DF65’s
Nine skippers were greeted to blue skies and a lightish, but promising, breeze blowing from the clubhouse end of the lake. Racing got underway with A+ rigs a little after 11:00 using the standard one lap windward/leeward course with a beat to finish, with skippers self policing the start line and first finisher logging the results.
The early pace setter was Paul Plested who scored a 1,2,2 in the first three races. Clive Warren and Alan Watkinson also took a top spot in each in this spell. Peter Baldwin, who was quick all day, had a relatively slow start recording his two discards in this session to go with a 2nd place. Guy Cowper, who took a bronze medal spot in race two, was competitive all morning with plenty of boat speed, especially upwind.
In the next three races the wind continued to switch back and forth and getting into the rhythm of the shifts was key. Paul and Peter had very close racing to the line in all three, with Paul just edging out Peter with two 1sts and a 2nd, with Peter notching up two 2nds and a 1st. Alan picked up another 3rd as did Guy. Clive was a little off the pace for a spell, but did pick up a third. Dave Williams also picked up a 4th, his best of the day.
In race seven Paul picked up his fourth 1st of the day followed by Peter and then Clive not far behind. The final race of the day proved to be the most tightly fought with places continually changing on the last beat. Alan took line honours very closely followed by Peter, Clive and Paul, with Guy just a few boat lengths behind them.
Paul, with four wins and discarding a 2nd was the overall winner on the day, followed by Peter. Alan finished off the podium positions, followed by Clive in 4th. Also worth noting that David White was much closer to the fleet especially as the morning progressed, he would have scored higher in at least two races if it wasn’t for misjudged tacks boat lengths from the finish line.
DF95’s
The sun was shining and a light breeze was blowing down the lake from the clubhouse end for an afternoon of social sailing with the 95. The same course as the morning was used which meant the approach to the windward mark would be very tricky being in the lee of the clubhouse. The starts were self monitored and first to finish recorded the results. Seven skippers including new member to the club and DF95 racing, Stuart Trunkfield, took to the water to contest the first 2 races and there were 2 different winners in Andy and Guy, with Alan and Stuart M sharing the other podium slots. The seven were then joined by Clive, Paul and Dave to bolster the fleet to 10, a good turnout considering a couple of regulars were unavailable.
The racing was keenly contested as ever, with the pack roughly split into 2 groups, Guy, Alan, Clive and Paul all setting the pace upfront, but there was no exclusivity and both Stuart M, Andy and New member Stuart T all posting top 3 places at some stage. Unfortunately, Commodore Dave suffered winch problems in race 5 and had to sit the rest of the afternoon out, but he kept busy looking after the starts and finishing and taking the days photos. Meanwhile further down the fleet John B and Steve M had a couple of fourth places each but were also a bit inconsistent. Stuart T started slowly but climbed steadily through the session managing to take top spot in the final race. A great achievement in his first outing.
After 10 races (2 discards) the sun was below the neighbouring houses and it started to get chilly so we called it a day.
Congrats to Guy taking the overall win by 2pts from Clive with Alan in third 8pts behind, but it could have been very different if Paul and Clive had not missed the first 2 races. Results belowcourtesy of Malcolm Harvey.
A rather unpromising forecast for today didn’t deter the 65 fleet, although the conditions on arrival had everyone looking for some extra layers of warm clothing. The promised rain arrived before racing was due to start and really hammered down for a few minutes, but then cleared up enough to make the sailing if not pleasant, then certainly not bad for winter sailing.
The forecast had got the punchy S. Easterly breeze about right and there were some hefty gusts which were right at the top of A rig conditions. There was a bit of debate about whether to stop for a change to B rig, but after a couple of races everyone decided to stick with the A.
Existing mark positions allowed for a good line, and it seemed to pay to start at the pin and then get the bow down on Starboard and sail right across until the breeze started to get affected by the trees on the far side and then make a fairly long port tack board back until the last bit of the beat where the clubhouse shifts came into play. During the morning this changed a bit, and it started to pay to come across on port early and pick up a starboard tack lift along the clubhouse side.
A number of boats had really good boat speed so the racing was interesting, with six of the eight skippers recording a second or first during the morning. Mike was lucky to get his boat dialled in early and the slight speed advantage allowed wins in the first six races. By race seven Richard had closed the gap to win, and Guy finished on a high with a race eight win.
A cold but competitive day’s racing with thanks to Malcolm for the results, and to Commodore Dave for keeping everything moving and taking pictures (at the expense of a race).
A strange wind today carried over from the morning, nominally easterly but with some brutal swirling shifts especially around the approach to the windward mark. The same course as the morning was used and the starts were self monitored.
A good turnout of 8 skippers opted for a safe B rig set up, A rig would probably have been ok with hindsight with only the odd stronger gust posing a problem.
As seems to be the case recently, the racing was generally very competitive with 6 of the 8 helms recording at least 1 top three position. Paul was the pick of the bunch posting 7 wins out of the 9 races sailed. He only lost out to Clive in the first race and Alan in the 5th and sailed very consistently throughout the afternoon.
Clive and Alan had a close dual for the other podium spots, with Alan posting a 3rd place against Clives 4th separating their scores in the end.
The rest of the group had a battle royal to determine the final positions, unfortunately Dave had gear problems with the mainsheet jumping off the winch spool which cost him dearly and after a couple of repeat disappointments, called it a day and became RO and cameraman for the rest of the afternoon. Meanwhile Andy was winning the battle for 4th and pushing his brother Stuart into 5th securing the bragging rights for another week!! The final positions were also close with only 2 points separating Steve and Malcolm with the latter taking the 6th spot.
A good afternoon in a healthy breeze with a few nasty shifts in wind direction to keep the helms on their toes. Good competition throughout the fleet and sailed in a social manner. What more can you ask for?
Paul Plested set the pace in the first race, followed over the line by Mike De St Paer, with Clive 3rd. Guy Cowper, who is only just getting to grips with his recently acquired 65, finished 4th, which proved to be his joint lowest result of the day.
As the breeze came and went there was plenty of opportunity for places to change and, whilst it could pay on occasion to hit a corner on the beat, it was safer to try and keep the boat moving up the middle. Despite doing this Paul in race two lost out to Guy, who seemed to have boat speed to spare, on the final beat. Clive posted another 3rd place, just pipping Charles Legg on the line.
By race three there was enough breeze to use the full length of the lake and the usual windward mark with a spreader was introduced. Clive got away cleanly and lead to the finish, followed by Paul and then Mike.
Races four and five had the same podium positions with Paul bagging two 1sts, Guy two 2nds and Clive two thirds. Dave Williams took one of the 4ths and Charles took the other, both sailing well on the day just behind the front runners in several races. Mike opted to call it a day at this point as he wasn’t enjoying the conditions…but then who was.
Clive took race six closely followed by Paul at the line, with Guy in third. Richard Walker, who had a better second half in the morning’s racing, after some serious boat tweaks took 4th spot. Guy, who had been consistently quick all day bagged his second win in race seven with Charles just pipping Paul on the line to take 2nd.
The afternoon brought a little more wind than the morning session for the 65s, still generally from the clubhouse end of the lake but there were directional swings along the length of the lake and picking these would prove critical to getting a good finishing result.
Eight skippers including a guest, Mathew Pritchard from Great Orme MYC, took to the water for a prompt start on time. The same standard course as the morning was set.
There were a number of personal battles within the fleet but you couldn’t concentrate too much on these as the racing was super tight and this was demonstrated by 6 of the 8 sailors taking a podium position in at least one race. Paul was by far the pick of the bunch posting 7 bullets and 2 second places but the truth is not reflected in the results as he was pushed all the way to the line in almost every race with a couple of boat lengths making the difference. Clive took the other 2 race wins and backed this up with consistent results in the top 4 places. Andy was consistent, posting 3 seconds and 3 thirds but slipped back in a couple of races but is showing great boat speed. The crunch battle of the afternoon was between Guy and his friend Mathew and the pressure seemed to get to Guy. Mathew just managed to hold the bragging rights by 2 points in the end, with Stuart close behind. Malcolm and Steve also had a private battle with Steve prevailing, thanks to a third place in the last race. After 9 races, it was time to call a halt, and retire to the clubhouse to warm up.
A very enjoyable afternoon of DF95 sailing, with some good banter on the sidelines and some tricky sailing conditions picking the right shifts and being in the right area of the lake to pick the wind shifts. Congrats to Paul showing a master class in being at the right place at the right time (for most of the time)
Thanks also to Malcolm for the A fleet results and Clive for the photos.
It turned out to be an interesting day for rig choice as well – just about on the cusp of B and C. Two boats elected to sail with B – Dave and Malcolm (who didn’t have C rigs available) – with the others on C. The C boats were OK upwind in the gusts but underpowered in the lulls and offwind, while the B rig boats went well upwind in the lulls but were overpowered and tricky to tack in the gusts, and were a handful downwind in the gusts. There was quite a steep chop which also affected the B rig boats coming off the bottom mark. It’s frustrating until one remembers it’s like sailing a Dragon or an Etchells in a 6ft swell!
Clive simply aced the day by winning 6 of the 8 races, and although challenged at some moments sailed consistently well to make it look easy. Alan and Mike swapped positions all morning with Alan making second by one point and with each winning one race.
Dave persevered with the B rig as his C rig was damaged but found it hard going in the gusts, Malcolm also decided half way through the morning that he would take a break from B rig struggles, and kindly RO’d the rest of the morning. Charles started well with plenty of boat speed but then had a winch which developed a mind of its own which made things difficult in the conditions so had to stop sailing.
Fortunately the snow and ice had thawed allowing 4 men and their boats to take to the water for a great afternoon of DF95 racing, tweaking and tuning although a tad cold especially with the wind chill factor. With a fantastic north westerly breeze blowing almost straight down the lake from the far end with no holes and only little shifts, and perfect for a top end B rig.
Before we put the boats on the water Clive gave Andy and Stuart’s boats a few tweaks as it was the first time their B rigs had seen daylight.
A similar course to the morning was set and due to numbers used self monitoring starts and the finishes were recorded by the first across the line. The racing was more competitive than the results show with 3 skippers winning at least 1 race, Clive taking most honours and both Malcolm and Andy showing great boat speed after a few tweaks and challenged for line honours on more than 1 occasion but were lacking some consistency.
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.
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 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 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.
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
