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Category: Fleets

IOM Summer Series #2 (23/4/22)

Well, Charles was right, it was indeed a 2nd suit wind, having arrived earlier than most Charles rigged his boat with 2nd suit but everyone else opted for top suit so Charles followed suit and changed up. The wind was trying to come from Gautby Road but it was all about the strength of the gusts that could come from anywhere from Gautby Road to the factories.
After the first race and not one boat managing to survive the gusts we took a fleet decision to all change down to 2nd suit, our PRO for the day, Dave Williams gave us 15 minutes to do so and this was indeed just enough time.
The racing at the front of the fleet was nip and tuck for the first 3 races with Darin, Martin and Graham swapping places but after race 4 it was Graham that began to make to make his move, winning races 4 and 5 with Darin slipping out of the top 3 for these 2 races.
7 races before a short break and a cup of tea supplied by the ever present Jack and back out on the water for race 8. Andrea had now blown the cobwebs off and getting to grips with her chartered BritPOP! and her results showed this with podium finishes in all but one race in races 5 through to 10.
A challenging and thoroughly enjoyable afternoons racing with 12 races completed and many thanks to Dave Williams for starting and finishing us (and taking a couple of photos), Jack for making the tea (great tea maker but at 92yrs old he has had plenty of practice) and Martin who put the waders on to move a few buoys and give us a great start line.
Good luck to all Birkenhead skippers that make the journey up to Loch Winnoch for next weekends IOM National Championships.
!st      Graham Elliott        13points            BritPOP!         7 race wins
2nd     Darin Ballington    22points           BritPOP!         3 race wins
3rd      Martin Roberts      24points            Vanilla             2 race wins
4th      Andrea Roberts     39points            BritPOP!
5th      Alan Watkinson    49points            BritPOP!
6th      Graham Birkett     51points            Widget
7th      Charles Legg           75points            K2

DF/RG65 Winter Series 2021 #7 (19/3/22)

Today’s racing was the last round of the RG65 Winter series, five skippers entered and were greeted to the best weather of the year so far, with wall to wall sunshine and a good blow down the middle of the lake from the car park.
All skippers opted for their B rigs, but soon found out this was too much after the first race and nobody successfully managed to get downwind. The gusts were just too big, so we took a quick break to all change down. Unfortunately Graham, with his newly acquired Argon, did not have a smaller rig so had to persevere, Martin had the perfect size rig that he had made in the week for these conditions and his Pocket Rocket relished the conditions after missing the first race due to a failing receiver, but then was able to borrow one from Graham.
The racing was closer than the scores suggest with Alan, Dave and Neil getting the most out of their boats and all sailing well, unfortunately Graham suffered receiver problems and missed quite a few races until he managed to fix Martins old receiver and get back on the water but still in the wrong rig.
Martin won 7 races out of the 9 he sailed in with Alan getting 2 wins with his ever improving Scurry and Graham with just 1 win, 10 races sailed in all before we all agreed the wind was still increasing and to call it a day.
Many thanks to Bernie for starting and finishing the fleet and Jack for supplying the tea and coffee at intervals.
  1. Martin Roberts       133      pocket rocket        9pts, 7 wins
  2. Alan Watkinson      23        scurry                     17pts, 2 wins
  3. Neil Westbrook       03        uno                          19pts
  4. Dave Williams          33        uno                          33pts
  5. Graham Elliott         29        argon                     35pts,1 win
After 10 races
This leaves the overall results for the RG65 Winter Series as follows, With Graham Elliott the winner by a clear margin.

DF65 Social Racing 2022 #10

17 boats turned up to race with the wind threatening to increase during the day. The wind direction from the south east and A rig was chosen to be used. As racing progressed the wind increased in strength and altered in direction, this caused the wind to become very shifty with big gusts and areas of no wind. The direction was now from over the clubhouse and at times coming down vertically and going in all directions with many boats turning into submarines on the downwind legs.

When the scores were finally added up, it was all very close at the top with only 5 points separating the first four boats.  Thanks to RO Simon Bates who managed to give us 10 races in the difficult conditions.

  1. Alan Watkinson        19 pts 4wins
  2. Mike de St Paer         22 pts 3wins
  3. Neil Westbrook        22 pts 4th
  4. Richard Robinson   24 pts 1win
  5. James Douglas          36 pts 2wins
  6.  John Carlin                36 pts
  7. Charles Legg              45 pts
  8. Don Mackinnon        57 pts
  9. Richard Walker         70 pts
  10. Paul Hounslow          73 pts
  11. Paul Little                   78 pts
  12. Martin James            79 pts
  13. John Beech                 94 pts
  14. Andrew Potter          97 pts 2 x7ths
  15. Malcolm Harvey      97 pts
  16. Paul Whalley           110 pts
  17. Ken Roscoe               129 pts

DF65 Social Racing 2022 #8 (23/2/22)

Now on the tail end of three named storms the wind had died down to a top end of A rig. Heavy gusts had the boats submarining on the run. The wind again this week was from the top end of the lake at an angle over the houses. A course was set with the start halfway up the lake sailing from the far side heading towards the houses for the windward mark. With tricky wind shifts it was difficult to decide which way to approach.

Graham’s consistency with two first, a second and 4 thirds just managed to pip Neil even with his five firsts. There were a few gear failures and a dunked transmitter!!

Many thanks to RO John Carlin who kept the races running smoothly under difficult conditions and he even fitted in a couple of general recalls.

  1. Graham Birkett     20 pts 2 wins
  2. Neil Westbrook      23 pts 5 wins
  3. Alan Watkinson     24 pts 1 win
  4. Mike de St Paer      28 pts 1 win
  5. Richard Robinson 28 pts
  6. Dave Williams        38 pts 1 win
  7. Don Mackinnon    66 pts
  8. Richard Walker     69 pts
  9. John Beech              74 pts
  10. Stan Metcalf           79 pts
  11. Martin James          81 pts
  12. Malcolm Harvey   94 pts
  13. Andrew Potter       96 pts
  14. Sally Collings         97 pts
  15. Charles Legg        107 pts
  16. Paul Whalley       110 pts

After 10 races

DF65 Social Racing 2022 #7 (16/2/22)

12 sailors arrived expecting storm Dudley; at 10.00am we were going to go with A+ but the wind did freshen and with the heavy gusts B rig was used.

The wind from the top end over the houses proved to be very difficult to judge and created many opportunities to either catch up or lose in the lulls depending on the course you decided to take. The stars of the day were Alan, Neil and Richard R managing all 10 wins between them. The most call backs on the start line also went to Alan with 5!!

Many thanks to Sally our RO who managed to keep the races on track managing a full 10, especially as there were many drop outs due to gear failure.

  1. Alan Watkinson        13 pts 6 wins
  2. Neil Westbrook         16 pts 2 wins
  3. Richard Robinson    27 pts 2 wins
  4. Dave Williams           34 pts
  5. Mike De St Paer        35 pts
  6. Andrew Potter          39 pts
  7. John Carlin                41 pts
  8. Richard Walker        46 pts
  9. Charles Legg             78 pts
  10. Malcolm Harvey     90 pts
  11. Paul Whalley          102 pts
  12. Ken Roscoe             103 pts

RG/DF65 Winter Series 2022 #5 (12/2/22)

7 skippers turned out for the latest round of the clubs RG65/DF65 series, but with no DF’s, all 7 opted to sail there RG65’s.
The wind unfortunately came from the houses for the first 4 races with skippers opting for various sail plan/rigs, some opted for swing B rigs, some opted for full area reduced height conventional rigs and some opting for full height conventional rigs. It was all about managing the vicious gusts.
Although Graham Elliott sailing his Electronica dominated the day with 11 wins losing out to John Brierley sailing his Uno in race 2, there were some decent displays from other skippers. Dave Williams sailed well in the last 4 races scoring a 3,5,4,2. Charles Legg sailed well in the later races and Alan Watkinson starting the day well with a brace of 3rds.
Races 5 to 12 saw the wind come around and blow straight down the lake that brought Martin Roberts into play sailing his Pocket Rocket, he scored 5 second places in the last 6 races of the day.
The day was definately all about rig choice and rig plan and I am sure a few will be swapping there lower aspect swing rigs for conventioal rigs.
Race winners on the day were Graham Elliott (Electronica) 11 wins and John Brierley (Uno) with 1 win. Many thanks to Jack for making the tea and Bernie for starting and scoring us.
  1. Graham Elliott      ​ 09       Electronica          10pts    11 wins
  2. John Brierley          84        Uno                        23pts     1 win
  3. Martin Roberts    133         Pocket Rocket  30pts
  4. Neil Westbrook     03         Uno                       44pts
  5. Dave Williams       33         Uno                        48pts
  6. Charles Legg          26         Uno                       51pts
  7. Alan Watkinson    23         Scurry                  53pts

After 12 races