Birkenhead Radio Sailing & Power Club
After 16 races over the weekend the overall results were as follows with a very close finish and some tight position scores down the sheet:
Report to follow in due course hopefully with some more photos.
On the 17th March, 3 members travelled to Fleetwood for their Mayoral Cup IOM Open. With 18 entries, Brad Gibson in his new “Post Punk” design claimed top spot with a dominating 12 wins from the 14 races sailed. Graham Elliott (Britpop!) was second and Peter Baldwin (Britpop!) fifth.
Over the weekend of 23/24 March the RG65 Flanders Cup was held in Belgium. This was attended by club members Graham Elliott (Electronica) and Bill Culshaw (Ivy) who ended up in 3rd and 5th place (in a competitive European field of 30 boats) in what was a windy event. Unfortunately, the website with the full results and photos has currently been suspended for some reason. I just have the following low resolution photo of the final score sheet:
Meanwhile John Brierley, John Carlin, Clive Wareen and Peter Baldwin were all competing in Rounds 5 (DF65) and 6 (DF95) of the DFTT being held at Lincoln over the same weekend (23/24 March).
Saturday was probably as breezy as the Flanders Cup in Beligium, starting with B and then C rigs needed as the wind picked up on the DF65. John Brierley had a storming final set of results finishing on top with Peter in fourth, John Carlin 16th and Clive 19th in a fleet of 28 boats.
Sunday in the DF95 was breezy, but not as much as the Saturday. Starting in C rig, the fleet ended up in A rig with the wind nearly switching off in the final race. After an excellent start, Peter faded to finish in 5th, with John Brierley 6th, John Carlin in 10th and Clive 28th in a bigger fleet of 39 boats.
A report for each day with results and the current TT overall position can be viewed via the following link (scroll down for the reports and results for each day):
All the signs were there for a good morning of A rig racing for the 14 helms, with the breeze straight down the lake from the clubhouse as we arrived and even as most boats went on the water a few minutes before the start. Then, a heavy rain squall flattened the boats and soaked the competitors for a couple of minutes before the clock went on. The rain thankfully stopped, but took most of the wind with it and made it veer through at least 45 degrees, so that by the time we started, the key skill (or was it luck?) was to work out where the most breeze might be on the course to take you to the windward mark the quickest (and it was often not the shortest route).
The conditions were not to the liking of Mike dsp and John C and they both dropped out after a few races along with Paul Little who had things to attend to. This was a pity for them, as the breeze during the later races was probably the best of the morning. During the seven races completed, the wins were shared between 4 helms. The winner sometimes being decided on the final beat into the finish when the leader at the gate could be becalmed in the middle of the lake heading nicely for the finish, whilst a later boat in the fleet sailed up the far bank and got a very nice breeze into the finish.
Peter Baldwin gained 3 wins, James Douglas two, with Neil Westbrook and Andrew Potter taking one each. The morning however went to James with a very consistent set of results, just one point ahead of Peter, with Neil eight points adrift in third place.
The weather forecast from a week out had strong WNW winds predicted and in a rare occurance, held true for the final round of the 2023-24 IOM Winter Series at Birkenhead.
With a number of skippers away representing the club at events abroad (Belgium RG 65 Nationals) and around the country (DF TT at Lincoln), it was an eager 6 skippers who fronted with C suits bar one, firmed up for action.
As is his standard, PRO Dave Williams had us away at 12pm sharp with a course stretching the best part of the lakes length. Early races were hard fought between Brad Gibson, Alan Bennett and Martin Roberts, with Brad breaking for a number of early wins.
The race pace was quicker than normal in the conditions with all enjoying the quick beats to windward and even quicker runs to the gate set deep in the chop at the leeward end. The first six races flew by and a break was had for refreshments in the warmer confines of the clubhouse.
Martin came out of the blocks firing for race 7 to take a well fought win from Brad. Graham Birkett was enjoying a slight ease in the wind with his rejuvenated Widget sporting a B rig and throwing no end of spray on the runs.(Best get the C rig done Graham!). Better races were also had by both Alan Watkinson and Charles Legg.
Race 8 again had Martin leading only to find trouble at the gate with misfortune that took him from a further push fir the top placings. Brad, Alan B and Graham were swapping places in some close races with Alan taking a strong race 10 win.
With 3 o clock approaching it was agreed that after 13 races that all had enjoyed the day and a close to racing ws called as the skies opened and the WNW bared its teeth.
In the wrap up it was Brad who took the day with 11 wins for a score of 11 points from 13 races. Alan Bennett took a deserved second place and the perseverance of Graham Birkett saw him round out the podium with third.
Thanks as always to Dave Williams and Neil Westabrook for running a great days racing. We look forward to the start of our IOM Summer Series on April 27 and invite anyone looking to join us for some final practice in for the Nationals at Poole the following week. Folow the link to enter or register your interest.
Best of luck to our Vane 36 skippers over Easter and our travelling Marblehead and IOM skippers at upcoming Ranking events early in April.
Pics by Victoria Gibson
A Northerly, or maybe N. Easterly breeze, for todays DF racing which made a welcome change. Various sailors arrived with the expectation of no sailing as it had been flat calm elsewhere on the Wirral, but in the event the breeze held and very slowly got up to a reasonable A+ rig day.
Twelve skippers showed up today, including a welcome visitor from Gresford. Welcome to Gautby road John Pritchard, hope you enjoyed your racing. Various regulars were away, and John Carlin stayed briefly to discuss some parts for a starting system but had to leave before sailing.
The usual course was used, with a line which favoured the starboard end, and was also conveniently far away from the RO to make spotting OCS easy. The initial intention was for all to share the RO duties, but Dave Williams’ boat had some electrical gremlins which he was unable to fix pondside, so he very kindly ran all the races, leaving the fleet down to eleven racers.
Racing was once again very competitive, and the shifty conditions meant that no one could relax at any stage of the race. Mike dsp won 5 races during the morning’s sailing, but his total before discards was actually more than Jon Whitehead and Andrew Potter who sailed more consistently and also won two and three races respectively.
In the end Mike’s wins were just enough to run out the winner, followed closely by Jon and Andrew, with overall results shown below.
Many thanks again to Dave for ROing.
Today was the final race in the Winter Series for the RG65 and DF65. There was a reduced turnout as unfortunately a number of regular sailors were unable to sail for a variety of reasons. This left just five RG65’s and only two DF65’s for today’s racing in a decent breeze and a little rain at the start of racing. The wind was approximately SE and so coming out of the Clubhouse corner, although in the middle 4 or 5 races it seemed to straighten a little to be almost down the lake, but still with some good shifts to help in the snakes and ladders of racing. Most RG65’s opted for A swing rigs, although after only 4 races we called an early lunch and those that could, changed down to a conventional A. In this first session, Peter and Bill were chasing each other around the course, with Peter getting the upper hand with 3 wins to Bill’s one. For the remaining three, Charles was having a good session and was neck and neck with Dave at this stage.
After the break, the wind had perhaps eased a little for a race or two, perhaps due to another light rain shower. However, once this rain stopped, the wind slowly increased and even the conventional A rigs were losing control downwind at times and in one start, Peter was the only one near the start as the remainder of the fleet struggled to line up and start on time. Bill put together a good series of four wins in the next 5 races and after 10 races he and Peter were tied on firsts (and seconds). Peter then won the next race, giving him the advantage going into the last race. Bill unfortunately couldn’t take the final win and thus left Peter with the overall win today with Bill a close second. Alan had a better later session after some rig tweaking and unfortunately Charles had to sit out the last four races, being overpowered in his swing rig and without a conventional A to drop down to. He did however just manage to take third place after being tied on points with Dave, but had five third places to Dave’s two. They only just beat Alan who ended up the day only one point behind them.
Meanwhile in the DF65’s Clive and Jon had a match racing day, with Clive starting well and winning the first two races, before Jon strung a series of seven wins from the next eight races and take the overall day, although having been in A+ rig for ten races, they opted to change down and then Clive had an electrical issue as he put his boat back on the water which ended their day’s racing after only 10 races.
Thanks go to Peter for moving the marks around and Dave for watching over the start line and calculating the scores at the end of the day.
DF65’s
Next week is the final day of the IOM Winter Series, but numbers may be limited with at least 5 skippers away at Open events. If you are planning to sail, please make an entry soon. Visitors are always welcome with only a minor race fee of £2 to pay. Enter by clicking on the relevant link under “Upcoming Events”
