DF65’s
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.
A really competitive day with many thanks to Frans for ROing and Malcolm for the results as shown below, plus Dave as resident photographer of the 65’s. Finishing on a slightly sad note, Sally has decided to retire from the fleet due to other commitments – we will all miss you Sally.
DF95’s
The morning southerly breeze continued for the majority of the afternoon providing a good mid range for A rig. Six skippers took to the water, a couple of regulars down but enough for some good close racing. The starts were self monitored and the finish recorded by the first home. The same course as the morning was used using the full length of the lake, to a windward mark, spreader a single leeward rounding mark and to the finish line ¾ of the way up the lake providing a good beat. Before racing started Clive gave some useful rigging pointers to Andy, Stuart and Steve which was well received.
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 2 and 3 ended the same way with Clive taking the wins, Andy theb 2nd and Guy the 3rd 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 5 and it was Clives turn to take the win with Andy continuing his run of 2nds with Guy 3rd. The minor placings were being well contested with Steve Miller just about getting the better of Stuart and Malcolm, however Stuart suffered boat failure in race 5 which ended his afternoon
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.
For Races 7, 8, and 9 and after Malcolms retirement only 4 helms remained, the wind was probably the best it had been all day, so 3 more races were sailed. The results were to close to call with Guy on 2 wins, Clive on 3, Andy on 1 but with a bag full of 2nds it was all to play for The final 3 races were just as close and resulted in 3 different winners Guy, Clive and Andy with Andy, taking 2 seconds, and Clive taking the other. Steve Miller sailed a great last race to take a 3rd spot.
To summarise, it was a very enjoyable afternoon with a pretty good breeze providing a very good afternoons racing.
A lovely bright start to sailing today, although the South West wind blowing right over the houses provided a somewhat lucky dip element to the days sailing. One of the clubhouse end start marks remains missing despite a pre-sailing search party, but the remaining start mark and the nearer gate mark provided a good start line, and it was agreed to use the finish mark as a windward mark providing a good – if very unpredictable – beat. The first few races then used the rest of the usual course, but as races were proving quite lengthy it was agreed to use a shortened course using the finish mark, outer start mark and gate.
Racing got away promptly from the clubhouse end with the line working OK. It was really very shifty (Neil would say people kept opening and closing doors in the next road) and it was somewhat of a lucky dip where to start. The first beat to round the finishing mark was also very tricky with different tactics working for different races.
Overall it seemed to pay to start on Starboard at the outer end and then sail until headed closer to the windward bank, but there were plenty of exceptions meaning there were five different winners during the mornings eight races. Almost everyone had at least one good result during the morning with Mike managing to stay clear overall.
Thanks to Commodore Dave for keeping things moving, taking pictures and doing the results which are shown below. A really pleasant day to be outside followed by an excellent Christmas meal very well organised by Malcolm – many thanks again
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.
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.
Commodore Dave chased everyone for a prompt – or even early – start on a standard course. The existing start mark positions offered a choice between a very starboard – or a very port – biased start line. It was so light and fluky that no one reckoned it was worth paddling to do a reset so the starboard biased line was chosen as the “least worst” option. This full course was used for race one, but as the race duration was close to 20 minutes overall it was then agreed to run a shortened Port hand course using the finish mark as the windward mark, and the leeward gate as a leeward mark and spreader. This worked well and enabled the fleet to get in six races until on the seventh, as noted below, the wind went to nothing although Alan had sailed a perfect race and was the only boat to get across the line although Richard got very close before all the other competitors were finished on the water
The wind was really very light and patchy, but it seemed initially to pay to get right down to the pin and then try and get away on starboard. This seemed to pay to start with but in later races it began to pay to start nearer the clubhouse side and then make a short port tack to stay in the middle of the course and keep the options open.
What breeze there was came – as forecast – from the South East, and stayed in until a bit of drizzle brought in a slow reduction in pressure until in race 7 it went absolutely flat, and it was agreed to finish the morning session by giving places on the water.
Various boats showed good speed at different times, including Andy Mearns who was suddenly right on the pace after some mid-session tweaking. There were four different race winners over the morning’s racing, and despite the conditions racing was very keen. With a couple of extra race wins Mike dsp was able to stay clear of the pack on a day where luck was definitely a factor.
Full results as shown below with the usual thanks to Commodore Dave for moving things along, and to Malcom who kindly ROd for us and did the results as well.
School half-term week attracted just 7 DF65 sailors …. which is strange since I can’t think of any regular sailors who are young enough to have school age children …. unless everybody was on grand parents duty instead … although nobody took the option to bring the grand children to Gautby Rd which might have provided some unplanned entertainment!
Those that did attend had an enjoyable morning with A+ rigs, 10 races and a (mostly) NW wind with regular puffs from a more westerly direction ensuring that the usual Gautby Rd jeopardy was in play in every race. The course comprised of a beat to the windward mark, around a spreader, back down the lake to a single leeward mark and up to the finish. There was no set pattern to the beats …. sometimes it paid to take a single port tack to the far bank while at other times it paid to take a hitch on starboard and hope to pick up one of the port lifting puffs. Downwind was just a case of being in the wind.
Charles lodged his complaint that racing was going to be dominated by James and Andrew while we were still rigging …. and then made himself look foolish by winning 2 out of the first 4 races. James decided to use his 2 discards when his main sheet came off the winch in race 2 but returned in time for race 4
After the first 4 races, Charles’s prophesy did come true with James and Andrew fighting for the top places while everybody else battled behind. James came out on top winning the last 4 races helped by Richard taking out Andrew in race 7, and some incompetent mark rounding by Andrew while leading in race 8.
Many thanks to Dave for being RO for most races and getting some photos in as well.