A drizzly day with a wind that came and went and at lunchtime swung round 180 degree is what faced the seven skippers on their arrival. Numbers were slightly down on the norm with people at the IOM worlds and holidays.
At the start of the day the wind (what there was) was from the east, meaning from the clubhouse end and slightly from the industrial park side, no option for Rigs it had to be top suit. A standard course was set utilising the full length of the lake, but due to the uncertainty of the wind or lack of, the number of laps varied between 1 and 2 depending on the wind at the start of each race.
The 1st race saw Neil use all his local knowledge to take the win from Clive and Alan.
Race 2 saw John Brierley get into his stride and take a narrow win from Clive and John Beech who showed good boat speed.
Race 3 and we lost Neil with electrical problems, John Brierley took a runaway win catching the wind on the run to the gate whilst the rest sat still. (it was that sort of day)
As the wind came and went John B and Clive were consistently at the front end of the fleet with John generally having the edge at the finish.
Race 4, saw Clive lead around the final gate only for John B to pick a wind shift and take another bullet. Alan posting his second 3rd place on the bounce
Race 5 and 6 John was out front again ,but this time in race 5 it was Dave who was chasing finishing in second with Clive third and in race 6 it was Clive second with Alan third.
Lunch/ coffee was then taken, and to everyone’s surprise when we returned the wind had swung round 180deg, so the start line was moved to the clubhouse end. Again a standard course was set using the full length of the lake.
Races 7,8 and 9, followed the familiar pattern of John B first, Clive second and third podium spot being filled by Dave, John Beech, and Alan (1 each)
Races 10 and 11, At last Clive got his reward leading from the start to take 2 bullets from John B, with Alan and John Beech picking up a third each
Race 12, and it looked like Clive would make it a hat trick of wins leading for a lap and a half only to be becalmed at the weather mark and John B and Dave turn a 30m deficit and into a 10m advantage which was held to the finish.
Thanks to Dave Williams for photos and result formatting
Guy had his portable anemometer out and it showed gusts of 16 knots, although it must be a cheapo from Tandy’s because it lied! Speke Airport was gusting 36 knots blowing from the WNW so you can imagine it was very choppy down the clubhouse end of the lake.
C Rigs was the call as this is the smallest suit the 65’s carry. Boat handling and consistency paid off as ever. Very challenging conditions in the rain and squalls. Many a lament as skippers struggled to tack and found themselves in irons to great cost in the placings.
Our thanks to Malcom who sadly did not have a C Rig and so elected to be Rave (sic) Officer and photographer. Do join us again next week for yet another great Rave!
The wind continued to blow straight down the lake from the far end providing almost perfect sailing conditions for the six skippers who took to the water for an afternoon of DF95 sailing. The only downside was the intermittent rain showers and the cold wind, but you can’t have it all. The wind strength was perfect for C rigs an unusual sight at Gautby Rd.
A standard course was set with only one lap to maximise the number of races, with only six boats on the start line the starts were self monitored and the normal first to finish recorded the results.
Race 1, saw field split into 2 groups, with Clive, Alan and Guy taking the podium spots. There was then a gap to the other 3 boats.
The handicapping worked to close the gap between competitors, during the next 6 races all skippers visiting podium at least once. However they couldn’t catch Clive who had a very solid day posting 7 wins in the first 7 races. After bailing the water out of his boat Alan seemed to struggle to repeat his first race result whilst Stuart improved to post a string of 4 seconds. Steve also profited from the handicapping with 2 thirds, with Malcolm chipping in also with a third. It took a bit of team work in the last race to prevent Clive having a clean sweep, when Guy took Clive out whilst battling for the lead on the final leg to allow Alan and Stuart through.
In summary a great afternoon sailing, with near perfect C rig conditions, but after 8 races the skippers returned to the clubhouse to dry off and warm up.
A warm morning greeted the seven enthusiastic sailors, unfortunately the wind was not so forthcoming and created a very frustrating morning for all.
The start at the top end of the lake was self monitored, although it was vital with the shortage of wind, not to be over on the bell. The first race saw Clive take an easy win with Charles and Dave finding their own wind, overtaking the rest of the fleet to gain a second and third.
The next five races followed a similar pattern in regards to the wind with any advantage slowly (sometimes quickly) wiped out on the way to the finish line. Congratulations to Clive who took three of the races to win overall, and to Alan and Charles for sharing the other three.
To say the day was frustrating wind wise was an understatement, but we managed six races somehow. Thanks go to Dave for calculating the results and taking then photos (as usual).
DF95’s
6 Skippers turned out to put their boats on the water for a “Gautby Rd special conditions” afternoon. The morning was bad enough with wind shifts and holes but in the afternoon it became even worse with the wind attempting to change direction by 180 degrees but never actually making it before switching back. That was the bad part; the good news was the sun shone and fun was had by all. For the wind that materialised, it was predominantly easterly which in plain terms was from the clubhouse end of the lake. The standard windward mark with spreader, then gate and finish at the line halfway up the lake. With only 6 skippers the starts were self monitored and the first to finish recorded the others home.
Competition for places was, as always, closely contested with everyone posting at least 1 podium finish. Stuart T came out of the blocks and took the 1st race from Clive who had a very consistent afternoon despite the conditions with Paul third. Clive then took the next 3 races with Charles posting 2 seconds and Stuart T, Stuart M and Paul filling the rest of the podium spots. As race 4 finished with the boats running across the line the 5th race was started from the clubhouse end of the lake, but shortly after the start the wind swung back to the original direction. Stuart T was in the right place at the right time and took line honours with Clive and Charles filling the next places. In the final race, Clive had a comfortale win with Steve taking a well deserved 2nd place.
After 8 races enough was enough and the wind finally wore our gallant competitors down. It had been a testing day at Gautby Rd by any standards. Well done to Clive who posted5 wins and 3 seconds, pushed by Stuart T with 3 wins, and Charles with 3 thirds, and Paul taking bragging rights in the Mearns household this week.
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.
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.
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.
