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Author: Peter Baldwin

DF65 Social Racing 2023 – 30/8/23

This week there was a good A suit breeze down the lake for the 10 sailors that started the first race.  Unfortunately Andrew Potter had to drop out of the first race with winch failure and with other problems abandoned his sailing for the morning.  The remaining 9 sailed 9 races in a breeze that went from hardly moving the boats through to full bow down nose dives on the run with some big shifts that could catch the unwary out.  Peter moved the marks around to give a good windward leeward course whilst Dave found him a spare rig – thanks Dave!.  In his rush to leave home he only had the A+ rig attached to his boat.  Racing got underway soon after 11:00.  Peter and Mike slugged it out for the top spot with 3 firsts each and good performances from Sally, Richard and Alan all taking a first place.  Mike took first place partly due to Peter’s rudder servo going at the end of race 8 and then missing race 9.  Peter held onto second with Sally a creditable third only a few weeks into sailing again after a long lay-off.

  1. Mike de St  Paer                            9pts 3 firsts
  2. Peter Baldwin                               10pts 3 firsts
  3. Sally Collings                                16pts 1 first
  4. Richard Walker                            19pts 1 first
  5. Dave Williams                              22pts
  6. Alan Watkinson                           23pts 1 first
  7. John Beech                                     27pts
  8. Martin Whittington Jones      39pts
  9. Dave Howard                                48pts

9 races held, Andrew Potter dropped out of first race due to winch failure.

RG65 Summer 2023 #7 – 19/8/23

Unfortunately it was more of the same as the last RG65 Saturday racing with the wind predominantly from the SW,  so over the houses, round the houses etc etc.  A strong gusty 2 to 15 knots tested the sailors in choosing the right rig and most opted for a low aspect A conventional, unless you only had swing rigs that is.

Peter setup a course starting from the far side in more breeze and with an easier sighting of the start line to a mark and spreader just past halfway across and back to a gate.  It was mostly a beat or fetch to the first mark, although may start as a broad reach and end up as a beat with no real indication on which tack you would finally take into the mark.

Martin and John shared the wins in the first session of 6 races, until Johns’ winch broke loose from its mount and he had to retire for the day.  This left Martin to take the remaining wins, with Alan, Bill and Peter chasing hard and occasionally in front, but never quite keeping the win from Martin.

So Martin won the day comfortably on only 7 points from the 10 races, with Bill second on countback from Peter in third.  The countback went all the way to their result in the last race, so a very close day for this pair, with Alan almost causing a 3 way tie just one point behind them.

  1. Martin Roberts            133  Pocket Rocket   7pts
  2. Bill Culshaw                    21  Ivy                         25pts
  3. Peter Baldwin                63  Uno                       25pts
  4. Alan Watkinson            23  Uno                        26pts
  5. John Brierley                 84  Uno                        32pts
  6. Dave Williams               33  Uno                        47pts
  7. Charles Legg                 26  Uno                         61pts

DF65 Social Racing 2023 – 16/8/23

A light wind from the top end of the lake greeted seven sailors when they arrived on Wednesday for the DF-65 Racing and it was agreed that an A+ sail was the choice for the morning.

However once racing began it became apparent that the breeze was alternating from light to nothing on a fairly frequent schedule and after 3 difficult races the skippers decided to abandon racing for the day.  Some however did remain to assist Andrew with lake clearing work.

DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2023 – 9/8/23

There was a reduced number of sailors today for racing, starting with 9, one had to drop out as he was not feeling well and that left a select group of 8, who sailed a single lap windward leeward for 6 races and then two final races with two laps.

It was an A+ day of 2 to 5 or 6 knots from the West and generally better than the forecast looked.  Racing was in many cases close throughout the fleet with a missed shift or lack of pressure in your area of the lake leading to a few places quickly lost.

Clive started well, winning the first two races, before managed a win in race 3.  Peter then took wins in the next four, before Clive rounded off with a win in Race 8.  There were some good performances elsewhere in the fleet with seconds for John and Richard, leading to only 1 point between 4th and 6th.  Overall, Peter had the edge with Clive coming in second and Neil in third.

  1. Peter Baldwin           63  6pts
  2. Clive Warren             53  8pts
  3. Neil Westbrook        03  9pts
  4. Richard Walker        39 21pts  (1x2nd)
  5. Dave Williams          33  21pts
  6. John Beech                80  22pts
  7. Sally Colling           829  24pts
  8. Frans King                 85  27pts

Five Sailors stayed on for an afternoon of DF95 social sailing, slightly down on our normal numbers due mainly to holidays. The sailors continued to enjoy the bright sunshine and were ready to do battle with the light and shifty wind which continued from the morning racing. A rigs were the order of the day. The same course as the morning was used with a windward buoy taken to port, spreader buoy to port then downwind (most of the time) to the leeward gate. 2 laps per race.

6 Races were completed and generally were closely fought contests with the sailor picking the right wind shift to tack on or being in the right place at the right time benefitting most. Three different race winners indicates just how close the racing was. Neil mastered the conditions best of all and ended up with 3 wins, Clive with 2 and John C with 1 (despite main sheet trouble). Frans and John B enjoyed some good racing but despite showing glimpses of good boat speed didn’t quite have the consistency to trouble the front runners.

  1.   03  Neil Westbrook     7
  2.   93  Clive Warren        10
  3.   50  John Carlin            11
  4.   59  Frans King             20
  5. 288  John Beech           25

IOM Summer 2023 #6 – 5/8/23

Good Old British Weather?

Storm Antoni decided not to visit Gautby Road lake, but three very keen IOM sailors arrived expecting the worst. The very light wind “appeared” to come from the Clubhouse end so a course was set from the top end of the lake to the windward mark at the clubhouse then to a spreader both to port back through a gate, two laps and a finish at the middle mark as usual. The racing for the first three races was such that it was impossible to guess who would come out on top with all three boats taking turn to lead. Bill scored two wins with Alan the third.

At this point the wind finally disappeared and an early tea break was called (see pic above). After about twenty minutes it started to rain quite heavily then we had wind but from the opposite direction. Course then changed and racing recommenced. This new course and wind suited Alan who took the next seven races with seconds and thirds shared between Bill and John. Considering it was supposed to be mid summer, ten races in the cold and wet was deemed enough and RO Dave Williams called it a day.  Many thanks to Dave for turning out and running the racing and keeping scores and taking the few photos today.

  1. Alan Bennett  Britpop!   8pts
  2. Bill Culshaw   Britpop!  15pts
  3. John Berry       Viper       20pts

DF65 Social Racing 2023 – 2/8/23

There was a light but fickle breeze from the clubhouse end and so we set off for two races using a start line at the far end and approximately a windward leg (and occasionally a fetch) to the far end.  The wind then decided to switch direction mid race for a while and we ended up having a running start for a couple of races before our volunteer RO Dave Williams (our heavy weather sailor) switched start lines to sail from the clubhouse end.

Peter had a good start to the day in the light conditions and took the first two races by a fair margin, such that Dave was thinking of giving him a starting penalty and the rest of the fleet a chance.  However, with some rig setup advice for some sailors, and improvements across the fleet, racing became a little closer with Neil and Andrew Potter each taking a win before Peter took the final two races.

The light conditions meant that only 6 races were sailed with nobody pushing to do a longer two lap race to finish the morning off.  This also allowed an earlier start to the working party for the seven that remained behind.  Many thanks to Dave for running the morning yet again.

  1. Peter Baldwin                                 6pts
  2. Neil Westbrook                             13pts
  3. Andrew Potter                               19pts
  4. Simon Bates                                   21pts
  5. Jon Whitehead                               26pts
  6. John Carlin                                     32pts (1x5th)
  7. Alan Watkinson                            32pts
  8. Andrew Peter                                 33pts
  9. Charles Legg                                   44pts (1x8th)
  10. Richard Walker                              44pts
  11. Martin Whittingham-Jones   46pts
  12. Frans King                                       52pts
  13. John Beech                                      54pts