DF65’s
A small group of 6 sailors had a surprisingly good morning of sailing while those carrying out domestic chores, on holiday, still in bed etc etc missed out on some un-forecasted great conditions. I say un-forecasted because the forecast suggested a south westerly breeze which should be straight across the lake ….. and therefore pretty horrible. In reality it was more north westerly and straight down the lake towards the clubhouse, albeit with the usual Gautby Rd shifts, puffs and lulls which ensured that nobody could ever relax when at the front.
A+ rigs were selected which initially seemed a bit optimistic but proved to be correct with only a couple of puffs overpowering the unlucky ones downwind, who happened to be in the way.
The usual course was sailed, with no preferred way up the first beat apart from working the shifts and avoiding the lulls which became more prevalent towards the windward mark. Downwind was pretty straightforward while the leeward gate choice favoured the port rounding to the finish.
Alan came out top with 3 wins closely followed by Clive who also had 3 wins and was never out of the top 3, but obviously bettered by Alan who had more seconds. Dave beat Stuart for 3rd, on countback with 2 wins. Andrew was garbage suffering from some home boat tuning during the week that clearly didn’t work, getting caught in irons in the puffs too many times and a couple of unlucky races with a bag in the water and a wipeout downwind into the leeward mark while leading. Thanks to Dave for managing to take a few photos whilst trying to keep a straight course and also for putting the results together.
DF95’s
Six skippers got rigged for an afternoon of sun and sailing. Unfortunately the wind had eased from the morning DF65 session but the direction was similar with the wind swinging between North and West. A rig was the only choice. The same standard course was set as used in the morning. We were fortunate that Neil Westbrook popped down and volunteered to be our RO for the afternoon, and flexed his muscles on a couple of occasions to keep us in check.
It was great to see John Carlin on the water for the first time in quite a while and he didn’t hang around in race 1, showing that he hadn’t lost any of his touch by taking the win. Competition throughout the fleet was strong and 5 of the 6 helms had at least 1 race win, and this was demonstrated in the first 4 races with 4 different winners, John, Alan, Clive and Stuart. Only Steve missed out but did manage a third in race 3 before having to retire with rigging failure in race 4.
Clive then got into race mode and posted 2 firsts in races 5 and 6, before Andy found good boat speed to win race 7, meanwhile John continued his consistency posting 3 seconds whilst Alan picked up 2 thirds.
The final 3 races saw Clive take 2 wins and Andy taking the other, with Stuart picking up a second, John finishing with 2 thirds before missing the last race.
Summary
Sunny, T-shirt weather provided a good but tricky afternoon sailing. With the skill / luck, depending on your view, in picking the correct wind shift to tack on and which to leave could cost you dearly.
Thanks to Neil for acting as RO, Dave Williams for tabulating results in A Fleet and Clive for the photos.
A disappointing 3 skippers showed up for the start of the 65 racing, probably put off by a couple of clumps of weed last week spoiling the racing, however the away day skippers missed a treat of a day. With a top end A+ wind blowing more or less straight down the lake from the far end (non clubhouse end) and NO sign of floating weed. The standard course was set utilising the full length of the lake and self monitoring starts were used.
To add a bit of a difference to the day we decided that the first and third place at the finish of each race would swap boats. So, how much is down to boat set up and how much down to the skipper?
To save getting a soaking in 2 heavy showers and as we were under no pressure to get races in 2 rain breaks were taken of approx 5 minutes each. In the end only 7 races were sailed but it was fun as well as interesting with the swapping of boats and surprisingly close.
The racing today was completed with just 4 boats taking part. The wind was blowing straight down the lake towards the clubhouse and top end of A rig which helped to provide some close racing throughout the 13 races completed.
All the boats gained podium finishes, Clive sailing 93 won 6 races, Steve (637) won 3 races with Stuart (805) and Andy (04) having 2 wins each. With the sun shining it was a very enjoyable afternoon.
Special mention goes to Clive who tweaked Steve’s boat so well that for a few races no one could get near him! Clive, also in very generous fashion handicapped himself in a number of races so that we could all enjoy some close racing. By the time we had completed 13 races, adding up the scores makes for some interesting reading.
11 skippers showed up for what looked to be a lively morning of racing under blue skies in a blustery E/ESE breeze. After a bit of a lakeside tidy up and mark repositioning, the fleet got away broadly on time, all sporting A+ rigs after a trial sail which suggested A rig would be under powered…how wrong that proved to be!
In the first two races on our typical windward/leeward course Peter Baldwin demonstrated his skill and experience leading from start to finish in the challenging conditions. Those behind struggled a little more with the gusty breeze. Paul Plested bagged a 2nd as did Charles Legg who kept his calm in race two, crossing the line ahead of Mike De St Paer in third, who also scored 3rd in race one. David White picked up a very creditable 5th in race one, and Richard Walker bagged a 4th.
By race three it was clear that the wind was too much for the A+ rig with plenty of nosediving and broaching downwind with places quickly changing. Paul Plested managed to get to the leeward gate first, which he held on to the finish. Mike was 2nd followed by Peter. Richard picked up another 4th and Dave Williams grabbed a 5th spot.
Guy Cowper had an excellent sail with his A rig scoring a pair of 2nds and 3rds, which gave him 3rd overall on the day. Mike struggled to get his A boat tuned correctly for two races, otherwise he would have been pushing for 3rd if not 2nd on the day. Conversely Andrew Potter, who had struggled with his A+ rig due to technical issues with his boat, did have some better racing with the A.
Overall an enjoyable if somewhat challenging morning of racing, watched over by Neil Westbrook and Malcolm Harvey who kindly acted as PRO and photographer this week.
It was a glorious sunny afternoon and the conditions made for some good sailing. The breeze was light at times but in the main steady, with occasional strong puffs blowing down the lake from the club house end in an east south easterly to easterly direction. There were plenty of shifts and headers to be had with all sailors benefiting and losing.
Overall, an enjoyable afternoons racing, the 95’s seem to handle the shifty/gusty conditions much better than the 65’s, or were we just getting more used to it? A few stock photos this week I’m afraid as we were all too busy keeping in control to take photos.
A SW breeze today pointed to a tricky day at Gautby Rd, and so it proved. Despite a forecast for quite some wind there wasn’t much to show initially, however the pressure slowly built during the morning until some of the gusts were right at the top of A+. Mixed in with this were 180deg shifts, flat patches and holes and a very erratic breeze.
Another good turnout of 10 skippers, although John Brierly had to get away to work after only one race – which he won! – leaving the rest to fight it out on the usual course format starting at the clubhouse end.
The line looked heavily port end biased with the port end just on the edge of the windward bank wind shadow and it seemed to be best to start somewhere in the middle third of the line. There were exceptions to this of course, and good starts were made from all points on the line but conditions were so shifty that this varied from race to race.
The beat was very nearly a port tack fetch, with big left lifts in the gusts and also some completely flat patches and then a very tricky area at the top mark and the spreader where it proved necessary to put in a tack to make the spreader in some races.
After all this the racing was extremely close so even when the leader, or a leading group, was able to make a break this was likely to be neutralised on the run or the beat back to the line.
Afer John B had to leave the wins were shared between Mike, James and Clive, with Mike just emerging the winner from James and Clive with these first three covered by three points as shown below. Racing remained very keen throughout the fleet with almost everyone counting both some good scores and having to count some poor ones as shown below in detail.
7 skippers took to the water, which considering 4 regulars were missing for one reason or another was a good turnout. As is almost the norm for the social racing, the starts were self monitored and the first to finish recorded the results. A standard course was set utilising the full length of the lake with single laps to keep the races flowing.
The racing was generally quite close, with 6 of the 7 skippers taking a podium positions and 4 posting bullets. Clive was the pick of the bunch posting 6 wins, and it was great to see the return of Neil after a few weeks posting a couple of wins and sailed as consistently as anyone notching up a good set of results. Consistency was the key to the day and taking the opportunities when you had the chance and Richard Walker was doing just this with all his results in the top 3, before he had to leave early after 5 races. Stuart took the overall win in the Mearns family although Andy had his fair share of wins over his brother, but the consistency let him down. Further down the fleet Malcolm and Steve were having there own private battle with Malcolm also posting a very impressive2nd in race 8. After 11 races with a softening wind we decided to call it a day.
Overall, an enjoyable afternoons racing, the 95s seem to handle the shifty conditions much better than the 65s, or were we just getting more used to it.
Guy had his portable anemometer out and it showed gusts of 16 knots, although it must be a cheapo from Tandy’s because it lied! Speke Airport was gusting 36 knots blowing from the WNW so you can imagine it was very choppy down the clubhouse end of the lake.
C Rigs was the call as this is the smallest suit the 65’s carry. Boat handling and consistency paid off as ever. Very challenging conditions in the rain and squalls. Many a lament as skippers struggled to tack and found themselves in irons to great cost in the placings.
Our thanks to Malcom who sadly did not have a C Rig and so elected to be Rave (sic) Officer and photographer. Do join us again next week for yet another great Rave!
The wind continued to blow straight down the lake from the far end providing almost perfect sailing conditions for the six skippers who took to the water for an afternoon of DF95 sailing. The only downside was the intermittent rain showers and the cold wind, but you can’t have it all. The wind strength was perfect for C rigs an unusual sight at Gautby Rd.
A standard course was set with only one lap to maximise the number of races, with only six boats on the start line the starts were self monitored and the normal first to finish recorded the results.
Race 1, saw field split into 2 groups, with Clive, Alan and Guy taking the podium spots. There was then a gap to the other 3 boats.
The handicapping worked to close the gap between competitors, during the next 6 races all skippers visiting podium at least once. However they couldn’t catch Clive who had a very solid day posting 7 wins in the first 7 races. After bailing the water out of his boat Alan seemed to struggle to repeat his first race result whilst Stuart improved to post a string of 4 seconds. Steve also profited from the handicapping with 2 thirds, with Malcolm chipping in also with a third. It took a bit of team work in the last race to prevent Clive having a clean sweep, when Guy took Clive out whilst battling for the lead on the final leg to allow Alan and Stuart through.
In summary a great afternoon sailing, with near perfect C rig conditions, but after 8 races the skippers returned to the clubhouse to dry off and warm up.
