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Author: Peter Baldwin

DF65 Social Racing 2024 – 14/8/24

Blue skies greeted the 9 sailors who turned out for what was a morning of close racing in a shifty North Westerly light breeze, which built as the day wore on. A standard windward leeward course was used and with a good start line, with a degree of post end bias, the fleet was pretty well behaved on all starts with only two boats being course side for the 9 races completed.
The early races had lots of place changing at the front with the main fleet being pretty close behind. Neil Westbrook set the early pace with 3 firsts, in the first four races, which also included a turn as RO. Alan Watkinson was also going well with a 1st and two 2nds early on. John Carlin, who was in the mix throughout the early races, then stepped up a gear and scored 3 wins on the bounce. Paul Plested finished the day with two firsts, which helped his overall score, but not enough to threaten the top spot. Frans King was showing some good boat speed on the water with a 2nd and a two 4ths and Malcolm Harvey posted a 3rd in race four. Newcomer John Lee was also in the mix off the start line, but sailing with an A rig on a day perfect for A+ rigs was always going to be a challenge.
On a day of very close racing with at least 3 photo finishes, John C came out on top, pipping Neil by 1 point, followed by Paul who just pipped Alan into 4th by a single point.
  1. John Carlin                 50 10pts 3 wins
  2. Neil Westbrook         03 11pts 3 wins
  3. Paul Plested              154 13pts 2 wins
  4. Alan Watkinson      373 14pts 1 win
  5. Franz King                   95 26pts 1 2nd
  6. Dave Williams            33 27pts
  7. John Lee                     N/A 37pts
  8. Malcolm Harvey   1019 38pts 1 3rd
  9. David White                94 39pts

DF95 Summer 2024 #5 – 10/8/24

The forecasts were correct this week to give us a breeze that was close to being straight down the lake with a start at the clubhouse end and with 6 to 10 knots.  Not so good was the light drizzle that we started with, although that soon passed and we had sunshine from around 14:00 for the remainder of the afternoon.  RO duties were shared through the fleet and so 11 races were sailed with everyone dropping out to run a race (and scoring 0 for the race).

The racing was great and very close especially at the windward mark.  This could occasionally cause a few problems, with last minute tacks for the mark, but generally few problems were caused.

Peter had the best of the afternoon with six wins from the eleven races, with Martin picking up four and Alan the remaining one.  Paul Plested had a great afternoon, with a string of second places at the start of the afternoon and may have placed higher were it not for getting hooked up on the windward mark in one race.  John Carlin was often in the mix at the first windward mark and also picked up a good number of seconds and thirds after a difficult start.  John Beech had a great start to the afternoon and led the fleet around the first mark, but unfortunately was unable to capitalise on his position.

So  the win went to Peter, with Martin second and John Brierley third, consistently up there with many races in the top three, but no win.  Martin may have been placed higher except his transmitter battery ran out during the last race giving him a second DNF.  The points were very close in the lower order with 4 places separeted by just a point.

  1. Peter Baldwin      172  14pts
  2. Martin Roberts    184  17pts
  3. John Brieley            84  22pts
  4. Paul Plested           154  25pts
  5. Alan  Watkinson    23  29pts
  6. John Carlin               05  30pts
  7. Frans King               59  50pts
  8. John Beech             288  52pts
  9. Andrew Peter         179  53pts
  10. Dave Williams         33  60pts
  11. Malcom Harvey  2019  68pts

DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2024 – 7/8/24

DF65’s

With the wind over the houses this week, it was a morning of wind shifts, big gusts and a fleet of 13 frustrated sailors.  After Peter had donned the waders and moved a few marks around to get some sort of windward and leeward leg, racing got underway at 11:00 under the wathful eye of Dave, whilst Peter finished helping out John Lee to setup his newly rigged boat.

Race 1 was a very comfortable win for Paul, whilst the rest of the fleet battled for the remaining places and some tight finishes.  Peter then took the win in race 2 with Alan and Andrew making up the podium.  Wins were spread over another 3 sailors in the next six races sailed.  It was certainly difficult to be consistent with the wind sometimes coming from an unexpected direction and often changing the winner at the last minute on the (nominal) beat to the finish line.

One finish in particular looked to be going to John Carlin for the win, until Alan got a gust up the near shore and broad reached over the line, with a photo finish between 3 other boats (if only we had a finish line camera!).

A “fun” morning’s sail with Peter getting the overall win even with the one “lost race” penalty, followed by John Carlin and then Alan Watkinson.  Thanks to Dave for the photos and for working out the averages as we didn’t all do an RO duty.

  1. Peter Baldwin         10pts 3wins
  2. John Carlin               14pts 2wins
  3. Alan Watkinson     15pts 1win
  4. Dave Williams         18pts 1win
  5. Paul Plested             21pts 1win
  6. Charles Legg            28pts
  7. Neil Westbrook      29pts
  8. Malcolm Harvey    39pts 1x3rd
  9. Sally Collings          39pts
  10. Richard Walker       41pts
  11. Andrew Potter         42pts
  12. Frans King                51pts
  13. John Lee                     70pts

DF95’s

IOM Summer 2024 #5 – 3/8/24

The forecast for today had been good since Thursday with sunshine and a decent 10mph WNW, straight down the lake and so it proved to be for the 7 sailors who hit the start line for the first race under the keen eye of RO Dave Williams (who we also have to thank for the few photos).

Peter and John tussled in the first couple of races with Peter coming out on top and Alan and Bill picking up the other podium spots.  Bill then took race three, with John winning Race 4 and Brad making it up to 8 boats with a late start in this race.  Brad took Race 5 and Bill getting his second win in Race 6 before the break.  Peter, John and Brad picked up the podium spots, although at the first windward mark, it could be anyones race, with tight bunching and the favoured side switching within a matter of seconds.

After the break, the wins were once again spread around, with Peter, John and Brad each picking up another couple.  Bill missed out on a win, but had a good run of top three results, along with Brad and John.  There was some good close racing through the remainder of the fleet. Alan picking up some good results in the Corbie 5 on its maiden outing and Charles getting the right setup on his K2 to take fifth place overall and Guy improving during the afternoon (after having some early battery problems) and getting more time on the water after a long layoff.  Neil may well have placed higher, but he unfortunately had to retire and miss the last three races due to gear failure.

The final result was a win for Peter on countback over John who had a better second session, with Bill taking third just ahead of Brad who had to count a DNC of 9 points.

Many thanks to Dave for being RO again and taking the photos.  Next IOM Summer Series is on 31st August.

  1. Peter Baldwin         63  Britpop!     20pts (4 wins)
  2. John Brierley           84  Venti           20pts  (3 wins)
  3. Bill Culshaw            21  Britpop!       25pts  (2 wins)
  4. Brad Gibson             42  Post Punk   27pts (3 wins)
  5. Charles Legg           40  K2                   55pts
  6. Alan Watkinson     23  Corbie 5        57pts
  7. Guy Cowper             16  Lintel MMX 58pts
  8. Neil Westbrook      03  Widget           65pts

 

DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2024 – 31/7/24

Today saw 8 skippers turn up to the lake on a beautiful day for sailing and even though the wind was light it was there.

Neil and Malcolm shared the RO and scoring duties for the day.

The racing was close with John Carlin and Mike De St Paer having wins in races 2 and 6 after being last across the start line.

Throughout the morning wins were shared between Mike and John with the exception of race 5 when Clive held Mike at bay on a starboard tack to the finish line which was a tactic John used to beat Mike in race 7.

Throughout the morning the remaining skippers had some close racing but could not match John and Mike’s ability to read the slightly fickle Gautby Road breeze and make the most of a good start or first leg or two.

Although the racing and conditions looked OK from the bench the skippers were happy to call it a day after 8 races.  So Mike ended up the winner (and with 4 wins) just one point ahead of John Carlin (on 3 wins), with Clive third sevn points adrift. There were then insufficient sailors for any DF95 racing after lunch today.

DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2024 – 24/7/24

DF65’s

Almost flat calm at Gautby road on arrival today, with a few catspaws at the far end of the lake.

Alan used his years of competition experience to assess the conditions and immediately volunteered as RO – a very sound decision in your scribes view. Frans had hedged his bets by bringing a very impressive looking electric speedboat but decided to sail when the time came.

What breeze there was seemed to come from the clubhouse end, so it was agreed to start at the far end using a short slightly zig-zag course. This worked well, and the wind then turned to make it a running start, so the start was moved down to the clubhouse end only to have this work as a running start too. The wind then gradually filled in from a more North and West direction as the morning progressed making more sense of the course.

The running starts actually made for very close racing, with crowded arrivals at the first marks and there were plenty of opportunities to sail into areas of no wind and vice versa.

John C made the best of the conditions with four wins, followed by Clive with three and then Mike dsp with no wins but a string of OKish results but not quite enough speed. Final results as shown below with thanks again to Alan for running the racing and Dave for doing the results.

  1. John Carlin           10 pts          4 wins
  2. Clive Warren        12 pts          3 wins
  3. Mike de St Paer   13 pts
  4. Dave Williams     18 pts           1 win
  5. Neil Wesrbrook  22 pts
  6. Sally Collings      29 pts
  7. Frans King           36 pts

DF95’s

Firstly and most importantly, it was great to see John Beech back on the shore line with a transmitter in his hand following his recent illness and looking fighting fit.
Now onto the sailing, and after a very tricky and often frustrating morning, there were only 4 skippers willing to put themselves through the turmoil again of the light southerly or westerly depending on what part of the lake you were on. The reality was that the wind generally had settled more in the Westerly direction and had filled in providing a mid A rig breeze. Don’t be too fooled though, there were still plenty of holes and shifts to allow position changes and to challenge the helms.
Sailing got underway using the full length of the lake and utilising a standard course, starting at the clubhouse end to a spreader taken to port, back down the lake through a gate and to the finish line half way up the lake. With only 4 boats competing the starts were self monitored and the first across the finishing line recorded the results. Single lap races were the order for the day. Seven races were sailed before rain set in and the skippers called it a day.
Clive seemed to master the conditions best winning 6 of the 7 races, although he was pushed hard by the other helms at various stages including Frans who led race 5 until the last 5meters from the line and also John who won the last race. The fight for minor places behind Clive was very competitive with Martin, Frans and John alll recording good results and swapping positions.
Results after 7 races with 1 discard
  1. Clive Warren                            93   6pts   6wins
  2. Frans King                                59  15pts
  3. John Beech                              288  17pts   1 Win
  4. Martin Withington Jones    77  18pts