the forecast for very light wind and a rather cold autumn morning.
The forecast was for S.Easterly, and while what wind there was did eventually blow from that direction there were some hiccups while it established itself and those who went out early to get in some practice really wondered if we would get any racing. In the event, just as Commodore Dave encouraged everyone to get racing, the wind filled in just enough.
The start was at the far end with a good direction for the beat, but a line that was well and truly starboard biased. However the starts were all incident free with everyone keen to avoid any boat to boat issues as it was hard to get moving again if you did.
Despite a minor rigging glitch demoting him to fourth in the first race, Peter aced the day with 5 straight wins from the six races completed with a combination of good sailing and a very slight, but significant, boat speed edge on the rest of the fleet. He was followed by Alan who, with the exception of one poor result, had a race win and a string of seconds.
Further back Dave W sailed consistently to claim third in the very variable conditions followed by Clive and Mike with a more variable set of results. Clive beat Mike on countback with Dave White showing much better speed and getting into the mix as well.
Not a day of champagne sailing (or if you’re Alan G&T sailing) but very pleasant to be outside sailing anyway. Full results are as shown below with thanks to Commodore Dave for keeping things moving and doing the results, and to Neil who oversaw a couple of starts during a flying visit.
- Peter Baldwin 63 5pts 5 wins
- Alan Watkinson 373 9 pts 1 win
- Dave Williams 33 16pts
- Clive Warren 53 18pts
- Mike De St Paer 35 18pts
- David White 94 28pts
A great turnout of 12 DF65 skippers for todays social racing. Also a pleasure to welcome Andy and Stuart Mearns who have been sailing Victoria class yachts at Ashton park in West Kirby, but who came to have a look at Gautby Road and think about DF sailing.
The club marks were somewhat disorganised after the very heavy weather, and new ground tackle was needed for a couple as well as some repositioning. Mdsp went for a fairly extensive paddle, and although the start looked OK early on, the wind then went right and made the line very starboard biased.
With such a good turnout and pretty much only one place to be on the line it was crowded to say the least, and it was tricky to see all the boats clearly, resulting in some contact. There was talk of resetting the line but no one seemed keen to go for another paddle.
Peter was class of the field with four wins, including being tagged a couple of times so very much deserved the win. Racing was very close indeed overall, and although the wind blew more or less straight down the lake it remained very shifty, with some holes despite some quite decent pressure.
Behind Peter the next 5 or 6 boats swapped places and remained very close. In the end Mike dsp edged away slightly to hold second leaving Clive, John and James tied on points for third / fourth / fifth, and then Paul, Andrew and Alan in 6th / 7th and 8th within 5 points. Close racing.
Racing was close right from the start, with Peter, Clive and Ian all showing good boat speed, and generally ahead of Alan, Duncan, John and Malcolm who were having their own private battle with the occasional skirmish into the podium positions.
Peter eventually coming out on top with 5 wins, but he didn’t have it all his own way with Clive taking 2 wins and Ian with a very consistent 1 win and 6 seconds. Alan finished best of the rest with 3 third places but didn’t have the consistency of the top 3.
After 8 races, (providing 2 discards) Peter, Ian and Malcolm had to leave, as the sun was shinning and the wind for once was behaving itself at Gautby Rd the remaining 4 decided to have a bit more enjoyment and have 2 more races just for bragging rights the results of which are not included in the final results.
A disappointingly small turnout of 8 skippers for a session that started with great A+ rig conditions but unfortunately became curtailed as the wind swung from south-east (down the lake) to south and disappeared completely after 6 races. It was a bad start to the day for Andrew, who following last weeks hull failure when the sail control turning block pulled out the hull, then had the backstay fitting pull out the hull leaving a gaping hole in the stern and nothing to connect the backstay to. A rawl plug and screw were the ultimate bodge job with bits of tape used (unsuccessfully as it would prove) to fill the gaps around the plug
The normal course was used with a beat to the windward mark, across to a spreader, back down the lake to the downwind gate and back up to the finish line. The initial plan was for everybody to do each race and the winner then record the results but somehow Dave managed to pull the clew out of his sail during the first race leaving him to volunteer for RO for the rest of the session
The racing was typical Gautby Rd … any lack of boatspeed could be overcome if you got in the right part of the lake for the next shift or puff, and there wasn’t any particular pattern in either shifts or puffs. Surprisingly, the downwind legs were reasonably consistent with little overtaking going on
Alan dominated with 4 wins, followed by John with 2 wins. Clive was very inconsistent but scrambled 3rd place from Andrew, who had to refill the lake from his boat after each race … a process that got worse as the wind dropped and the races took longer. Luckily for Andrew, the wind disappeared quickly, enabling Dave to put an end to the racing, rather than subjecting Andrew to a complete drifter which could have been terminal. Thanks to Dave for being RO in 5 races and for taking the pic’s.
The light breeze from the morning disappeared for the afternoon DF95 session and became an even lighter breeze but with a lot more shifts and holes to fall into, and to add to the difficulty it couldn’t decide which end of the lake to blow from. The same windward / leeward course as the morning was set and the 6 skippers were ready on time to get underway at 13:30. With only 6 boats it was the usual self monitoring start and first to finish recorded the results.
Race 2 – Ian carried on his winning streak, but this time it was Johns turn to push him all the way to the finish line, Martin following up his 2nd in the first race with a 3rd in this.
Sadly by the time the IOM fleet launched for a 13:30 start after the DF95 morning session, the wind had faded and rain beginning to fall, leaving barely a ripple on the water for the 15 entries which included four visitors.
Dave Williams was once again our RO for this afternoon session, with a fair but keen eye on the start line. We only sailed two races in 50 minutes before having an enforced break due to a distinct lack of breeze for racing. These two races were won by Graham Elliott and Brad Gibson, with Peter Baldwin and Martin Roberts also taking podium positions.
Racing restarted at 15:10 with a light breeze and a Met Office forecast of strong winds from 15:00. After Race 3 in a light breeze and a win for Olly Murray, the wind picked up to be much stronger and unfortunately bringing with it heavy rain. This breeze was very gusty and shifty (from W to N) with occasional wipeouts on the run if you were in the wrong place. Graham strung a series of three wins for races 4 to 6 and was all for calling it a day in the rain and sudden drop in temperature. However, the RO told the fleet that we would sail just two more races and complete eight races for two discards. Peter managed to hold off John Tushingham (sailing a pre-production “Mint” design) for the win in Race 7 and then Bill Culshaw took Race 8 with a clear lead over the fleet for the whole race.
So we ended the day very wet and bedraggled with Graham winning by a clear margin of six points from Brad, with Peter just one point behind Brad, taking third place from Martin Roberts on the basis of a race win. Graham had the lions share of four wins and then another four other helms each had single a win. Unfortunately the weather resulted in a number of early baths, which rather decimated the fleet by the finish and only ten boats sailing.
A strange day weather wise at Gautby Rd. The 14 skippers including 4 visitors were greeted with an almost algae free lake and a very light breeze that would swing between westerly and northerly at different parts of the lake. The threatened rain thankfully didn’t materialise until late morning.
Peter moved a few marks around to provide a windward gate and spreader and leeward gate course, 2 laps and finish line halfway up the lake. Dave Williams very kindly offered to be our RO for the day got the racing underway on time at 10.15. Eight Races were sailed providing 2 discards.
Racing was very tight across the whole fleet with private battles going on from top to bottom. At the top end of the fleet there were 5 different winners from the 8 races sailed, showing just how tight it was.
Peter was the most consistent to tak ethe win, posting 1sts and 2nds with Ollie Murray pushing him all the way usually posting podium places and taking more wins. Six points covered the next 4 boats, with Duncan Neale, Simon Fairman, Clive Warren and Ian Davies all battling it out for the minor places.
An enjoyable mornings racing for the most, just a shame there wasn’t a bit more wind but the racing was keen and closely fought in a friendly atmosphere. Many thanks to Dave Williams for acting as RO and managing to take a few photos. Thanks also to the four visitors who helped create a great turnout despite a few regular 95 sailors being away.