c

Author: Peter Baldwin

DF/RG65 Summer 2023 #9

There was a keen 10 knot WNW breeze down the lake as everyone arrived for the afternoon.  Although the sun was out the weather had turned decidedly cooler this week and initially it looked like A rig conventional for the RG65 and A for the DF65.  However, a heavy rain/hail shower killed the wind for a while before the start and a number opted for A swing rigs on the RG and most for the A+ on the DF.  The wind soon returned as racing started and led to some changes of rig (enforced by gear failure in some instances) and most RG were using A or low aspect A whilst a few hardy souls kept with the A+ on the DF.

The first session of 10 races for the fleet of 7 RG65’s Peter Baldwin made the best of the conditions in his Uno and took 3 wins, with Alan Bennett (Ivy) and Bill Culshaw (Ivy) who had one each.  After the break Alan had the best run of 4 wins and Bill who took the other.  This left Peter with the overall win by just one point and Alan 3 points further back in third.

In the DF fleet of 4 boats, wins were shared between Neil Westbrook and Tony Sedgwick with 4 each and Clive Warren with 2.  Neil and Tony were tied on scored races and so the overall win went to Tony due to his win in the last race.

A good day  with thanks to Dave Williams for organising the score card and scoring the fleet, plus starting and finishing in the second half.

RG65

  1. Peter Baldwin            Uno     63  15pts
  2. Bill Culshaw                Ivy       21  16pts
  3. Alan Bennett              Ivy        68  19pts
  4. John Carlin                  Uno     97  33pts
  5. Alan Watkinson         Uno     23  34pts
  6. Dave Williams            Uno     33  52pts
  7. John Brierley               Uno     84  54pts

DF65

  1. Tony Sedwick                        318  13pts  (winner last race)
  2. Neil Westbrook                      03  13pts
  3. Clive Warren                           53  20pts
  4. John Berry                                04  27pts

Next weekend is the two day Traveller Series event for the DF65, entry via the MYA Events page.  Closing date is Tuesday evening, although late entries by agreement with the organisers can be made.

Calendar and new events posted

I have now put up the Calendar for the Winter and added events through until the end of March.  Only 12 events will show in the “Upcoming Events” list at any one time.

The events include the upcoming DF65 TT on the weekend of 21st & 22nd October and the Strebor IOM Open to be held on Saturday 16th December.  This will be Round 2 of the Northern District IOM Winter Series, following on from Round 1 at Askern on the 4th November .

Peter Baldwin

Sailing Sec

DF65 Social Racing 2023 – 11/10/23

Incessant rain, with very light winds greeted the 11 keen sailors.

Sally decided to take her turn at RO for which all were grateful. A+ was the only choice of rig, the course the same as the previous week so racing started with eagle eyed Sally calling a general recall on the first race, with a reminder that the start is on the bell not ‘one’. Several individual recalls occurred during the morning. The conditions suited John C. who took five wins but he did not have it his own way with Andrew and Alan on his stern.

Our new ex dinghy sailing members, Jon and Tony, were having their own battle with Tony finishing on top due to more 2nd places. After 10 races and the wind easing it was decided to call it a day. Many thanks to Sally for her RO duties.

  1. John Carlin                                 13pts 5 wins
  2. Andrew Potter                           19pts 2 wins
  3. Alan Watkinson                        26pts 1 win
  4. Tony Sedgwick                          27 pts 1 win 2 x 2nds
  5. Jon Whitehead                           27pts 1 win 1 x 2nd
  6. Dave Williams                            45pts
  7. Richard Walker                         51pts 1 x 4th
  8. Paul Little                                    51pts
  9. Dave Howard                              66pts
  10. Martin Whittington-Jones   73pts

DF95 Summer Series 2023 #4 – 7/10/23

An un-seasonally warm and bright day greeted the 10 skippers who attended for the fourth round of the DF-95 Summer Series at Gautby Road. The wind(?) was very light and coming from the west over the houses giving conditions that were more suited to “a glass of Pimms on the terrace” than sailing, but our skippers decided to go for it with “A” rigs.

From the onset the conditions were very challenging with the almost none existent wind swirling, gusting(?) then dropping and full of holes but all the boats made the best of them that they could.

Given that the wind could gust and be gone faster than you could say the words there were few recalls at the starts which was at the Clubhouse end of the lake with the course going up to the top end of the lake and back over two laps with a finish half way up the lake.

John Brierley made the most of the conditions seeming to catch a wind that was not available to the boats alongside and often being half a lap ahead of the trailing fleet which gave him 5 wins and 2 seconds. Although John was a convincing winner on the day he did not have it all his own way with Alan Watkinson (1), Clive Warren (2) and John Carlin (1) winning races.

A break was welcomed by all the skippers after 5 races after which racing continued for a further 4 races before everyone agreed that conditions were just too flat to continue.

Paul Little came along to watch the racing and offered to be RO for the day which was greatly appreciated by all the skippers.

DF65 Social Racing 2023 4/10/23

A large turnout of 17 (technically 18 – see later) sailors today, who were greeted by the merest ripple on a glassy lake, even though the forecast suggested there could be as much as 15mph.  Reports from West Kirby were of 10-15mph, so there was hope.  Unfortunately, our biggest problem that the wind was SW again and so would come from anywhere in the range W to SE and so it proved.  Peter donned the waders and set out a proposed course using the South Bank and suggested a Starboard rounding so that we didn’t end up tacking to the spreader.  Sailor No 18 was Dave Williams who very kindly offered to be RO with the large turnout.

The first race was a long one with very light and shifty winds, with Mike De St Paer coming out on top.  At least the long race gave Peter time to sort Dave H’s A+ rig out and compete from Race 2 onwards.  Race 2 went to James Douglas, with Peter putting his boat on the water with 10 seconds to go, but unfortunately little wind to get to the start line.  Peter then managed 5 wins in the remaining races, although it wasn’t all plain sailing with John Carlin putting together a consistent set of results with one win  and Richard Walker taking the remaining win, whilst worrying that his batteries were going to run out before the finish, but fortunately they held up.  James Douglas, Tony Sedgewick, Andrew Potter Clive Warren and Jon Whitehead all had a number of good results in the 9 races completed.

Peter took the morning helped by the 5 wins with consistent John Carlin second, only a couple of points behind, then James Douglas rounding out the podium.  Very many thanks go to Dave for both running the morning and scoring the results, ably assisted by Neil later on who helped with calling the finish, which was very close at times.

  1. Peter Baldwin                            63  17pts
  2. John Carlin                                  11  19pts
  3. James Douglas                          73  24pts
  4. Tony Sedgewick                       19  29pts
  5. Andrew Potter                        194  30pts
  6. Clive Warren                              53  33pts
  7. Jon Whitehead                         770  37pts
  8. Sally Collings                           829  43pts
  9. Richard Walker                          39  50pts
  10. Don McKinnon                         933  56pts
  11. John Beech                                   80  67pts
  12. Frans King                                    95  70pts
  13. Mike De St Paer                           35  77pts   (left early)
  14. Charles Legg                                 21  80pts
  15. Malcolm Harvey                     1019  87pts
  16. Martin Whittingham-Jones  54  102pts
  17. Dave Howard                               00  106pts

IOM Summer 2023 #9 (30/9/23)

A great response to Peters email’s and phone calls in the week meant that we had 10 skippers sailing today.
The wind was a medium top suit from the clubhouse end with the normal Birkenhead shifts and gusts to contend with, although the temperature was reasonable, the rain was completely unreasonable, after break it bucketed down.
After Peter had tweaked the course we started racing, a few general and individual recalls were called by our starter, Dave Williams, who also finished us. 5 races before a tea break with Graham sailing his BritPOP! winning races 3, 4 and 5, Martin sailing his Chimera took race 1 and Alan sailing his BritPOP! took race 2. A short break saw the heavens open and 10 unwilling skippers not wanting to venture out but there was still racing to be finished so off we trudged. The next 5 races saw wins for Martin in races 6 and 10, Graham taking race 9, Alan taking race 7 and Peter taking race 8. John Carlin also joined us after having radio problems for the first 5 races of the day and managed a very creditable 3rd in the final race of the day.
The final scores were very close, the top 3 also all discarded the same amount of points (9).
Many thanks to Dave Williams for today, standing out in the pouring rain. Sailing wasn’t much fun, so to stand outside and not sail is something else.
  1. Graham Elliott          09 Britpop!           16pts
  2. Martin Roberts        122 Chimera         17pts
  3. Alan Bennett             180 Britpop!          23pts
  4. Brad Gibson                17  TS2                    24pts
  5. Peter Baldwin            63  Britpop!          33pts
  6. Bill Culshaw                21  Britpop!          42pts
  7. John Berry                 123  Lintel MMX  54pts
  8. John Carlin                  63  Lintel MMX  63pts
  9. Andrew Peter             66  V9                     68pts
  10. Neil Westbrook         03   Widget            72pts

We all wish Martin the best of luck at the upcoming European Championships in Torrevieja, Spain.  If you wish to follow his progress along with the other GBR skippers, the official website is;

https://2023iomeuropeans.rcnt.com/en/default/races/race