Southerly breeze today – more or less as forecasted – from the clubhouse corner, which slowly filled in after looking very unpromising as DF65 racers were arriving. Although forecast to build significantly during the morning, this never quite happened and the breeze varied up and down quite a bit with some fairly significant shifts as well.

Mike dsp was quick out of the blocks to win the first three races but then slightly lost his way after a race RO duty when normal business was resumed with John B winning the next three before he had to leave to catch up with work. The next three races had three different winners with JohnC, Clive and Mike taking the last three.

Racing, and particularly the starts, was all very close, with a few OCS calls during the morning and once again, although the start looked somewhat starboard end biased, skippers were able to take different sides of the beat during the morning to get to the top mark in the leading group. The last beat up from the leeward gate also proved interesting with different gate marks paying off at different times for the beat back to the line.

Following JohnB’s departure Mike dsp was able to hold on to win, with very close racing reflected in the points across the fleet with 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th covered by 5 points (and some less than one point differences when averages for RO were used), and then 7^th to 10^th by less than 5.

Overall results as shown below with the usual thanks to Dave for getting everything going and Malcolm for working out the results (with a bit of help from AFleet!).

1. Mike de St Paer           10.3 pts  4 wins
2. John Carlin                    16 pts     1 win
3. Clive Warren                22 pts    1 win
4. John Brierley               27 pts  3 wins
5. Richard Robinson     27 pts
6. Simon Bates                37.7 pts
7. Paul Little        .            44.6  pts
8. Sally Collings              44.6 pts
9. Richard Walker          46.9 pts
10. Dave Williams            48.7 pts
11. Charles Legg               53.9 pts
12. Malcolm Harvey        64.9 pts
13. Frans King                    82   pts

DF65

A bright day greeted the 10 sailors who turned up, but with wind sadly lacking for the first couple of races.  David Williams opted to run the racing today and after setting an additional start mark racing got underway shortly after 11 with a short course used for the first two races to minimise the race duration.

James Douglas showed his light wind potential by winning Race 1, followed by Clive Warren who took Race 2.  The RO then extended the course to use the length of the lake as we now had breeze straight down the lake for most of the time, although there were a number of holes and localised gusts that could catch anyone out.  Peter Baldwin took Race 3 and then Alan Watkinson achieved the win in Race 4.  Although we had seen four different winners, it could be anyone’s race and Mike De St Paer, Paul Plested, Sally Collings and John Carlin were all in the mix with top 3 places.

In races 5 to 7, James seemed to have the engine on as he scored three straight wins, leaving the others in his wake, with his run finally spoilt by Peter taking the win in Race 8.

Helped by the four wins, James took the morning, with Peters two wins aiding his second place overall and a consistent set of results placed John Carlin third.

1. James Douglas         73  13pts (4 wins)
2. Peter Baldwin          63  15pts (2 wins)
3. John Carlin                11  18pts
4. Paul Plested           154  21pts
5. Clive Warren           53  22pts (1 win)
6. Sally Collings        829  27pts
7. Alan Watkinson   373  34pts (1 win)
8. Mike De St Paer      35  38pts
9. Frans King                95  45 pts
10. Malcolm Harvey 1019  53pts

DF95

With a cold NE/NNE breeze today it seemed a few sailors may have opted to stay in the warm and not venture out, leaving us with just 11 sailors.  At least the sun was out and there was a reasonable (could not call it decent) breeze which did blow down the lake at times and the sun was out.  We started on time after Peter had moved the gate into the corner and shifted the start line.

Paul Plested started the day well with a win in Race 1, Peter then took Race 2 and John Brierley Race 3.  These three then won the next three races (but not in the same order), with the front of the fleet very close and picking when to tack onto port was the key to getting a good result.  False shifts could often see you going back the way you came if you timed it wrong or worse still ending up in irons!

There was a new winner in Race 7 with Dave Williams’ boat taking the win with guest skipper Robbie Mac on the helm.  Peter took Race 8 before Paul had his third win in the final Race 9.

A morning of close racing but not (as one skipper mentioned) really champagne sailing even though the sun was out.  Paul took the morning with a very consistent set of results and a decent number of wins.  John was second, four points adrift and Peter third after a rather inconsistent morning.  There was some very close racing though with John Carlin, Mike De St Paer, Clive Warren and James Douglas also vying for the podium in some races, very often leading to close finishes.

Thanks to Dave W for running more than his fair share of the racing and working out the final scores along with Paul P and Dave for the photos.

1. Paul Plested      154  10pts
2. John Brierley      84  14pts
3. Peter Baldwin     63  16pts
4. John Carlin           11   27pts
5. Clive Warren        53  37pts
6. Dave Williams     33  41pts
7. Mike De St Paer  35  42pts
8. James DSouglas  73  44pts
9. Richard Walker   39  44pts
10. Frans King             95  46pts
11. Charles Legg         21  58pts

Another excellent turnout of thirteen df65s for today’s racing, with a distinctly autumnal feel to the day. The wind was forecast as more or less west, but by the time it had reached Gautby road the weather gods had smiled and a reasonable little N. Westerly breeze was blowing fairly straight down the lake from the far end – a relief after some of the recent “dead slow and stop” conditions we have seen.

Paul adjusted the course and racing got away promptly with a first race win for James. The next three races had different winners, but then John won race 5 to make it two in a row.

Lucky thirteenth for some, but unlucky for others. Clive had a rudder servo fail early on and missed the first three races while he changed it, Andrew’s boat came to a halt soon after the start in race 4 having hit an underwater object (which turned out to be a submerged doggy poo bag. Always something new at Gautby Road) and Mike had to call it a day after Race 4 also with rudder servo failure.

RO duties had initially been shared, but Charles very kindly took over the second half of the day.

Although the breeze seemed quite steady initially there were some big shifts and holes as well. Paul, John and Clive sailed very well to win 2 races each, with John and Paul ending up tied on points after eight races, and Paul winning on countback. James and Alan were third and fourth respectively, with Clive making an excellent climb back to fifth after his technical issues.

Results are shown in full below, thanks to Dave and Malcolm for the results, Paul and Dave for the photos, Paul for going wading to adjust the course and Charles for picking up the ROing.

1. Paul Plested.                 11.3 pts  2 wins ahead on countback
2. John Carlin                    11.3 pts  2 wins
3. James Douglas             16.9 pts  1 win
4. Alan Watkinson          20.3 pts
5. Clive Warren                29   pts    2 wins
6. Richard Robinson      30   pts.   ahead on countback
7. Richard Walker.          30   pts
8. Andrew Potter             33   pts
9. Mike de St Paer           37.1 pts    1 win
10. Dave Williams             41   pts
11. David White                 52   pts
12. Malcolm Harvey        56  pts     ahead on countback
13. Frans King                   56   pts

DF65’s

Wind from the South East today pretty much as forecast with an Autumnal nip to the air to welcome 13 DF65 sailors – another excellent turnout.

The usual course of windward / spreader and a leeward gate was used, and after some detail attention by Paul proved to be a good course with a line allowing good starts from various places along it.

Paul started with a couple of bullets straight away, but the next three races had three new and different winners as an indication of how shifty it was.

First to the windward mark was made at different stages by a long starboard tack almost into the top corner, or a starboard start then a port hike across about half way up, or again a series of tacks up the starboard side of the lake. There was also a very shifty area just at the top mark by the clubhouse which caught out a few front runners and changed the order of play several times.

Paul emerged the deserving winner from all of this with 20pts with Richard a very close second on 20.9, Clive third with two wins and Neil only slightly adrift in fourth with no wins but some very consistent sailing

There was close racing all down the fleet with 6 different winners during the day. RO duties were shared, and thanks to Dave and Malcolm for organising the results which were as shown below.  Thanks also to Dave for the photos of the morning’s racing.

1. Paul Plested.                     20   pts   3 wins
2. Richard Robinson          20.9 pts   1 win
3. Clive Warren                    23.1 pts   2 wins
4. Neil Westbrook               26.4 pts
5. Mike de St Paer               27.5 pts    2 wins
6. Andrew Potter                29.7 pts.  1 win
7. Richard Walker.             37.4 pts    1 win
8. Dave Williams                 44    pts
9. Don McKinnon               53.9 pts
10. Charles Legg                   59.4 pts
11. John Beech                      71   pts
12. Malcolm Harvey           78.1pts
13. David White.                   82   pts

DF95’s

A small, but perfectly formed group of six 95 sailors enjoyed eight close races in the lightish SE breeze, which allowed a windward/leeward course the length of the lake.  As is customary with a small social fleet the starts were self-governed and the first across the line scored the results.

John C and Clive both scored three firsts each, with Paul, who was a tad off their pace at times, scoring two firsts.  There were strong showings from all across the races.  Martin scored a 2nd in one race, and John B raced well scoring four 3rds on the day.

John C took the day with Clive a close 2nd, who may well regret trying to take a start line photo, which saw the fleet disappear up the lake before he got his boat going again.

1. John Carlin                                    50          9pts  3 wins
2. Clive Warren                                 93        10pts  3 wins
3. Paul Plested                                 154        12pts  2 wins
4. John Beech                                   288       20pts  3x3rd
5. Martin Whittingham-Jones    77      28pts  1x2nd
6. Malcolm Harvey                        1019     30pts

Thanks to Clive for the photo’s from the afternoon.

Good luck to the seven club members off to West Lancs YC at the weekend for the DF95 Nationals.

There was only the merest hint of a breeze arriving at 10am, but by 10:30 it was shaping up to be a decent breeze down the length of the lake from the clubhouse end.  Peter donned the waders and shifted a few marks to provide a decent windward leg for the first couple of races.

The fleet of 12 boats started in a light A+ rig breeze with the usual Gautby Rd holes and shifts to catch people out and pose the usual “shall I tack or not” question.  Andrew Potter started well and led for most of the first race, until Peter covered him on the run and overtook at the gate to take the win.  Race 2 and Peter made some new friends at the back of the fleet with a jib sheeting problem, leaving Paul Plested and Mike De St Paer to battle out for line honours, which went to Paul in this instance.

Race 3 was won by Peter after a battle with Clive and Richard Robinson who made a welcome return to Wednesday mornings.  Clive made a great start in Race 4 and led for a good part of the race and through the final gate.  However, Gautby Road decided not to favour him with the win and allowed both Peter and Paul to creep up the bank leaving him stranded in the middle of the lake with or no wind and a resultant third.

By now the wind was definitely across the lake, with starts being sometimes a beat and at other times a broad reach.  The main requirement was to keep your boat moving both off the line and continue to the windward mark.  Peter, Andrew and Clive were all vying for top spot all the way to the finish of Race 5, with a nail biting win for Peter as the other pair got a gust from behind.  In the final race Clive finally managed the win that he had been so close to achieving all morning.

A slightly early finish was called with tidying work to do in readiness for the RG65 TT weekend, although nobody complained with the wind being less than perfect.  Thanks must go to Liz Potter and Sharon Plested for acting as our Race Committee this morning and Paul Plested for the quick photo whilst we were temporarily parked up.

1. Peter Baldwin           63   6pts  4 wins
2. Clive Warren             53  12pts  1 win
3. Paul Plested             154  15pts 1 win
4. Mike De St Paer        35  19pts
5. Andrew Potter         194  20pts
6. Richard Robinson  901  24pts
7. Richard Walker        39  31pts
8. Dave Williams          33  36pts
9. David White              94  42pts
10. Sally Collings         829  49pts
11. Charles Legg              21  50pts
12. Malcolm Harvey  1019  59pts