DF65’s
DF65 and DF95 social racing is back up and running after an extended late summer of disruption from low water, followed by water quality issues.
Today saw a fleet of 10 DF65’s on the water who were greeted with a 5-8kt breeze on arrival which was clearly A+ rig conditions. The forecast was for wind from the SW which is technically straight through the houses and across the lake …… i.e. horrible. In reality it was more westerly which was considerably better than SW and provided some good racing with plenty of the usual Gautby Rd jeopardy that could help or hinder. Dave kindly did RO duties rather than sailing and set the usual course apart from extending the beat to the far orange buoys.
Starts just about favoured a port tack start at the port end of the line …. a trick that Clive pulled off in a couple of early races before he bottled out and joined the rest of the fleet on starboard at that end of the line. The first beat was a case of not getting suckered into sailing across to the far side of the lake on port on what was clearly a permanent wind bend. It always felt good until you had to tack at which point it was a disaster. The best option was to take some starboard tack pain halfway up the beat to get on the inside of the bend and therefore sail the shortest distance to the mark. Those that got the tacking points right invariably ended up leading at the windward mark. Downwind was puffs and lulls with gains or losses to be made depending on whether you got a puff or sat in a lull. Nothing was over at the leeward gate with plenty of overtaking opportunities for those that got it right or disaster for those that got it wrong
Clive carried on his previous weeks performance in race 1 winning it in style and the omens looked bad for everybody else ….. until he confirmed that he had failed to buy a lottery ticket after last weeks efforts at which point he lost his mojo a bit and despite winning 2 further races had to count some mid table results to come third overall
Andrew was the most consistent on the day and never out of the top 5 with 2 race wins to come second overall but with 2 discards allowed John was able to nick the day with his 4 wins counteracting some other mid table results
James arrived late, missing the first 4 races and was always behind the game in learning the conditions on the day
A quick shout out to John Mackie sailing a DF65 for the first time who managed to avoid too much carnage with other boats and even got a second place in race 8. Thanks as always to Dave for acting as RO this morning , taking the photos and producing the results.
DF95’s
With the lake is now full of water and the water condition very good, for the first time in 3 months we were back to our standard racing programme with DF65s in the morning and DF95s after lunch. A good quality field of 10 skippers lined up on the start line for the first race including 2 new members John Mackie and Rod Darling.
The breeze had freshened a little from the morning and was perfect for A Rig. With the gusts well within the A Rig range. The same standard course as the morning was used utilising the full length of the lake, windward mark with spreader, leeward gate and beat the finish. We were honoured to have Trunkys’ partner Alison “volunteer” to be our RO for the afternoon, Commodore Dave reminded us to watch our Ps and Qs with Alison in charge and we were ready to start and just about on time.
The wind direction was generally westerly which could swing to northerly as you approached the windward mark, in laymans terms it was generally blowing down the lake from the far end with a slight bias from the houses but as you approached the windward mark the bias would swing to the industrial estate. This gave plenty of alternatives for the skippers to choose, although with the wind direction westerly, the start line was perfectly aligned and with 10 boats a port end flyer was never an option. Right from the get go, the racing was very competitive and it continued the same throughout the afternoon.
After 10 races sailed there were 5 different winners, and 7 skippers posting a 3rd or better. Special mentions for our 2 newbies, John Mackie, who was very quick in the first half of the session but faded in the second and Rod Darling, who sailed his 95 for the first time posted 3 fourths and 3 fifths and I’m sure he will soon be near the front of the fleet sometime soon. Congratulations to Clive for his victory and Alan for his second place.
Thanks go to Alison for keeping us in check and Dave W for the photos and tabled results
An elite group of 5 sailors turned up at Gautby Rd today to be greeted by a full lake, no weed, no algae (the bottom of the lake was actually visible), no rain and no wind. Maybe it was the forecast of heavy showers and gale force winds arriving mid-morning that put most people off, but as it turned out we had a good sailing session which stayed dry until we finished and with a breeze that filled in as we launched. A+ rigs were obviously selected with the anticipation that we might need to change down if the predicted wind did arrive, but this didn’t happen and apart from the odd gust that flattened us, it was the right rig choice all morning
The usual course was sailed but with no windward spreader mark. The beat was certainly shifty and gusty and the run was full of holes … but that is pretty normal for Gautby Rd.
The racing was notable for 3 particular reasons:
I can confirm that the lake is now fully sailable so hopefully this encourages everybody back onto the water in the coming weeks. Thanks as usual to Dave Williams for taking the photos and creating the score sheet.
Weed – still bits of weed floating and sub-surface but not causing a major problem ….. you had to be unlucky to pick up any during racing. Thanks to all the personnel who have been netting and removing most of the weed. What weed is left is clearly dying off as the water temp drops and will hopefully sink to the bottom and rot away soon.
However, Although we didn’t experience our traditional summer algae bloom largely due to Clive’s efforts with the dye, but it has now returned with a vengeance. It’s certainly possible to sail in it, as everybody is pretty much affected equally, but it is still a nuisance as it collects onto the keel and rudder, slowing you down and making the boat harder to sail and manoeuvre. I think we are past peak algae and as with the weed, the colder weather should speed up its death and decline so we are hopeful that algal conditions will only improve from here on in.
Sailing conditions today: Difficult/Awful! …. possibly the worst i have experienced at Gautby Rd which is saying something when we all know what a “normal” bad can can be.
With a NW 15-22kts at Hilbre today, I was expecting a B rig day with wind straight down the lake. In reality it was A+ rigs with the wind from any direction usually all at the same time. I can’t comment too much on the actual racing as i suffered from a winch problem early on and then got frustrated with conditions and went home early. In the races I did complete, it was quite possible to go from first to last and back to first, all in the space of sailing 30m. Clive certainly seemed to ‘master’ the conditions better than most closely followed by Dave then Alan and James. For everybody else it was a total lottery unfortunately. Thanks as always to Dave for the results and photos.
To quote Tony Blair and New Labour In 1997 ‘Things can only get better” – and hopefully they will do soon.
It was a sunny morning as ten sailors with their DF65’s turn up for some social sailing.. Conditions made for some very tricky sailing. The wind was light and variable blowing down the lake from the club house in a southerly direction. The wind strength could be described as being light and very variable. There were plenty of shifts and headers to be had with all sailors benefiting and losing. A standard course was set utilising the full length of the lake with starting from the top end of the lake.
Racing commenced promptly at 11:00. The first race one was keenly contested between all skippers, as they managed the ever changing conditions which was eventually won by Richard (39, )who seemed to manage the conditions the best. Clive (53) second and Stuart (805) third. Alan (373) finished last. Oh how things would change for Alan.
The racing continued in the same vein, Now Alan found his groove managing the conditions the best and started to put a run of results together. All other skippers had mixed results battling with the ever changing wind direction and strength. Some skipper found the condition to be to testing and decided to call it a day.
The three remaining skippers braved the ever changing wind battling shifts and headers. All in all a very pleasant if not challenging mornings sailing if not frustrating at times.
A big thank to Neil (as RO) who kept us all on our toes and we managed to get 8 races in in total and to Dave W for the photos and results table.
After a long layoff due to low water level and more recently some weed, it was decided to test the water with some social racing with DF65’s. This followed attempts to clear the lake over the last week. The problem we then faced was that the wind had changed direction 3 times over the last 3 days, resulting in any floating weed not settling at one end.
A standard windward mark, spreader, gate and finish line were set outwith a good WNW breeze blowing from the far end of the lake. A+ rig was the choice for all, which was sometimes over powered on the run, causing broaching and nose diving. Neil Westbrook volunteered for RO duties and kept us in check on the start line, calling back any early starters.
Well done to Clive who was reasonably consistent in avoiding the weed, especially in the later races. Also, well done to John Mackie with a race win and pipping Alan who finished 3rd also with a race win. Finally a big welcome and well done to Sam McDougall, potential new member, finishing in a well deserved 4th place.
Just seven DF65’s out today in a light and variable mostly Easterly, which at times disappeared and usually reappear once again from the East, but occasionally could be from the North, South or West. Testing times therefore with the wind and unfortunately a few pieces of floating debris, which caught out most of us during the session and some more often than others. At least the sun was out and it was not too hot.
James came out on top with some great starts and picked up four of the wins, just edging out Peter for top slot who only managed three wins (an OCS never helps get a good place!) with Richard taking the final win. Unfortunately that win was not good enough to keep Alan away from third place, who had a consistent set of results and his fair share of the floating debris to mess up his challenge for one of the two top spots.
Dave Worron also struggled with consistency although he had some good races once Peter had made a few adjustments to rig setup. Stuart was going well at times and did manage a third in Race 4 and another third may have bumped him up a place.
So, James took top spot this week, followed by Peter in second and Alan third. Thanks must go to Dave Williams acting as RO and also loaning his boat to a sailor but Radio sailing novice to try out. Dave also captured a few photos for the report and produced the final results.
