DF65’s
Chilly start to the Wednesday 2026 programme with a stiff breeze blowing straight down the lake from the far end for the six DF65 sailors today. The day turned out to be much nicer than the forecast had suggested, but was still really cold on the hands.
It turned out to be an interesting day for rig choice as well – just about on the cusp of B and C. Two boats elected to sail with B – Dave and Malcolm (who didn’t have C rigs available) – with the others on C. The C boats were OK upwind in the gusts but underpowered in the lulls and offwind, while the B rig boats went well upwind in the lulls but were overpowered and tricky to tack in the gusts, and were a handful downwind in the gusts. There was quite a steep chop which also affected the B rig boats coming off the bottom mark. It’s frustrating until one remembers it’s like sailing a Dragon or an Etchells in a 6ft swell!
Clive simply aced the day by winning 6 of the 8 races, and although challenged at some moments sailed consistently well to make it look easy. Alan and Mike swapped positions all morning with Alan making second by one point and with each winning one race.
Dave persevered with the B rig as his C rig was damaged but found it hard going in the gusts, Malcolm also decided half way through the morning that he would take a break from B rig struggles, and kindly RO’d the rest of the morning. Charles started well with plenty of boat speed but then had a winch which developed a mind of its own which made things difficult in the conditions so had to stop sailing.
Some excellent racing and a great start to the Wednesday DF65 programme for 2026. Thanks again to Malcolm for RO’ing plus taking photos and for doing the results, and to Dave for chasing things along. Full results as shown below:
DF95’s
Fortunately the snow and ice had thawed allowing 4 men and their boats to take to the water for a great afternoon of DF95 racing, tweaking and tuning although a tad cold especially with the wind chill factor. With a fantastic north westerly breeze blowing almost straight down the lake from the far end with no holes and only little shifts, and perfect for a top end B rig.
Before we put the boats on the water Clive gave Andy and Stuart’s boats a few tweaks as it was the first time their B rigs had seen daylight.
A similar course to the morning was set and due to numbers used self monitoring starts and the finishes were recorded by the first across the line. The racing was more competitive than the results show with 3 skippers winning at least 1 race, Clive taking most honours and both Malcolm and Andy showing great boat speed after a few tweaks and challenged for line honours on more than 1 occasion but were lacking some consistency.
Summary
A great afternoons sailing, in almost perfect conditions (apart from the cold wind), unfortunately only 4 of us got to experience it.
Thanks to Malcolm for tabling the results and Clive for the photos.
The DF95 fleet were greeted by a gusty NNW wind and very chilly temperatures which didn’t seem too inviting.
After a short discussion a it was decided a B rig would be best and these proved to be the case. Malcolm offered to be race officer and after a short delay got the racing off quickly managing to run 7 races in just over an hour.
With just a small fleet the racing and finishing was still very close with positions being lost and gained right up until the finish with spectacular starting techniques due to the wind coming from all directions.
Andy Merns got off to a flying start taking a first in the first race.
The final result gave John C the win, with Andy second, then Steve and Stuart competing for 3rd and 4th
The forecast for the last day of sailing in 2025 at Birkenhead, promised top end A rig rising to B rig as the day progressed for the 12 skippers who turned up to play. As it turned out, it was A Rig all day with only a spell in the morning when a few gusts were a challenge for some.
As is the norm Martin Roberts was cutting it tight arriving at the Club with five minutes to go before the first race. Fortunately, his borrowed boat was already rigged and tuned by John Brierley and he did just make the start, which got away promptly at 11:00 am under the watchful eyes of Neil Westbrook and Sharon Plested, who had kindly volunteered to run the racing for the day.
In the first four races Peter showed his intent by scoring two firsts, but was also down in the pack in the other two races. Martin worked his way up to 2nd in the first race and also got two other podium places in this session. Paul also bagged three podium spots including a 1st in the third race. Alas, this was his best spell of the day, which would eventually end with racing cut short due to intermittent transmitter problems becoming terminal by mid afternoon. Bill Culshaw, in only his second sail with his DF95, showed his experience with a 1st in the 2nd race and a 3rd in the fourth race of the day.
After a slow start to the day by his standards, Olly Murray who had travelled down from Fleetwood, started to find his form and in the two races before the tea break he added a 1st and a 2nd to his scorecard. Peter banked another 1st and a 3rd with Martin and John Brierley picking up podium places. Bill continued to be a threat at the front of the fleet with two 4ths and a number of great starts.
After a short break for a cuppa (thanks to Chris Westbrook) and mince pies, the afternoon session of six races got underway, in what proved to be lighter and perhaps tricker conditions, particularly in the top third of the beat. As most found out at some point, wind bends to both port and startboard could leave helms having to take an unfavourable shift to get to the windward mark, which almost always proved costly. The only helm who really cracked it was Peter who dominated with both top results and consistency scoring three 2nd and two 1st, winning race five by a country mile. The only blot on his scorecard was in the last race of the day when a coming together and a terminal entanglement with a running boat led to a retirement. Olly continued to add podium positions including a 1st and a 2nd, as did Martin who also added a 1st and a string of 3rds to his tally. John Brierley, whilst lacking a little consistency over the day, did have a better afternoon and capped his day off with a big lead win in the final race. Bill also added a 2nd to his tally.
Whilst there were a few helms hogging the top spots, further down the fleet there were battles being fought and some notable performances in individual races. Guy Cowper scored a 4th in race one and might have had a better overall tally but for a few misjudged mark roundings and being OCS in the penultimate race. Dave Williams, had several good races with two 5th places on the day. Good also to see Steve Miller’s progression since the start of the year, with an 8th in one race and a 6th in the last and usually staying in touch with the fleet.
As the overall result table shows it was Peter’s day with a nine point lead over Martin, who nudged Olly down to third by a single point, With John 4th and Bill a very creditable 5th on his first club outing with the ’95. Thanks to Sharon and Neil for acting as RO and scorer’s and Chris in the galley. Post racing we had a Xmas themed buffet lunch (thanks Paul & Sharon) and a good natter before heading home.
Bit grey to start with for the DF65 fleet, but enough breeze to make for a good days sailing. We had all expected much more pressure based on the various forecasts, but in the event the day was top end of A+ with some lulls and a few punchy gusts as the morning sailing progressed.
The start line at the far end was pretty good although it seemed to be better up at the clubhouse side rather than at the pin, Another excellent turnout of 10 skippers, although there was a bit of coming and going as James missed the first race due to transport problems, and Duncan Neale made it later on but after only two races got a call out and had to leave straight away. It was great to welcome IOM and 95 sailor Guy Cowper to the 65 fleet, and after a long absence it was also very nice to welcome Frans back. He had decided not to sail so very kindly offered to RO for the morning.
Start 1 was pretty much on time and was won by Clive. James just made race 2 but only due to a general recall after a very confused (omnishambles? / snafu?) start which was then won by Mike. James then put in a second and three straight wins on his way to win.
As always the conditions were tricky with a bit of easterly in the breeze, and got more so as the direction went slightly right during the morning. Starting the first beat with a long starboard tack looked right but then getting back across didn’t work reliably. At the same time taking some shifts to get closer to the windward side of the lake paid off well but wasn’t entirely consistent.
Behind James there was some very close racing with Clive, Mike and John all winning one or more races. There were also a number of boat to boat touches and some mistakes at mark roundings. James ended four points clear of Clive in second, with second to fourth all within four points. Guy and Richard also had a number of good results with Guy becoming very competitive with a bit of boat tweaking input from Clive.
The Southerly breeze was tricky enough to cause some place changes, mainly due to picking wrong shifts rather than holes. Racing was competitive from the start but in reality split into 2 groups, with Guy, Andy and Clive in the first group and Steve, Stuart and Malcolm in the second, although occasionally someone would jump up or slip down. Nine races were sailed in total before bad light and heavy storm clouds threatening an imminent rain storm forced a stop.
Race 1 saw close competition between the whole fleet with Guy taking the win, Andy who sailed extremely well and consistently throughout the afternoon taking 2nd which turned out to be the first of 6, and Malcolm filling the final podium spot.
Race 4 and Guy returned to the top spot followed by Stuart who sailed well to finish 2nd and Andy with the only blotch on his score sheet if you can call a 3rd blotch.
Race 6 and after another close race at the front Andy got his first well deserved win, with Guy 2nd and Clive 3rd. After sailing in the 65s in the morning and 6 races in the afternoon Malcolm decided it was time to put his feet up and call it a day.
Another crisp start today at Gautby road, but sunny and very happily nice and dry. The wind direction was South Easterly or South S. Easterly, but varied during the morning going slightly right mid-morning and then back again towards the end of the racing.
Good turnout of 8 skippers despite one or two regulars missing, and really close racing with everyone putting in some good results over the 8 races. The close racing also resulted in a number of close encounters of the boat to boat kind with the resulting turns affecting results. There were also a couple of proper entanglements with John being particularly unlucky to be collected while clearly leading a race.
As there were only 8 skippers it was agreed that race winners would record the results, while starts were “self-monitored”. Perhaps because of this the fleet wasn’t at all line shy, and although the starts were in fact pretty fair a dedicated RO might have called a few generals during the morning.
There were three winners during the morning with John starting where he left off last week with a clear win. Mike then managed three bullets and James then put in a couple. As always the start was critical and starting from the favoured pin end and getting the bow down on starboard worked for the first four or five races, but then – as mentioned – the gusts started to pull right, and it payed to start further up the line towards the committee end. James also made a couple of early port tacks pay to pick up a starboard lift along the club side of the lake.
The approach to the windward mark remained tricky, with some really flat patches in some races and the run had some very slow areas as well. Despite doing his share of turns during the morning Mike held on to win from James who had to miss the last race due to time pressure. .
7 skippers wrapped up well to combat the bitterly cold wind with sunny intervals. Much like the morning, the wind was predominantly blowing from the south, blowing from the club house corner of the lake. A similar course to the morning was used with the usual windward mark, spreader and gate, and finishing half way up the lake. The breeze was perfect for ‘A Rigs’. With only 7 boats the starts were self monitored, and first to finish recorded the results. 19 races were sailed providing 2 discards.
It was good to see John Carlin on the start line for the first time in a while and from the start showed the way for the rest of the skippers to follow. The start line looked to have a heavy port bias but this was not necessarily the case, with some skippers starting on starboard and tacking early onto port whilst others held the starboard start as far as possible up the lake before tacking. In the end it didn’t seem to matter with both options proving successful in different races, typical Gautby Rd unpredictability. It was much more about which shift to tack on and which ones might leave you headed going nowhere. This was never more in evidence than when approaching the windward mark where the wind was at its trickiest. The downwind wasn’t as much of a test with not many places being exchanged. The final beat from the gate to the line was a conundrum, port gate or starboard gate was the question the helms had to answer, there wasn’t an easy answer and many places were lost or gained on the final leg.
John C was off to a flyer with 3 straight wins, although Clive did push him right to the line in the first 2 races before Andy took over and pushed him in the 3rd. Further down the battle was just as competitive between Malcolm, Steve, Stuart and John B with positions being swapped throughout the race.
Race 4 and Andy went one better taking the win from Clive with John C 3rd.
Race 6, Clive followed John C to take the 2nd spot and it was John Bs turn to take the final podium spot. Unfortunately we lost Andy for the rest of the day with technical failure. Races 7, 8 and 9, saw John C taking the last of his run of wins with Clive taking the win in the final race, with Malcolm taking a 2nd and John B and Steve picking up a 3rd place each.