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Author: Peter Baldwin

RG65 Social Racing #3 22/8/20

With a forecast breeze of nearly 20mph from the SW, everyone was surprised to see very little evidence of any breeze on the lake when they arrived for the 11:00 start. By the time for the first race had arrived, a gusty wind over the houses had appeared and a short course was set from a corner of the lake to the normal finish mark halfway up the lake and a 3 beat course sailed in trying conditions. Key to success was finding the breeze and tacking on the shifts rather than simple pressure changes.

Neil Westbrook took the win in races 1 and 3, with Peter Baldwin picking up the remaining wins during the morning session when 7 races were sailed before a break for lunch. Richard Robinson in the lone DF65 sailed the same course in his DF65 with an A+ rig and took some mid fleet places in the early races, but struggled to keep up with the RG65’s sporting their A swing rigs.

The fleet was joined by Brad Gibson for the afternoon session, who took the first 4 race wins before having to retire after transmitter power problems in race 12. This left Neil and Peter to fight over the remaining race wins, although Alan Watkinson picked up a win in Race 16 after Peter tried finishing early, taking Dave Williams the wrong side of the windward mark and with it a potential race win for him.

An enjoyable days sailing, mostly in A rig, but B rig for the last few races when the wind and gust strength picked up, finally finishing at 16:00 after 17 races were sailed. Peter took the day, Neil second and Alan third, although the end result may well have been different if Brad had sailed all 10 races in the afternoon.

  1. Peter Baldwin           63  Pocket Rocket    19 pts  9 wins
  2. Neil Westbrook        03  Pocket Rocket    28 pts  3 wins
  3. Dave Williams          33  Pocket Rocket     48 pts
  4. Alan Watkinson       23  Scurry                    49 pts  1 win
  5. Brad Gibson                9   Electronica          74 pts  4 wins
  6. Richard Robinson   01   DF65                      77 pts

Thanks once again to Bernie for the running the racing and keeping scores.  There is another DF/RG65 day of racing (for up to 13) next Saturday 29th August starting at 11:00.  If you are interested in sailing please contact Graham Elliott or Peter Baldwin.

IOM Social Racing #7 15/8/20 – Full Report

An interesting 7-10mph wind blowing down Gautby Road greeted the 8 skippers on this sunny Saturday afternoon.

It was John Brierley that started well with 4 second places and a win in the first 5 races, but unfortunately he then had to retire from the day with radio problems. Bill then showed some great pace and finally started to react to the wind shifts to take wins in races 4 and 7. Lawrence also showing some great form with a brace of seconds in races 6 and 8. Charles after a difficult start and some repairs at the start of the afternoon improved greatly in the final 5 races even if the results do not show this improvement, it was there.
It was Martin that took top honours with a strong finish winning 3 of the final 4 races finally showing his skills within this class under these conditions.
5 different race winners from the 11 races sailed with some extremely close 3 boat finishes to keep Jack on his toes all afternoon.
Many thanks to Peter for setting the buoys and Martin for trimming them after race 3 when the wind swung round a few degrees also thanks to Jack and Bernie for starting and finishing.
  1. Martin Roberts              55     Widget                18pts     4 wins
  2. Graham Elliott               65     Italico                 23pts      3 wins
  3. Bill Culshaw                    21      BritPOP!            27pts      2 wins
  4. Peter Baldwin                63      Lintel MMX     28pts       1 win
  5. Lawrence Drennan      57      BritPOP!            39pts
  6. John Brierley                 84      BritPOP!             43pts        1 win
  7. Neil Westbrook             03      Widget                45pts
  8. Charles Legg                  25      Rubix                   64pts

After 11 races

The next two weeks are joint RG65 and DF65 with an 11am start time. If you are planning on sailing please pre-register for all races with Graham Elliott to avoid disappointment on the day.

IOM Social Racing #6 8/8/20

After a week with winds from most points of the compass, it was good to see a return to a decent 5 to 8 knot WNW breeze down the lake again and sunshine for the first couple of hours to give some “champagne sailing”.

Racing got underway soon after 1:30, catching out some sailors who hadn’t spotted the change of start time.  John Brierley started well to pick up the first race win, with Bill Culshaw taking the win in Race 2.  John then took three of the next four races, with only Martin Roberts spoiling his run in Race 4, before he had to retire in Race 6 with gear failure when his winch support bracket failed, ending his day.

After a short break, Bill picked up another couple of wins and was more consistent than John, who had two further wins, but got on the wrong side of some Birkenhead shifts and had to use a couple of his results as discards.  Graham Birkett and Peter Baldwin also had a win each in the second session, with some very close finishes for the top three boats in many races.

In the end, the final result after 12 races may have come down to some bad luck for Bill as he picked up a carrier bag in Race 10 and had to retire whilst vying for the lead in that race, which John went on to win.  A great afternoons racing thanks to Bernie and Jack for running things for us again.

  1. John Brierley               84      22pts    6wins
  2. Bill Culshaw                 21       26pts   3wins
  3. Graham Birkett         133      34pts   1 win
  4. Peter Baldwin              63      36pts    1win
  5. Alan Watkinson          23      40pts
  6. Lawrence Drennan    57      50pts
  7. Neil Westbrook           03      51pts
  8. Martin Roberts            22     68pts     1 win

Next week (15/8/20) will be another IOM afternoon starting at 1:30. Please let Graham Elliott know if you would like to join in the fun.

RG65 Social Racing #2 1/8/20

Six skippers this week were again treated to a predominantly NNW breeze and not too strong for top suits.  As it was straight down the lake from the far end, the course did not need changing from last week.  Some close racing throughout the small fleet with one boat occasionally getting clear, but very often the first three places were swapping up to the finish line.  Brad Gibson started the day with a first, but then John Brierley had a string of three  before Brad picked up another one.  Peter Baldwin opted to sail with a conventional lower aspect A rig expecting that the breeze was going to get up, but was rarely lucky enough for the other boats to struggle downwind  but having led for a good part of Race 6, picked up a second.

After a short break and a few changes of rigs and equipment through the fleet, Graham Elliott had better boat speed and comfortably won race 7 (he hadn’t changed anything, just ate some food). After this Brad won a further three races (with a shorter and so called “reject” fin from the manufacturer!) and John only one.  Dave Williams was unlucky in Race 9, picking up a second after leading for the whole race until the short beat to the finish.   Thanks again to Bernie and Jack for running the races again for us.

  1. Brad Gibson                Electronica              9     14pts  5 wins
  2. John Brierley               Uno                          84     16pts   5 wins
  3. Graham Elliott            Argon                     55     22pts  1 win
  4. Peter Baldwin              Pocket Rocket    63      33pts
  5. Dave Williams             Pocket Rocket    33      34pts
  6. Alan Watkinson          Scurry                    23      51 pts

11 races sailed

Next week is IOM Social Racing #6 start time 13:30

 

IOM Social racing #5 25/7/20

A light to mid Top suit breeze which blew pretty straight down the lake was the treat for the small but select group of 5 sailors for Social Racing #5 in the IOM.  Racing was close all afternoon until the very last race when Brad managed to pull away from the fleet early on and had a good lead on the chasing pack by the end.  Wins were spread through most of the fleet, with Brad taking the lions share of 6 and never far from the front runners in all other races.  Martin and John had two wins apiece and Peter took one early win when the breeze was a little stronger.  Graham struggled for speed early in the afternoon, but ended the day much nearer the front of the fleet, just missing out on the elusive win in Race 10. Eleven races were sailed at a good pace by 16:45 after the 14:00 start.  Brad easily gained the podium spot, with Martin and John tied on an equal set of results (after discards) and so the result went down to the final race where Martin finished ahead of John.  Thanks to Bernie and Jack for running the racing once again.

Next week (1st August) is RG65 Social racing #2 with a revised start time of 13:30, which will be the new Saturday start time until further notice.

IOM Social racing #4 18/7/20

Another excellent afternoon sailing for the IOM with the maximum number of only 6 boats permitted at the moment.  Ten races were sailed with race wins shared between Martin, John and Bill.  The wind was out of the top right hand corner with the new growth of trees causing interesting wind patterns .

Six races were sailed before a short break and with one discard applied Bill had a narrow lead. Graham with his Widget and Alan in a Britpop were putting in good scores along with Lawrence having a few near misses on the finishing line.

Four more races were sailed after the break with John missing race 7 repairing his boat and Martin took full advantage to narrowly win that race from Bill.  John came back to win races 8 and 9 but it was Martins experience that took race 10 and the overall win.  Only two points separated the top three at the end.  Alan came back well after the break with 3 thirds but again 4th and 5th were also separated by one point.  Some close racing throughout the fleet.

Thanks to Bernie and Jack for running the afternoon. It felt like old times with Jack back.

  1. Martin Roberts          Widget      14pts       4 wins
  2. John Brierley              Britpop     15pts        4 wins
  3. Bill Culshaw               Britpop      16pts       2 wins
  4. Graham Birkett         Widget       31pts
  5. Alan Watkinson        Britpop      32pts
  6. Lawrence Drennan  Britpop      43pts

10 races sailed