Another excellent turnout of ten DF65 sailors today on a forecast which really didn’t look that promising. The lake looked pretty flat but there were just enough patches of breeze to make a start worthwhile.
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.
There were seven Df95 sailors out for this additional morning of Social Racing in a decent A rig breeze from the clubhouse end which was at times quite gusty, making it a little cool.
Peter took the lions share of the wins with one of them a tie with John Carlin as we couldn’t separate them. That’s the problem with trying to spot finishers whilst sailing. John C, buoyed by this shared win went one better with a deserved win in the next race as well. It was generally very close at the front of the fleet, with only a rare occasion when Peter pulled away to finish by a clear margin. So Peter took the win and John C was clear ahead in second.
Phyl started off the day with a couple of poor results, but then Peter tweaked his setup to make the best of the rig sheeting positions and transformed his boat speed with a number of 3rd and 4th’s and even a 2nd in race 9. He was having a great tussle with John Beech and they ended the morning after 11 races tied, with Phyl just edging out John B with more 4th’s
Martin had some great starts and was often well placed at the first mark, but dropped back during the one lap races to end up fifth overall. Duncan Neale had a good start and was up with the leaders for a few races until his transmitter battery had enough and ended his day. Fortunately, he then took over RO duties and took the photos for this session, so thanks for that Doncan.
A rather depleted field today with only six skippers showing up for the morning DF65 session – possibly deterred by the forecast for very light wind and a rather cold autumn morning.
The start was at the far end with a good direction for the beat, but a line that was well and truly starboard biased. However the starts were all incident free with everyone keen to avoid any boat to boat issues as it was hard to get moving again if you did.
Further back Dave W sailed consistently to claim third in the very variable conditions followed by Clive and Mike with a more variable set of results. Clive beat Mike on countback with Dave White showing much better speed and getting into the mix as well.
A great turnout of 12 DF65 skippers for todays social racing. Also a pleasure to welcome Andy and Stuart Mearns who have been sailing Victoria class yachts at Ashton park in West Kirby, but who came to have a look at Gautby Road and think about DF sailing.
The club marks were somewhat disorganised after the very heavy weather, and new ground tackle was needed for a couple as well as some repositioning. Mdsp went for a fairly extensive paddle, and although the start looked OK early on, the wind then went right and made the line very starboard biased.
With such a good turnout and pretty much only one place to be on the line it was crowded to say the least, and it was tricky to see all the boats clearly, resulting in some contact. There was talk of resetting the line but no one seemed keen to go for another paddle.
Peter was class of the field with four wins, including being tagged a couple of times so very much deserved the win. Racing was very close indeed overall, and although the wind blew more or less straight down the lake it remained very shifty, with some holes despite some quite decent pressure.
Behind Peter the next 5 or 6 boats swapped places and remained very close. In the end Mike dsp edged away slightly to hold second leaving Clive, John and James tied on points for third / fourth / fifth, and then Paul, Andrew and Alan in 6th / 7th and 8th within 5 points. Close racing.
Racing was close right from the start, with Peter, Clive and Ian all showing good boat speed, and generally ahead of Alan, Duncan, John and Malcolm who were having their own private battle with the occasional skirmish into the podium positions.
Peter eventually coming out on top with 5 wins, but he didn’t have it all his own way with Clive taking 2 wins and Ian with a very consistent 1 win and 6 seconds. Alan finished best of the rest with 3 third places but didn’t have the consistency of the top 3.
After 8 races, (providing 2 discards) Peter, Ian and Malcolm had to leave, as the sun was shinning and the wind for once was behaving itself at Gautby Rd the remaining 4 decided to have a bit more enjoyment and have 2 more races just for bragging rights the results of which are not included in the final results.
A disappointingly small turnout of 8 skippers for a session that started with great A+ rig conditions but unfortunately became curtailed as the wind swung from south-east (down the lake) to south and disappeared completely after 6 races. It was a bad start to the day for Andrew, who following last weeks hull failure when the sail control turning block pulled out the hull, then had the backstay fitting pull out the hull leaving a gaping hole in the stern and nothing to connect the backstay to. A rawl plug and screw were the ultimate bodge job with bits of tape used (unsuccessfully as it would prove) to fill the gaps around the plug
The normal course was used with a beat to the windward mark, across to a spreader, back down the lake to the downwind gate and back up to the finish line. The initial plan was for everybody to do each race and the winner then record the results but somehow Dave managed to pull the clew out of his sail during the first race leaving him to volunteer for RO for the rest of the session
The racing was typical Gautby Rd … any lack of boatspeed could be overcome if you got in the right part of the lake for the next shift or puff, and there wasn’t any particular pattern in either shifts or puffs. Surprisingly, the downwind legs were reasonably consistent with little overtaking going on
Alan dominated with 4 wins, followed by John with 2 wins. Clive was very inconsistent but scrambled 3rd place from Andrew, who had to refill the lake from his boat after each race … a process that got worse as the wind dropped and the races took longer. Luckily for Andrew, the wind disappeared quickly, enabling Dave to put an end to the racing, rather than subjecting Andrew to a complete drifter which could have been terminal. Thanks to Dave for being RO in 5 races and for taking the pic’s.
The light breeze from the morning disappeared for the afternoon DF95 session and became an even lighter breeze but with a lot more shifts and holes to fall into, and to add to the difficulty it couldn’t decide which end of the lake to blow from. The same windward / leeward course as the morning was set and the 6 skippers were ready on time to get underway at 13:30. With only 6 boats it was the usual self monitoring start and first to finish recorded the results.
Race 2 – Ian carried on his winning streak, but this time it was Johns turn to push him all the way to the finish line, Martin following up his 2nd in the first race with a 3rd in this.