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Author: Peter Baldwin

New addition in the Boats for Sale Section

Another DF65 has been added to the Boats for Sale Section.  This was owned by Colin Deakin and has all rigs and is ready to get on the water.  Check out the For Sale section via the menu or using the new graphic added to the homepage.

Are there any other boats out there (IOM’s etc) that are languishing in the Garage or Loft and could be added to the For Sale section to get it used again?

No Racing this Saturday (2/12/23) for IOM Winter #2

The lake is currently frozen after several nights of sub zero temperatures and last night being -3C or lower.  With similar temperatures forecast for this evening and barely above freezing today (Friday), I am cancelling racing tomorrow as the lake will still be frozen.

Many thanks to Andrew Peter for checking it out this morning and sending me the above photo.

Peter Baldwin – Sailing Sec

DF95 Winter Series 2023 #1 – 25/11/23

11 Helms turned up for the first race day of the DF95 winter series which was an excellent turnout, Dave Williams was our RO for the day and the original Race Officer borrowe Dave’s boat for a 95 outing instead.  Although the sun was shining, the wind gods were having a holiday and we were greeted by a light southwesterly of sorts. However depending where you were stood along the lake this could be a northwesterly,  or northeasterly, I think you can get the picture.
First race was slightly delayed as the ultra reliable Dave Williams had watch trouble, we won’t say any more.  The course was set with the start at the far end of the lake, with a windward mark taken to port a spreader then a run, reach and beat (not necessarily in that order on this ocassion) to the gate, the finish was between 2 buoys halfway down the lake. Due to the conditions a single lap was agreed
Race 1      Everyone got away reasonably well 5 boats Alan, John Br, Neil, Clive and Frans managed to master the light airs better than the others, or were they just in the right place at the right time. The lead changed hands many times, but rounding the gate Alan lead the fleet with John Br second, Clive third, Neil fourth and Frans fifth,  but it was anyones race.
Finishing position were Clive, John Br, Neil, Frans and the unfortunate Alan, dropping from 1st to 5th
Race 2      Started with the wind dropping even more, 3 boats broke drifted clear  Neil, John Br and Dave’s borrowed boat managed to stay clear to the finish. There was then a small gap to Paul, Alan and Clive. After the first 3 finishers the RO finished the rest of the fleet in their positions on the water as the wind had all but disappeared
Lunch was taken and a good chat ensued amongst the helms, the wind disappeared completely and the rest of the day cancelled as far as sailing was concerned.

DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2023 – 22/11/23

DF65’s

Today’s racing was held in an approximately North Westerly breeze, with all the usual holes and shifts with the wind coming over the houses. Turnout was again great with 15 DF65 sailors.

No one wished to go wading, and with the Port end of the line somewhat favoured the starting was all pretty close. In fact as the morning progressed it was agreed that one of the other gate marks would make a better line, although it remained so shifty this didn’t really affect the first beat much.
A rigs were chosen, and although boats were underpowered some of the time, the gusts would clearly have been difficult with A+.

Once again racing was very close, with 4 different winners, and the first two boats only one point apart after the 10 races sailed, with John Carlin the winner and results as shown below:

1. John Carlin               13.5 pts 4 wins
2. Mike de St Paer      14.6 pts 1 win
3. James Douglas       26 pts 3 wins
4. Clive Warren          29 pts 2 wins
5. Dave Williams       35.3 pts
6. Neil Westbrook     37,5 pts
7. Alan Watkinson    39.5 pts
8. Andrew Potter       42 pts
9. Malcolm Harvey  58.2 pts
10. Richard Walker  62.6 pts
11. Don Mackinnon  71pts
12. John Beech           76 pts
13. Frans King            77 pts
14. Dave Howard       80 pts
15. Paul Little             91.2 pts

DF95’s

The afternoon found 8 boats on the water for the DF95 racing, The wind remained similar to the morning racing, that being from the North West, with gusts and shifts to help or hinder depending if the helm picked the right one or not.   B rigs were chosen with the wind forecast to increase throughout the afternoon. Clive was the first casualty finding the eye on the head of the mainsail pulled out, with no spare he was left with the choice of A or C, he plumped for A and an exciting afternoon. Second to fall was Paul with his new 95 which needed the rudder reversing, the problem being nobody was used to the new FlySky transmitter and it cost Paul a start in the first race.  The same course as the morning was agreed, and the first home would record the positions of the fleet which allowed all 8 boats to compete in each race.

Alan got off to a flyer having his boat set up just right for the conditions which resulted in him winning the first 3 races, with Clive, John and Richard each sharing the second and third positions equally between them. Race 4 had Richard breaking Alans winning streak, with Alan in second. Race 5 saw Malcolm suffering forestay / jib halyard failure and was unable to finish the race, which was won saw Clive taking the honours Alan again taking the second spot. Unfortunately Alan had to leave and Malcolms breakdown left 6 boats to fight out the last 2 races, Richard won the 6th with Clive second and Dave having his best race in third. The 8th and  final race saw Clive getting his 2nd win  and John picking up his best finish of the day in second.

Once again the day was very competitive with everyone showing good boat speed at some stage.

Final Results were:

  1. Clive Warren               93       12pts   2 wins, 2 seconds
  2. Richard Walker          52       13pts    2 wins, 2 seconds
  3. Alan Watkinson         23       14pts   3 wins, 2 seconds (6 races)
  4. John Beech                288       19pts      2 seconds
  5. Dave Howard              00       26pts
  6. Frans King                   59        31pts
  7. Paul Little                     14        38pts
  8. Malcolm Harvey    2019       44pts

Although Clive won,  its fair to say that if Alan had been able to continue he would have been top of the leader board.

Another New menu “Boats Available to Loan”

The club would like to maximise the number of boats on the water on any racing day.  If members have boats that they do not wish to sell and are willing to loan to other members, a page has been set-up to try and bring loan boats and sailors together.  This service is for club members to use primarily for club racing, although that could perhaps be extended to open events away from the club with the express agreement of the owner loaning the boat.  The boat classes that are appropriate to list are:

  • DF65
  • DF95
  • RG65
  • IOM

To use this service go to the appropriate page on the website by following this link

New Section added to Website

I have added a new section and menu Item under “Information”

“Boats for Sale or Wanted”

If you have a boat for sale or want a boat that meets the classes sailed at the club, please let me have further details and I will add it to the page.  The page outlines the process, but send me an email (if you have my email address) or a message via the contacts pages and I will confirm details with you. If you are emailing you can of course send details direct as a description and a couple of pertinent photos.  If you have more photos also state that in the advert so that any potential buyer can request them if required.

I was not planning to place contact emails or phone numbers in the advert only the sellers name.  They can then make contact directly if they know you or send me a message via the Contacts link on the page and I will pass the interest on.

Have a look at some point to become familiar with the page which may be accessed directly through this link.  The intention is to try and get more boats on the water and encourage boats to remain within the club and be used rather than sitting in a garage (or loft!) gathering dust.