c

Category: DF95

DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2025 – 3/12/25

DF65’s

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. .

The usual thanks to Commodore Dave for keeping things moving as well as finding time for a few photos and to Malcolm for doing the results which are shown below.

DF95’s

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 5 and it was business as usual for John C taking the first, of 4 straight wins, whilst Malcolm took a 2nd place and Steve the 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.

This all made the lower positions very close. There was no doubt about the winner and congratulations go to John C  for a solid set of results

Thanks to Clive and Andy for the photos

Results

  1. 50          John Carlin                       7pts  7 wins
  2. 93          Clive Warren                  14pts  1 win
  3. 2019     Malcolm Harvey           24pts
  4. 288       John Beech                     29pts
  5. 04          Andy Mearns                34pts  1 win
  6. 637       Steve Miller                    34pts  2 thirds
  7. 805       Stuart Mearns               34pts

DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2025 – 26/11/25

DF65’s

Plenty of layers were required today and caution on the icy footpath.  An A+ rig was selected for the light wind conditions.
Starting looked quite straight forward with a strong port end bias on the start line however this didn’t always prove successful with the dying wind on the far side of the course and slowly moving round as the morning progressed.  There were a few start line collisions and the usual merry quips exchanged!!  Gaining a good start however, wasn’t necessarily a guarantee to be in the leading pack at the windward mark.
There was plenty of potential for errors to be made up the beat as shifts were missed or the wind didn’t behave as it should (or expected)! The port side paid off for the first few races but gains would be made to starboard as the wind slowly moved round to the South.
The downwind leg seemed easier to stay ahead with few place changes and little congestion at the leeward gate with the near mark paying consistently.  However, places continued to change on the final approach to the finish line.  Competition was tight throughout the fleet with Mike and John tussling for 1st place with a tight following pack of Alan, James & Clive.
Charles, Dave, Richard & David also had good tight  competitive racing with places changing all the way to a close finish.  After 9 races sailed, John Carlin ended up as today’s winner just one point ahead of MIke DSP, with Alan Watkinson narrowly taking third place from James Douglas by one point.
  1. john Carlin              11  10pts 3 wins
  2. Mike De St Paer    35  11pts  2 wins
  3. Alan Watkinson 373  16pts  2 wins
  4. James Douglas      73  17pts  1 win
  5. Clive Warren          53 21pts  1 win
  6. Charles Legg          21  29pts
  7. Richard Walker     39  30pts
  8. Dave Williams       33  37pts
  9. David White           74  40pts

DF95’s

6 skippers turned out in the afternoon for the 95 social sailing. The afternoon was much like the morning with what felt like a bitterly cold Sourtherly 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 6 boats the starts were self monitored, and first to finish recorded the results. 10 races were sailed providing 2 discards.

From the start the skippers were almost split into 2 groups with Alan, Paul, Guy, and Clive in the leading pack with Steve, Stuart and Andy in the second pack. Conditions by Gautby Rd standards weren’t too tricky,  however there were places to be gained especially when approaching the windward mark and on the final beat from the gate to the finish line. This lead to some very tight racing within the 2 groups with some close finishes and private duals and the skippers had to keep concentrating.

The first 3 races saw 3 different winners with Clive, Alan and Guy taking 1 each and in the  second group it was just as competitive with each of the 3 skippers also sharing the remaining position.

Race 4 and Clive picked up the pace with his 2nd win which turned out to be the start of an impressive run of 5 bullets. Clive had also been busy tweaking Andy’s boat which seemed to pay dividends with him taking the second place in race 5 and would move him up to battle it out with the front pack for the rest of the day.

Races 6, 7 and 8 and Alan was finding consistency and a bit more boat speed taking 3 seconds behind Clive, with Guy and Andy duelling it out for the other podium spot. Further  down the fleet Steve and Stuart were having their own private battle and it was all to play for.

Races 9 and 10, and with the predicted rain starting to fall it was Alans turn to fire 2 straight bullets, with Andy and Clive sharing the other podium spoils. The at the bottom of the fleet could not have been closer with both Stuart and Steve tied on the same points with the final race to sail!!

In summary, a cold, but very enjoyable afternoon with extremely close racing throughout the small fleet, with very some good individual battles.

  1. 93          Clive Warren                  10pts  6 wins
  2. 23          Alan Watkinson            15pts  3 wins
  3. 38          Guy Cowper                   20pts   1 win
  4. 04          Andy Mearns                 25pts
  5. 805       Stuart Mearns               40pts
  6. 637       Steve Miller                    41pts

DF95 Social Racing 2025 – 22/11/25

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 & DF95 Social Racing – 5/11/25

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 4th 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

DF95 Open 2025 – 1/11/25

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.

Photo (c) Dave Williams

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.

Photo (c) Dave Williams

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.

Photo (c) Dave Williams

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.

Photo (c) Dave Williams

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.

L to R Martin Roberts, Paul Middleton, Peter Baldwin, John Brierley and Paul Plested Photo (c) Clive Warren

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.