Category: DF95

The lake had thawed out, the rain had subsided but unfortunately only 5 skippers were keen enough to get up early for a 9-30 start. They were greeted by a light easterly breeze, which blew diagonally across the lake from the clubhouse end and from the factory side, not ideal and would prove tricky with the normal holes and shifts but at least we had wind!! A shortened course was set, starting off at the far end of the lake, a short beat halfway up the lake rounding the finishing buoy to port, the a run through a gate, 2 laps finishing between the finish buoy and pole. With only 5 boats the starts were self monitored with the first across the line recording the finishing order.

With a port biased start line, the first decision for the skippers was to either stay in the breeze on the control side, or take advantage of the bias and start at the far end. The reality was it didn’t really matter, it was far more important to pick the right shifts to tack on. Despite the small number of boats, racing was incredibly close in a number of finishes with 4 of the 5 boats involved right up to the finish line. This was reflected in the results with 4 different skippers recording wins from the 6 races sailed, and only5 points separating the first 4. Steve was the unfortunate skipper to miss out but was getting ever closer to the front with each race.

In summary, a great mornings racing, with the best wind of the day and super competitive

Results

1. Simon Fairman    9pts      2 wins
2. John Carlin           10pts    1 win
3. Clive Warren        11pts    1 win
4. Guy Cowper          14pts    1 win
5. Steve Miller          25pts

DF65’s

An excellent turnout of eleven 65s on a mild, overcast, and quite gusty day. Initial “tuners up” went out on A+, but it quickly became clear that A would be needed. This was the start of an interesting day of three halves, as more or less as soon as racing started some hefty gusts came through suggesting a further change to B rig.

To avoid loss of time the first three races were sailed in conditions which were really over the top for A rig, and a consensus was to stop again and go for B rig. The wind direction was South to South East as forecast which meant the top clubhouse corner was its usual tricky self, but the deciding factor as usual was the gust strength which made downwind sailing a complete lottery.

A quick change to B rig, and somewhat in the running order. Mikedsp had been on the pace on A rig, but successfully found the slow buttons on B rig, while PaulP, John C, James, Clive and PaulL all showed excellent boatspeed resulting in some very close racing. Unfortunately, this had eliminated Andy Mearns as he had only brought A+ but he very kindly agreed to stay and RO for the morning.

Earlier on it had seemed to pay to get the bow down and hit the corner opposite the Clubhouse then come back on a long port tack, but as the morning progressed this didn’t pay and working the shifts further towards the more windward clubhouse side of the lake seemed better.

Racing remained close with quite a few minor boat to boat brushes and some nosediving changing the order. Mikedsp just emerged the winner on countback from PaulP, with JohnC only two points behind, and then Clive and James a further three points back with Clive taking 4^th on countback. Really close racing.

JohnC was very unlucky to be tagged while leading a race comfortably, and quite a few turns were made in the very gusty conditions changing positions.

Full results as shown below, with thanks to Dave for keeping us organised and taking the photos (as usual), Dave and PaulP for doing the results and Andy for staying to RO.

DF95’s

The gusty nominally southerly breeze remained from the clubhouse end, which swung easterly at times meant the difficulties from the morning continued into the afternoon for the DF95 racing. Unfortunately, only 5 skippers showed up/remained, perhaps a hangover from the DF95 open held at the weekend. The choice of rig was B, and after a bit of re-rigging of Steves boat, first time the B rig had been used, we were ready to go, 5 minutes later than normal. The same standard course as the morning was used, and as normal with a small fleet the starts were self monitored and the first to finish recorded the race result.

Racing was generally dominated by Paul and Clive showing good boat speed from the outset, but having said that there were a couple of very close races with 4 boats rounding the gate mark together.

Further back Martin was best of the rest picking up a second place in race 7, in a tight finish, just getting the better of Paul. Steve showed he was picking up the skills to move him up the fleet and was only beaten by Malcolm on count back with Malcolms third place in the last race edging him ahead.

Towards the end of racing the wind dropped of slightly and we could have probably dropped to A rig, but there were still a few strong gusts that kept B as a safe option. All in all a great afternoons social sailing inpartial sun and warm temperatures for the time of year and a decent breeze. What better way to spend an afternoon with good friends

1. Paul Plested                                  7pts   5 wins
2. Clive Warren                                 9pts   3 wins
3. Martin Whittingham Jones   17pts
4. Malcolm Harvey                         25pts   1 x third
5. Steve Miller                                   25pts

Nineteen Skippers began to assemble at the club soon after 8am when the Commodore opened up.  With a forecast SW breeze veering to WSW or W, it was a surprise to see a light SE breeze blowing down the lake from the clubhouse.  Sailing Sec Paul P offered to don the waders and put some marks out for what we anticipated might be the right course by the time we started at 10:00, but with a option for a separate course should the SE breeze continue to blow.

Soon after 9, the SW/WSW breeze started to form and later on during the practice session, some strong gusts started to make their way down the course, which bode well for the start of racing.

After a short briefing by Paul, racing got underway for the 12 home skippers and seven visitors on time at 10:00 and the first or four planned four race sessions started in a decent A rig breeze diagonally across the lake.  An angled start line typically had plenty of port bias in it, but what  looked like the favoured end was sometimes becalmed and so not as favoured, although some boats did manage to make it pay off when starting there.

In the first four races, it was usually just Birkenhead boats who managed to lead the pack around with some visitors finding either the conditions or fleet management tough going at the beginning.  Martin Roberts stamped his immediate authority on the fleet by winning the first race, with John Brierley and Peter Baldwin making up the podium.  Peter then took his first win in a good run of four consecutive wins, with John B, Paul Middleton, Paul Plested, Alan Watkinson and Martin R all making the podium.

After a drinks break, John B took two wins (Peter took the first) and Martin had one win, with the podium places going to most of those mentioned earlier, with the notable mention of visitor Martin Brennan (Dovestone SC) who, having led for most of Race 8, was unfortunately overtaken by Martin R close to the finish.

Over lunch the morning scores were totted up and Peter was leading on eight points, with Martin and John B tied on 12 and Martin just holding onto second.  The afternoon session started well with the breeze holding up from the West, but with rain clouds building around us.  We completed a further four races by 14:10 and were looking good to complete 16 by the 16:00 last race start time.

Race wins were shared by John B, Martin and Peter (2), with the podium places taken by the same three plus John Carlin and Alan, With Martin Brennan and David McKee (Dovestone SC) placing well, but not quite making it onto the podium.  There were some very close finishes now with most sailors getting to grips with the conditions leading to some tricky times for the finishing team of Dave Williams and Neil Westbrook.

The final session started with a dropping breeze which was also shifting back to WSW with light rain in the air, which increased in intensity during race two.  Finally, during the third race, although starting in a very light breeze, it suddenly faded and there was very slow progress down the run (as set), which was anywhere from a run, to reach to a beat over the 10 minutes that we took to travel the 100m.  Unfortunately, the rules do not allow for course shortening and so everyone had to stick it out to the bitter end and a race duration of 30 minutes or more.  With the lake glassy from a lack of wind, there were no complaints about a slightly early finish with just 15 races completed.  Peter took two of the final wins and Martin one, with David McKee picking up a second, with the other podium spots being taken by the lead three of Peter, Martin and John B.  Visitors David McKee, Martin Brennan and Paul Middleton all had a fourth place, just misisng out on a podium spot.  Full results below, but the prize winners were Peter Baldwin, Martin Roberts, John Brierley, Paul Plested and Paul Middleton who all picked up a well deserved bottle of wine.

Thanks were given to the Race team of Dave Williams and Neil Westbrook and the ladies running the galley all day providing hot drinks and keeping us fed with home made biscuits and flapjack.

It all happens again next week when the club hold the annual Strebor IOM Race on Saturday 8th November – entry via this link.