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Author: Peter Baldwin

DF65 Social Racing 2022 #10

17 boats turned up to race with the wind threatening to increase during the day. The wind direction from the south east and A rig was chosen to be used. As racing progressed the wind increased in strength and altered in direction, this caused the wind to become very shifty with big gusts and areas of no wind. The direction was now from over the clubhouse and at times coming down vertically and going in all directions with many boats turning into submarines on the downwind legs.

When the scores were finally added up, it was all very close at the top with only 5 points separating the first four boats.  Thanks to RO Simon Bates who managed to give us 10 races in the difficult conditions.

  1. Alan Watkinson        19 pts 4wins
  2. Mike de St Paer         22 pts 3wins
  3. Neil Westbrook        22 pts 4th
  4. Richard Robinson   24 pts 1win
  5. James Douglas          36 pts 2wins
  6.  John Carlin                36 pts
  7. Charles Legg              45 pts
  8. Don Mackinnon        57 pts
  9. Richard Walker         70 pts
  10. Paul Hounslow          73 pts
  11. Paul Little                   78 pts
  12. Martin James            79 pts
  13. John Beech                 94 pts
  14. Andrew Potter          97 pts 2 x7ths
  15. Malcolm Harvey      97 pts
  16. Paul Whalley           110 pts
  17. Ken Roscoe               129 pts

IOM Winter Series 2021 #5 (5/3/22)

An excellent afternoons sailing at Birkenhead for the fifth IOM Winter series.  The wind, out of the north, made conditions at the windward mark interesting but the wind over the rest of the lake was predominantly down the centre of the lake.

Charles launched his new bright yellow K2 today, which showed it will be a quick boat. John and Martin were to fight it out at the front and with the rest of the fleet having their moments at the sharp end, the racing was extremely close.

After the tea break Graham, after bringing the wrong keel for his Widget last week, brought two this week and found the black Widget is very quick, giving him a win in  two races.  In addition, Bill, Alan and Neil were always in the mix giving a really competitive afternoon’s sailing.

Once again, thanks to Bernie and Dave for running the racing and Jack supplying the hot drinks.

  1. John Brierley        84   Britpop  16pts  4 wins
  2. Martin Roberts    22   Vanilla   17pts  5 wins
  3. Bill Culshaw          21   Britpop  33pts
  4. Alan Watkinson   23  Britpop  36pts  1win
  5. Graham Birkett  133  Widget   39pts  2wins
  6. Neil Westbrook    03  Widget   46pts
  7. Charles Legg         25   K2            69pts

Overall Series positions are available on the Current standings page, with one event left in the series on 26th March.

DF65 Social Racing 2022 #9 (2/3/22)

A great turnout of 17 Skippers showed on a rather cold, grey, and wet day.

Although there were some lulls, the choice of A rigs proved to be correct as there were some chunky gusts making for quite testing racing. The wind direction allowed OD Mike St Paer set a standard windward / leeward course using the full length of the lake – a relief after the last couple of weeks of S. Westerlies blowing over the houses.

Competition was keen right from the off, with five different winners for the first five races. Conditions led to a number of collisions but with no apparent damage.

Neil Westbrook ran out the eventual winner, with five firsts beating a consistent Peter Baldwin who was unlucky to be tagged more than once near the start.

  1. Neil Westbrook       03     14pts – 5 wins
  2. Peter Baldwin          63     22pts – 1 win
  3. Andrew Potter         94     31pts – 2 wins
  4. Alan Watkinson    373     35pts – 1 win
  5. Richard Robinson 901    37pts
  6. John Carlin                 11     41pts
  7. Andrew Peter          919    51pts
  8. James Cameron        73    52pts
  9. Simon Bates               69   66pts
  10. Dave Williams          233   70pts (ahead on countback (one second))
  11. Paul Little                     95   70pts
  12. Richard Walker          39    74pts
  13. Charles Legg                21    94 pts
  14. John Beech                   80   96pts
  15. Sally Collings           829    110pts
  16. Paul Whalley              53      112pts
  17. Malcolm Harvey    1019    117pts

RG/DF65 Winter Series 2021 #6

7 skippers, all sailing RG65’s made it to the start line for the latest round of the RG65/DF65 Winter Series.
The wind was pretty much from the club house with some massive gusts that came from anywhere between the club house and the houses giving everyone something to think about.
Peter Baldwin laid the marks for a windward/leeward course with what was to be an excellent start line and 6 races were completed before the break with Peter and Graham taking 3 wins each, Graham was sailing his newly acquired Argon, Peter sailing his excellent Uno.
Racing stayed close for the second half with Martin now coming into the frame and also John Carlin sailing a borrowed Pocket Rocket getting a few decent results. In the end it was Graham that narrowly got the win by a single point.
Most opted to sail in there reduced height A rigs with a mixture of conventional and swing rigs. Race winners on the day were, Graham Elliott (Argon) 6, Peter Baldwin (Uno) 5 and Martin Roberts (Pocket Rocket) 1.
Many thanks to Bernie for starting, finishing and scoring and also Jack for once again making drinks for everyone.
  1. Graham Elliott     29          Argon                       16pts   6 wins
  2. Peter Baldwin       63           Uno                          17pts   5 wins
  3. Martin Roberts    133          Pocket Rocket     26pts   1 win
  4. Alan Watkinson    23           Scurry                    42pts
  5. John Carlin            184          Pocket Rocket    47pts
  6. Neil Westbrook     03           Uno                        50pts
  7. Dave Williams       33            Uno                        65pts
    After 12 races

DF65 Social Racing 2022 #8 (23/2/22)

Now on the tail end of three named storms the wind had died down to a top end of A rig. Heavy gusts had the boats submarining on the run. The wind again this week was from the top end of the lake at an angle over the houses. A course was set with the start halfway up the lake sailing from the far side heading towards the houses for the windward mark. With tricky wind shifts it was difficult to decide which way to approach.

Graham’s consistency with two first, a second and 4 thirds just managed to pip Neil even with his five firsts. There were a few gear failures and a dunked transmitter!!

Many thanks to RO John Carlin who kept the races running smoothly under difficult conditions and he even fitted in a couple of general recalls.

  1. Graham Birkett     20 pts 2 wins
  2. Neil Westbrook      23 pts 5 wins
  3. Alan Watkinson     24 pts 1 win
  4. Mike de St Paer      28 pts 1 win
  5. Richard Robinson 28 pts
  6. Dave Williams        38 pts 1 win
  7. Don Mackinnon    66 pts
  8. Richard Walker     69 pts
  9. John Beech              74 pts
  10. Stan Metcalf           79 pts
  11. Martin James          81 pts
  12. Malcolm Harvey   94 pts
  13. Andrew Potter       96 pts
  14. Sally Collings         97 pts
  15. Charles Legg        107 pts
  16. Paul Whalley       110 pts

After 10 races

IOM Winter Series 2021 #4 (19/2/22)

Well you could not have written the script for the 4th IOM Winter race at Birkenhead today. With the stormy weather still about (but much less wind), six hardy competitors arrived in pouring rain with a steady top suit wind from the clubhouse end.

The club marks were relaid after the extreme weather and all was well. Now the problems started. One no show and Charles Legg’s boat did not arrive, so five left. Graham Birkett then found he had left the right keel at home. A few humorous comments – then there were four. Peter Baldwin’s winch packed up (well actually never  even started)  leaving only three to race.

Now to the racing. The wind for two races stayed from the clubhouse end but then went through 180 degrees during one race, the sun came out and we finished the ten races with the wind steady from the west. Alan Watkinson and Neil Westbrook had a good competitive afternoon with Neil sacrificing a few places trying to recover an “object” in the lake. Once again thanks to Bernie and Dave Williams on the line and Jack for supplying warm drinks and encouragement. The spirit of Radio Sailing certainly once again shone through today at Birkenhead.

  1. John Brierley        84     Britpop     8 pts 8 wins
  2. Alan Watkinson  23      Britpop   17 pts 1 win
  3. Neil Westbrook   03      Widget   18 pts  1win

After 10 races