DF65’s
A most interesting day at Gautby road which started with an excellent 65 and 95 tuning talk by Paul Plested and Peter Baldwin. This was followed with close attention by a good crowd of regular club racers, and covered the basic dos – and some dont’s – of pre sailing setup. Paul did remind everyone that you still have to start well and hit the shifts, but there was definitely something in the talk for everyone to take away.
As someone said afterwards – I’m still confused, but confused at a higher level! Thank you Paul and Peter.
Onto the sailing with a Eastish wind blowing from the clubhouse slightly diagonally down the lake maybe favouring port tack slightly. Neil very kindly RO’d for the morning and used the standard course with the longest beat available. The line was plenty long enough and enabled good starts at various places as the conditions changed.
Starting the first race on A+ it became immediately clear that a smaller rig would be needed, and everyone went straight to B which initially seemed like overkill (as you can see in some of the photos), but as the gusts increased during the morning it proved to be the correct choice.
Clive put in two bullets straight away, Peter won the third race and Mike dsp the fourth and these three won all the morning races between them, with Clive eventually winning four of the seven races completed to run out a clear winner having sailed consistently well. Mdsp scraped a second , one point in front of Peter, with Andrew fourth, and John and Richard fifth and sixth only separated by countback.
There was a lot of very close racing with decisions at the downwind gate making a big difference, and major variations in both pressure and direction right across the course making it a challenging but enjoyable days sailing for all.
Big thanks again to Paul and Peter for the tuning session, to Neil for ROing and to Dave for doing the results – shown below – plus having time for some photo’s (once we went to B rig) and keeping everything together as always. The one photo from the first race with everyone in A+ at the start of the report is from Paul Plested.
Sadly Stuart Trunkfiekd got hooked on a gate mark in Race 6 and so missed out on T+Race 6 and 7 and needed the waders on to untangle his boat.
DF95’s
The morning conditions continued into the afternoon with lovely sunshine and a good easterly breeze. A practice by some skippers using A rigs soon prompted a change to B rig and this proved a good compromise for the conditions. The same standard course as the morning was set by RO Neil Westbrook who kindly volunteered his services.
Nine skippers took to the water to enjoy the challenges. The easterly wind direction always throws up some tricky sailing with a lot of decisions for the helm, where to start on the line, although port tack was the tack to take you down the lake it wasn’t strong enough to clear starboard boats by the time you had tacked and built up speed again. It was therefore a case of how quick could you get onto port and away. The non clubhouse side was also in the lee of the trees on that side with all the problems they could cause.
There were plenty of shifts and false knocks to fall foul of and make even the best skippers look silly at times, but it did also give everyone a chance to pick up a place or two. The approach to the windward mark was probably the most difficult part of the course as the wind bounced of the clubhouse and often this would be where the race could be won or lost. The run could be problematic with localised gust leaving a boat 2m away stranded whilst the others screamed past fighting a nosedive. The final decision on which gate mark to take was the final major decision to be made, take the starboard mark to gain the port tack but perhaps suffer the tricky wind through the trees or go port mark in clearer air and hope for a lift. The truth was it was a toss up which way to go and was never the same twice in a row
With all that said the sailing was closely contested with six of the nine skippers notching up at least 1 podium position and 5 helms posting at least 1 bullet. Peter was the pick of the bunch with 4 firsts, Paul with 2 and Stuart T and Alan 1 each. The racing was tricky and closely fought but really enjoyable especially with the sun on our backs.
Thanks to Neil for volunteering to RO, Clive for the photos and Paul for compiling results in A fleet.
A glorious sunny day greeted the sailors as they arrived, but would the wind show up to make it complete? That question was soon answered as a light breeze started to blow down the lake from the far end once boats were rigged and Peter was moving marks around to suit the wind direction.
We started on time at 13:00 with 10 sailors coming to the start line for a few self monitored starts and the winner recording the finishing positions. Guy Cowper started well and led the first couple of races for a while, before Peter Baldwin overhauled him, usually because of a minor tactical error or mark contact at the Leeward gate. Also up there in these races were Clive Warren, Duncan Neale and Alan Watkinson and the podium places were usually taken up by this group of 5; with the top 5 in Race 2 being in exactly the same positions as Race 1. In Race 5, John Beech came to the fore and led around the first mark and although overtaken by Guy and Peter, he held onto a solid third place. By now, Robbie Mac had turned up and offered to run the racing and write the finishing scores, which proved very useful.
At the halfway stage, Peter was clear ahead, with Guy in second and Clive in third. The wind had held up although varying in strength we rarely saw it dropping away to nothing. However, there were some holes and shifts to catch you out in some unexpected ways.
In the second session after the break, Peter didn’t achieve all the wins, with Alan taking one and Clive picking up the last two after a minor tweak to the twist in his main, giving him a slight edge over Peter. Alan also had a better afternoon and had podium scores for all of these six races. Guy unfortunately couldn’t seem to replicate his form from the first session and only had one podium position. There was plenty of close competition through the fleet however, with many close finishes in the middle order requiring a keen eye to split boats just inches apart on the finishing line.
At the finish, Peter took a clear win, with Alan’s afternoon results lifting him to second and Clive picking up third, due to his two wins in the last races. An afternoon of close to champagne conditions for the ten skippers. Do join us next time on Saturday 16th May for Round #2 of the Summer series. Many thanks to Robbie Mac for acting as RO and taking this weeks photos, plus Dave Williams for pulling the scored together.
Sunshine and wind … what more do you need for a fun morning of DF65 racing? The forecast and a look at the lake on arrival both suggested we were on for a B rig day so I was a little surprised to find everybody setting up with A+ rigs. John was first to be ready and was sent out to test the conditions. He returned 5 minutes later and unconvincingly confirmed the A+ rig selection, then went back to have another test. As soon as everybody had got their A+ rigs on, John returned to say that A rigs were required … so we all changed down.
The wind was blowing predominantly straight down the lake from the clubhouse end. I say ‘predominantly’ as rarely is anything straightforward at Gautby Rd. The usual course was set (no need to waste time and space explaining it!) and we all set off on the first race. A rigs proved to be right and the first half of the beat was reasonably consistent. However as we got towards the windward mark the bit of easterly in the forecast had a pretty dramatic effect with unpredictable 30 degree shifts coupled with big puffs and even bigger lulls. These conditions persisted throughout the morning and proved to be a great leveller in every race. Starts weren’t critical and it was only how you managed the final third of the beat that really made a difference. First around the windward mark generally got away and went on to win the race.
By race 3 the wind strength had increased another notch which turned it into a lottery downwind as everybody started nose diving, which led to a change to B rigs for the rest of the morning. Clive proved the most consistent winning the day with 2 race wins. Alan also showed consistency to come second without winning a race. Dave might have won overall if we had been on B rigs all day … he came third winning 2 races and was only let down by his race results with the A rig, and a special shout-out to Stuart who won race 4.
Thanks to Neil and Andy for doing all the RO duties and Dave for the photos.
The sun continued to shine, and the easterly wind continued to blow providing a great afternoons sailing for the 13 boats preparing to take to the water, including Phil Hackney from Budworth and prospective member Rob Riddle (a friend of Guys). We were also very pleased to welcome back Paul Mearns after his illness and Graham Birkett.
The conditions warranted B rigs and this proved correct but in a couple of races the conditions increased to top end B but was just about manageable. The standard course was set using the full length of the lake. The normal format of self monitoring of the start and the first to finish records the results was to save average points for RO’ing, and also to maximise sailing for all.
Joe was the first casualty, with a broken on / off switch which kept him out for the first races, Alan started as he meant to go on taking the win in race 1, with Graham and Clive filling up the podium. Steve had a very good race taking 4th as did our visitor Rob but unfortunately we lost John Carlin with boat failure.
Racing was very competitive and in the second race it was Graham who took line honours followed by Clive and Stuart M who sailed a great race to take 3rd.
Race 5 and it looked like Clives’ consistency would pay off, but just 5m from the line. he caught a bag around his keel allowed Graham, Stuart M and Guy all to pass and fill the top 3. Clive finally got his revenge in the next race with Alan and Guy chasing, Phil Hackney pulled up at this stage having only an A rig and sailed well considering he was so over powered.
After 9 races time ran out which was a shame as the racing was first class with 4 different race winners and 7 different podium finishers. Congrats to Alan, taking the overall honours and to Graham, Guy and Clive with a point between each of them.
The forecast suggested that the fleet could be moving down the rigs as the day wore on, but for the 65s in the morning A+ was manageable…just! Whilst the general wind direction was from over the clubhouse, the shifts and gusts were significant, with big gains/losses bringing smiles/tears depending up on how well you coped with them.
The racing throughout the fleet was close, with several four boat close finishes, and with others just pipping competitors on the line. Paul Plested made it a challenge for anyone else to take top spot on the day by winning the first four races. However, John Carlin, after a slow start, found his form posting two 1sts and several podium positions to finish a clear 2nd overall on the day.
Clive Warren was, at one point, closer to the top two than the final result suggests, but gear failure meant he missed three races and also had to count a retired. Andrew also had boat issues, but managed to get back afloat, only missing one race. Charles Legg opted to sit the racing out after the first two races.
James Douglas was joined on the day by his son, Cam, who took turns racing 73, with James hopping over to Dave William’s boat on at least one occasion. Richard Walker, Stuart Mearns and Stuart Trunkfield (first time with his DF65) all featured at or near the front of the fleet in several races, but struggled to hang on through to the finish, apart from Stuart M who did bag a 2nd in race seven. With only five points separating them, Richard came out on top in this mid fleet tussle.
David White and Malcolm Harvey battled on in the challenging conditions, with David edging out Malcolm on the day.
We arrived today expecting no wind, but in fact there was a gentle NW ish breeze blowing with just enough Northerly in it to miss the clubside housing. Another excellent turnout of 11 skippers started, including ex-Commodore John B, for what turned out to be a really interesting mornings racing very kindly run by Neil who got the racing away promptly.
The start looked to favour a port tack start but the line could be laid on Starboard. James made a couple of port tack flier starts work, but the size of the fleet and the shifts meant most preferred to approach on starboard. Line discipline was surprisingly good, with only one general, so Neil didn’t have to use the threatened black flag.
Initially it appeared to pay to continue on starboard before tacking, but again that changed during the morning, and then at the top of the beat there was a big port tack lift – but not every time – and also an intermittent very flat patch at the far side before the starboard layline tack to the top mark which caught a few out.
The gate was also interesting with successful last beats made from both sides, and a surprising amount of place swapping on this last leg.
John B showed his experience and class by winning 4 of the 9 races sailed to win by two points from James who took a couple of races to get going but thereafter sailed very consistently to a close second place.
Alan was the best of the rest, beating Mike on countback for third and closely followed by John in fifth. Very nice to welcome Martin James back and a well done to Stuart Mearns who is sailing quicker every time and finished the day in sixth.
Very close racing on the water with the usual thanks to Dave for organising us and taking the pictures, and today to Neil for ROing on a really chilly day.
