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Author: Peter Baldwin

DragonForce Autumn Series #3 16/10/19

After a bumper turnout last week, only 8 sailors made it to the start line this week  for a host of reasons including last minute gear failure.  There was a good Westerly breeze for an A rig sail and the races were turned around quickly by Race Officer Ernie ably assisted by Neil who also helped with boat tuning as he was unable to sail himself.

Peter took the overall win with six firsts, with Kris second (two firsts and a clutch of seconds) and Alan third.  Colin and Derek had the other two wins from the 10 races sailed.

  1. Peter Baldwin            63       11pts
  2. Kris Morrow               94       15pts
  3. Alan Watkinson       373       26pts
  4. Derek Matthews         57       29pts
  5. Dave Williams            233      34pts
  6. Colin Deakin                  93      36pts
  7. Sally Collings              829     46pts
  8. John Carling                   11      62pts

Please note that there will be an RG65/DF65 Winter Race on Saturday 26th October, Start time of 12:00.  Visitors very welcome in either class.

DragonForce Autumn Series #2 9/10/19

A gusty WSW breeze of 3 to 12 knots with some stronger gusts made for a tricky set of races for the 15 skippers this week. Key to getting a good result was having a clear lane off the start line and keeping the boat moving during the large shifts.  John mastered the conditions better than most and gained the lions share of the wins with 5 under his belt.  The remaining 5 were shared evenly between Alan, Andrew, Dave W, Neil and Peter. After ten races, John came out on top, with Neil second and Peter in third.

It was good to see so many racing this week and very useful to have the consistent eye of Ernie watching over the starts. Thanks once again Ernie.

  1. John Brierley             84     13pts
  2. Neil Westbrook         03     25pts
  3. Peter Baldwin            63     26pts
  4. Alan Watkinson       373    33pts
  5. Dave Williams          233    39pts
  6. Bernie McNulty          81     43pts
  7. Andrew Peter             919    44pts
  8. Derek Matthews         57     62pts (2x4th)
  9. Sally Collings              829   62pts (0x4th)
  10. Dave Pickup                 86     67pts
  11. Richard Robinson     01       70pts
  12. Zoe Matthews             19      79pts
  13. Colin Deakin                93      82pts
  14. John Carling                 11       99pts
  15. David Halstead          855    105pts

IOM Club Series #12 5/10/19

A good breeze of mid to top end No 1 strength from the clubhouse greeted the 11 sailors as they arrived for this weeks IOM Club racing.  Thanks to John Brierley a good Windward/Leeward course was setup using the whole of the lake and racing got underway soon after 13:00.  Getting a good start and managing the large shifts was critical to success as being in the wrong place could easily see you sink or swim.

The day saw some very close racing at times with the occasional race winner getting well away at the start, never to be seen again by the chasing pack.  There were a total five different race winners during the day, with Brad, Peter and Bill each taking three, Martin having two and Neil one.  Consistency and plenty of top three places  was key to coming out top.  This meant that Brad Gibson (Red Wine) took the award as “Mr Consistency”, with only two results from the 12 races out of the top 3 and the overall win.  Peter Baldwin  (Lintel MMX) was second and John Brierley (Britpop) third with another consistent set of results without having any race wins. A great afternoons sailing with thanks once again to Bernie and “Tea Boy” Jack for running the racing.

The final results were:

  1. Brad Gibson                 2           19pts
  2. Peter Baldwin            63          25pts
  3. John Brierley              84          33pts
  4. Bill Culshaw                21          35pts
  5. Martin Roberts          56          51pts
  6. Neil Westbrook          03          57pts  1x1st
  7. Alan Watkinson         23          57pts
  8. John Berry                    12           70pts
  9. Chris Chatfield             7            78pts
  10. Lawrence Drennan   57           88pts
  11. Dave Williams            33            93pts

Winter Series 2019/2020 for IOM and RG65/DF65

The dates for this years Winter Series have now been published in the 2019 Calendar.

This year there will be a series of 8 afternoons of racing for IOM’s starting on the 9th November.  This follows the Strebor IOM meeting which takes place on the 26th October (Start time 10:00).  In addition, there is also the Xmas Race on 14th December which will this year again be raced in the IOM class (Start Time 10:30)

Due to the success of the RG65/DF65 race days over the Summer, it has been decided that there will also be some events for these classes.  The first of these will take place on Saturday 26th October.

With the reduced light conditions during the Winter, each race day will start at 12:00 rather than the summer time of 13:00, in the hope that this will allow a good number of races to be run before the light goes. No race will start after 16:00.

As a final reminder, the last two afternoons in the Summer Series of IOM racing take place on Saturday the 5th and 19th October.  The last in the series has been changed from 12th October due to a clash with other events.

DragonForce Autumn Series #1 2/10/19

Yet another extremely light wind day. This started off with tea and coffee while we waited for the promised wind to arrive.
We welcomed Sally back to sail after her long layoff due to injury, unfortunately she was only able to stay for a few races due to a prior arrangement.
Ernie set a shortened course at the top end of the lake and kept a sharp eye on the start line with a few boats being called over.  The racing was tight at the top with John and Kris sharing first and seconds throughout with Andrew and Neil managing a race win a piece.
10 races were held with eleven skippers taking part.
  1.       John Brierley           12pts
  2.       Kris Morrow            13pts
  3.       Andrew Peter          31 pts
  4.       Bernie McNulty      35 pts
  5.       Neil Westbrook       36 pts
  6.       Dave Williams         37pts
  7.       Richard Robinson  46 pts
  8.       Richard Walker       51 pts
  9.       Colin Deakin            69 pts
  10.       Dave Halstead         77 pts
  11.       Sally  Collings          82 pts