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Author: Peter Baldwin

IOM Summer Series 2024 #1 – 27/4/24

The first IOM Summer Series had a great turnout which included a few vistors getting some pre-Nationals practice in.  A light ENE breeze with some good shifts (and holes) leading to numerous place changes in many of the races.

Neil donned the waders and set a course with a bit of help from Peter on-shore, involved moving most of the marks around, although working out well for most of the day.  This always provided some challenges as to where to start and which side of the course was favoured up the beat.

Darin started the day with a win in Race 1, before Graham showed great form by takng the next three races, with Brad, Alan Bennett, John Berry and Andrea all picking up top three places in these races.  As some of these races were rather long due to very light breezes at times we then had a break, before continuing to complete another 6 races.

After the break and a few boat tweaks, Brad had a good second session, with 3 wins in the six races (plus a couple of seconds).  The other three race wins went to Darin, Alan and Graham, with the podium places split between, Alan, Andrea, Brad, Graham, Peter and Simon.  Finishing positions were however very close throughout the fleet with Alan Watkinson, Simon and Graham Birkett always in with a chance of gaining a good result. Sometimes, it came down to the final positions being determined by who managed to get the best breeze on the final leg into the finish.  Occasionally the finish line tested the line judge with 4 or 5 boats all crossing within a few seconds.

A close tussle then between the top three boats for overall honours, with Brad coming out on top after the 10 races completed.  Thanks to our joint RO’s for the afternoon Dave Williams and Neil Westbrook who ran a tight ship all afternoon.  We also have Dave to thank for the photogtaphs below.

  1. Brad Gibson            42   Post Punk  13pts
  2. Graham Elliott       09  Britpop!      17pts
  3. Alan Bennett         180  Britpop!      24pts
  4. Darin Ballington    98  Britpop!     37pts (2 wins)
  5. Andrea Roberts       37  Britpop!     37pts
  6. Peter Baldwin          63  Britpop!     40pts
  7. Simon Fairman      471  Alioth        48pts
  8. Graham Birkett      133  Widget      55pts
  9. Bill Culshaw              21  Britpop!    61pts
  10. John Berry                 12  Viper          74pts (1x3rd)
  11. Alan Watkinson      23  Britpop!   74pts
  12. Ian Davies                  33  Britpop!   96pts
  13. Charles Legg             40  K2             105pts

DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2024 – 24/4/24

DF65’s

The forecast NE breeze, today, had luckily swung round to a more N/NW direction ensuring the wind was pretty much down the lake with only the odd puff now and then from a more NE direction, which allowed those on the right side of the beats to pick up places.

A+ rigs were selected and despite some reasonably strong puffs they didn’t cause too much carnage downwind.

Starting at the clubhouse end of the lake we sailed to the farthest mark for a port rounding then back downwind through the gate and up to the finish. Start line lulls in the wind provided chaos in a couple of starts otherwise the racing was close with the usual opportunities to make up places if you got the shifts right or lose places if you didn’t

John won convincingly with 5 race wins despite the best efforts of a couple of competitors to slow him down. The next places were very tight with Simon in second on countback and Andrew in third

  1. 11 John  Carlin             13pts 5 wins
  2. 69 Simon Bates          22pts 2 wins
  3. 194 Andrew Potter    22pts 1 win
  4. 53 Clive Warren          23pts 23pts 2 wins
  5. 03 Neil Westbrook     23pts
  6. 233 Dave Williams     32pts
  7. 373 Alan Watkinson  37pts
  8. 00 Dave Howard          52pts
  9. 95 Frans King               53pts
  10. 829 Sally Collings       54pts
  11. 80 John Beech               57pts
  12. 45 Paul Little                 60pts
  13. 39 Richard Walker      66pts

DF95’s

The sun was shinning and a good north westerly breeze welcomed the 9 skippers who turned up for the afternoons racing, which was a good turnout with a number of regulars not available. The same course as the morning was set with the start line at the clubhouse end  of the lake, single windward mark, then straight back to a gate with a beat back to the finish line. The choice of rig for the was A, although a brisk walk was required to keep up with the boats downwind and the breeze meant that shifts rather than holes was the main problem facing the helms. The morning 65 racing had problems with the main starting system and the back up was unavailable so Paul Little used an app on his phone to get us underway. As it turned out Paul can’t multi-task so after 3 races stopped sailing to be our RO for the rest of the day, our thanks go to Paul for this gesture.
9 races were sailed with Clive coming out of the blocks with 3 straight wins, before Alan took the fourth race, after bagging 2 seconds. Neil was also consistent with a couple of second and third places.  There were also some interesting individual battles happening throughout the fleet, with Dave, John B and Frans fighting it out in the middle order.  The second half of the racing Alan and Clive both taking another 2 wins each with Neil getting a win as well. The battle in the middle fleet was also hotting up and saw John B taking a second and 2 thirds and Frans finally finding that bit of extra speed taking 2 seconds.  All in all, a great afternoon for sailing.
Results after 9 races with 2 discards
1.  Clive Warren          10pts   5 wins
2.  Neil Westbrook    19pts   1 win
3.  Alan Watkinson   20pts   3 wins
4.  John Beech            24pts
5.  Frans King             28pts
6.  Dave Howard        32pts
7.  Malcolm Harvey  43pts
8. Martin Whittingham-Jones – retired after 3 races
9.  Paul Little  – retired to be RO

DF95 Summer Series 2024 #1 – 20/4/24

A nice spring day welcomed the 12 skippers who entered the first DF95 summer season, which considering at least 5 regulars were unable to attend for various reasons. A very warm welcome to our new member Ian Davies who showed a good turn of speed throughout the afternoon.
The wind was a light breeze from the north west which swung randomly to be a northerly or westerly at random intervals, providing opportunity for all to gain or loose places all over the course.  As the far end of the lake was in calmness for most of the afternoon, a windward mark ¾ of the way up was used, taken to port with no spreader, so straight back down the lake to a gate before the finishing line half way up the lake. Our RO for the afternoon was Paul Ps better half Sharon who kept us under control. 14 races were sailed mainly single laps but with a couple of 2 lappers thrown in the mix towards the end of the day.  The racing was as always super competitive with 6 different winners and 8 helms finishing in the top 3 at some stage
The first half saw 4 different winners, first race was our new member Ian Davies, taking the honours, and showing that this was no fluke, followed this up with another in race 4. Alan took races 2 and 7, and Paul P races 3 and 5 with Frans race 6. On the heels of the leaders there were some consistent performances by John C, Neil and Clive. S o it was all to play for after the Coffee break.
The second half  saw 2 new names on the score sheet, Clive came out of the blocks with wins in race 8, 10 and 14,  and Neil in 9 and 11 with Alan adding another 2 to his collection from earlier in the day. Paul P and John C again sailing consistently behind the race leaders.
At the end of the session the results were very close as the complete results below show very clearly.


DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2024 – 17/4/24

DF65’s

North West breeze today blowing straight down the lake, or as near as, resulting in quite a popple on the water at the club end where the gate marks were situated. Quite cold on arrival and no one seemed keen to go for a wade, but the start line and the beat looked very fair, with a single windward mark but no spreader. This clearly meant that the leading pack had to navigate their way through the boats still on the beat, but this seemed to work well. In fact there were more boat to boat incidents elsewhere on the course as the some of the heavier gusts affected boat handling.

Initial thoughts of A rig changed quickly to B rig which proved to be the right choice over the morning. As always there were some flat spots and lulls, and the heavier gusts were just at the top end of B rig conditions but quite manageable.

Malcolm Harvey very kindly offered to RO the morning’s racing – thank you Malcolm – and Dave Williams stormed away to win the first race, followed by Mike who won the next two and Simon who won race 4.

Once again racing was much closer than the end results might suggest, with some big gains to be made – or lost – coming up from the gate to the finish depending on which gate mark was taken. Despite the strength of the breeze there were some significant shifts all through the mornings sailing making it a day to keep your competitors covered.

Mike was able to win 4 of the next 5 races to win overall, with Clive and Sally also winning races in another very competitive 10 races for the 65 fleet.

Thanks again to Malcolm for ROing, and to Malcolm and Dave for sorting out the results which were as follows:

  1. Mike de St Paer    10 pts         6 wins
  2. Simon Bates          37 pts         1 win
  3. Clive Warren         38 pts         1 win
  4. Andrew Potter      38.5 pts
  5. Dave Williams      45 pts         1 win
  6. Neil Westbrook    47 pts
  7. Alan Watkinson   48 pts
  8. John Beech             50 pts
  9. Dave Howard         51.5 pts
  10. Sally Collings         52 pts 1 win
  11. Paul Plested            53 pts
  12. Frans King               60 pts

DF95’s

11 skippers were treated to a great afternoon sail, the sun shone and took the edge off the north westerly breeze blowing down the lake from the non clubhouse end with a bit of bias from the industrial estate.

The choice of rig was B rig which turned out to be the right choice although it was top end and touching a C rig in some of the gusts. The wind was fairly steady but there were a few gusts that could catch the unaware helm out downwind, matched with a few shifts (not as many as usual) and it was a fabulous afternoon for 95 sailing.

The course was similar to the morning but the first mark was slightly further up the lake to make the course slightly longer. A mixture of 1 and 2 lap races were sailed with a total of 8 races completed. Normal afternoon format applied with self monitoring starts and first to finish taking note of the finishing positions.

Racing was as competitive as ever in the 95 fleet with 7 helms recording a top 3 place. Paul Little had an afternoon to forget with various boat and rig issues limiting him to only 2 finishes.  John C took the honours in the opening race after a close tussle with Clive and Paul P, and the second race was more of the same with the finishing order reversed. Clive then took the next two with John B notching up a 3rd place in what was a consistent set of results hovering just outside the top 3. Paul P then got his second win, before Mike dSP finally got the hang of his new B rig finishing 1,2,1 in the last 3 races. Overall a great afternoon sailing in near perfect conditions for a B rig.

Final results

  1. Clive Warren          9pts  3 wins
  2. Paul Plested          15pts   1 win
  3. Mike De St Paer   18 pts  2 wins
  4. John Carlin            21pts    1 win
  5. John Beech            24pts
  6. Alan Watkinson  27pts
  7. Frans King            34pts
  8. Dave Howard       35pts
  9. Neil Westbrok      41pts
  10. Malcolm Harvey 50pts
  11. Paul Little              68pts

DF/RG65 Summer Series 2024 #1 – 13/4/24

8 skippers all sailing RG65’s turned up for a 1pm start, we all sailed the first race in swing A rigs but with some really vicious gusts appearing everyone decided to go down a rig for race 2. The direction the wind was coming from was from all points of the compass or as we like to say at Birkenhead, Tescos, clubhouse, factories and houses winds.
We sailed another 4 races until calling a tea break in the hope the wind direction would settle, it didnt.
Another 2 races after tea and we were all sent back to the clubhouse to change down yet again.
The racing was close in most races and resembled a piece of elastic as the leaders fell into holes allowing the chasing pack to catch up.
Graham sailing his Electronica had the lions share of the wins (7) with John sailing his Ivy winning the other 3, Bill who normally challenges for the lead was unfortunately not getting used to his new radio gear and had a bit of a miserable day for his standards, Alan suffered in the final 5 races with rig size but George sailing an Uno really turned it round in the final 5 races with a 6,4,2,2,5 finish, well done George in very trying conditions, George is only 9years old by the way.
  1. Graham Elliott       ELECTRONICA   9POINTS
  2. John Brierley           IVY                         15
  3. Alan Bennet             IVY                         20
  4. Bill Culshaw             IVY                         37
  5. Alan Watkinson      UNO                      38
  6. George Bennet        UNO                       43
  7. Dave Williams         UNO                       50
  8. Charles Legg            UNO                       55