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Category: dragonforce

DF65 & DF95 Social Racing – 19/2/25

DF65’s

None of the promised warmer weather was evident at Gautby road as the DF65 group arrived today, and the single digit temperatures were feeling even colder in the brisk SE breeze.

Despite the conditions 13 skippers showed up, although John B and Dave W did not compete for various reasons. Rig choice for the day was A, and as people rigged it started to rain heavily making everyone wonder what would happen next.

However, the rain stopped, the existing course looked OK and Dave W got race 1 away in a punchy top of A breeze blowing straight down the lake from the clubhouse end, and Neil then arrived and very kindly took over as RO for the morning despite the cold.

The first two races were won by Mike and Andrew P, but it was then agreed to change to B rig as the gusts were increasing, and the next four races had four different winners indicating how close the racing was. The beat seemed to work OK on both sides of the course at different times, but was very shifty nearer the top with almost everyone struggling to keep position at some point. The starts were very closely contested with two general recalls and some other OCS calls.

Paul P used some pressure downwind on the far side of the lake in a couple of races to good effect, but Peter B won the day with three wins and very consistent results over the nine races to beat Paul P and Mike who managed a couple of wins apiece.

An excellent mornings racing which ended up in sunshine and rather steadier conditions with results shown below, and with thanks again to Neil for being our excellent RO and Malcom for collating the results with grateful thanks to Dave Williams for the photos again and as can be seen from the last one, the sun did come out, but it didn’t make it much warmer!

  1. Peter Baldwin                12 pts        3 wins
  2. Paul Plested                    16 pts        2 wins
  3. Mike de St Paer             18 pts       2 wins
  4. Andrew Potter               24 pts       1 win
  5. John Carlin                     25 pts        1 win
  6. Clive Warren                  32 pts
  7. John Beech                     48 pts
  8. Charles Legg                  49 pts
  9.  Malcolm Harvey          54 pts
  10. Dave White                      67 pts
  11. Phyl Fanning                  75 pts

DF95’s

The morning may have started with a bit of rain but the afternoon started with sunshine but not enough to warm the 7 skippers who turned out for the DF95 sailing.  It was a small but well formed group comprising of 5 regulars and 2 relatively new members in Phyl and Steve. Apart for the sunshine the weather was the same as the morning so B rigs were chosen. No surprises in that the same course as the morning was used, with a windward mark, spreader and a run down the full length of the lake to a gate. The average person would say the wind was blowing straight down the lake, however the reality was it was coming from the clubhouse causing a number of shifts and a few holes for the skippers to deal with. The problem being, these were not the same for 2 consecutive races, so the skippers had to adapt accordingly. Self monitored starts and first to finish recorded the positions.
The racing predictably split into 2 sections with the 5 established helms leading the way, with Phyll and Steve having their own private battle, although not that far behind. They will soon be sailing in the pack.
Up at the front Peter was showing a clean pair of heals or should that be a shiny transom with 7 wins from the 8 races sailed, his only blemish was in race 4 when Clive and Paul relegated him to third. In the meantime Paul was notching up a consistent set of second places. The results don’t tell the true story with, more often than not, the top 3 places beingkeenly contested between 4 boats with places changing hands right up to the finish line .
Results  (2 discards)
  1.  Peter Baldwin         6pts       (7 wins)
  2.  Paul Plested          13pts
  3.  Clive Warren         17pts       (1 win)
  4.  John Carlin            17pts
  5.  Malcolm Harvey   30pts
  6.  Steve Miller           38pts
  7.  Phyll  Fanning        39pts

DF65 & DF95 Social Racing – 12/2/25

DF65’s

An almost non existent light wind from the North East greeted the skippers as they arrived in readiness  for the mornings sailing. It didn’t need our Commodore Dave Williams to utilise his many years of experience to volunteer for RO duty. That left 11 brave helms to hit the water and make the most of what there was, the only positive being it wasn’t raining.
By the time we were ready to start the wind had filled in a little, but was still very fickle and there were plenty of holes for everyone to fall into at some stage. A short course was set utilising half the length of the lake, 2 laps set so a shortening to one could be called if the wind died back again.
Dave got the first race away on time, as expected given the conditions a 20m lead could soon disappear and it was a bit pot luck who was in the right position at the right time as  the boats crossed the finish line after 2 laps in the first race seeing Clive followed by Alan, Paul P and John C.
For the rest of the day a longer course was set utilising virtually the whole of the lake, the pattern of one boat getting away and falling into a hole was basically the same all morning which did actually provide some very close racing all through the fleet and great frustration for others, amongst them Paul P who had gear failure in race 4. Race wins for John C, Paul P and Clive and some notable performances from Alan, Paul L and Charles who continued his greatly improved form of late with 2 x second places in the last two races.
After 6 races were completed, Dave called a halt to proceedings and I’m sure a heard a sigh of relief from all skippers!
  1. Clive Warren          9 pts      3 wins
  2. John Carlin            10 pts      2 wins
  3. Alan Watkinson   14 pts
  4. Charles Legg         20 pts
  5. Paul Little              29 pts on count back
  6. Frans King            29 pts
  7. Paul Plested         35 pts       1 win
  8. John Beech           36 pts
  9. Dave Worron       38pts (visitor from Gresford)
  10. David White         39pts
  11. Phyl Fanning       42pts
DF95 Social Sailing
The wind didnt improve for the afternoon, but a small group were joined by Mike dsP and Steve Miller but because there were only 5 boats the afternoon was devoted to “training” including rig set up and on the water tutorial. Paul led the rig set up over lunch assisted by Clive which was greatly appreciated by Phyl and Steve who are both new to DF sailing and Dave Worren who was keen to improve his speed and on the water performance.
After going through the rig settings, it was onto the water for more tutorial, including the importance of correct position on the start line, and timing of the start, mark rounding, and general boat handling. For Steve who is not only new to DF sailing but also sailing in any form, today was super challenging  given the wind direction.
6 very informal races were sailed (no race results recorded) but it was very evident that the coaching had greatly improved both boat speed and general boat handling  to such an extent these two beginners were competitive in the informal races.  Many thanks go to Paul for his time and patience and Clive for the encouragement and tips. Definitely a worthwhile exercise to be repeated at some point in the future.

DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2025 – 5/2/25

DF95’s

There was very little  wind as the DF95 sailors arrived with the only ripples created by the geese and seagulls.  As the first boats went on the water and Peter donned the waders to set a course for the morning, there was a light WSW breeze coming fitfully down the lake.

There was a good turnout of 14 boats for this inaugural “first of the month” DF95 morning session which included one visitor from Gresford whose lake foreshore and clubhouse are currently surrounded by water.

Racing was close from the very start with a number of boats vying for line honours during the nine races sailed with one lap over the full length of the lake.  Paul Plested had a great start winning the first two races before Peter Baldwin picked up the  first of his two wins.  Mike de st Paer then took the next race followed by a win for Alan Watkinson in Race 5.  Getting the right shifts and pressure was key, although there was an element of luck in it as well at times, with pressure coming from unexpected locations and no visula indication on the water to give any of us a clue.

Clive Warren then got the bit bbetween his teeth and won the next three races he sailed in missing one due to an RO duty as these were shared out over the fleet with us picking up average points when on duty.

The overal lwin went to Peter with Paul a close second and Clive only a  little adrift in third.  There were some other notable results with Dave Wiliams and Paul Little both picking up a third, but both struggling witth consistency.  Thanks to Paul P and Dave W for the photos and Malcolm for processing the results.

DF65’s

8 skippers hit the water after the morning with the DF95s and they had the best of the day’s breeze, which was perfect for A+ rigs.  Some big shifts, but almost straight down the lake with very few holes to catch anyone out.  After the first few races it was clear that both Peter and Paul had the edge on boat speed, or were just a tad quicker spotting the shifts, as between them they took the top two spots in all bar one race, where Alan managed a 2nd.  After 6 races they’d each won 3, but then Peter, with the tactical edge, managed to take advantage of the port leeward rounding on two occasions to sail home for two final wins.
Clive, after a great sail with the 95s in the morning was a little off the pace, but still having some good races, with the exception of being caught head to wind course side of the start line with 10 seconds to go.  Alan missed 4 of the 8 races, which was unfortunate and he was going well, with 3 podiums in the 4 races he sailed.  Charles was also going well today, with a 3rd and four fourths, which might have been even better if Paul hadn’t failed miserably when trying to duck his transom, snagging a rigging line, which required a quick lakeside fix.   Malcolm had his moments as well, with a well deserved 4 as did Dave, visiting from Gresford.  Also great to see Phyl getting to grips with the 65.  It won’t be long before he’s moving up the fleet.
All in all a great afternoon of racing.

 

 

DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2025 – 29/1/25

DF65’s

A crisp sunny day for the DF65s today with – at last – a nice A+ breeze blowing straight down the lake from the far end to welcome the excellent turnout of 15 skippers.

Commodore Dave got the racing away promptly using the usual windward / leeward course with top spreader and leeward gate, with RO duties then shared for the days racing.

Although somewhat short for the fleet size the start line seemed to work very well, with good starts possible from various positions along the line. There was the usual preference for the starboard end which looked as if it might be favoured, but positions up the first beat suggested otherwise.

John Brierley was very clearly class of the field with five wins over the mornings ten races. He did have to work hard on one or two occasions to climb up out of the pack but consistently good sailing and a slight speed edge proved decisive.

Behind John, racing was very keen, with some really excellent starts which looked like an open and with only the odd OCS. John Carlin was clearly the best of the rest with three wins and a string of consistently good results, and was followed by Mikedsp with no wins, some reasonable steady sailing, one OCS and a number of close encounters of the DF kind.

Clive and Alan were also race winners, Paul was unlucky to have a rig failure after a good string of results, Dave beat Charles on countback, and it was great to see Dave White and Phyl Fanning starting to get into the mix.

The standard of racing overall was very good, with almost everyone having at least one good result. The top end of the beat proved particularly tricky with some quick shifts and also some bends which were not consistent and tricky to spot resulting in some crowded top mark roundings and a fair bit of inadvertent minor contact.

All in all an excellent days racing with thanks as always to Dave Williams and Malcolm for the results which are shown below and thanks to Dave for the photos.

  1. John Brierley                  11 pts        5 wins
  2. John Carlin                     20 pts        3 wins
  3. Mike de St Paer            26.5 pts
  4. Clive Warren                 33 pts          1 win
  5. Alan Watkinson           39.6 pts
  6. Neil Westbrook            41.8 pts       1 win
  7. Paul Little                      44 pts
  8. Dave Williams              46.2 pts     (ahead on countback)
  9. Charles Legg                 46.2pts
  10. Frans King                     53 pts
  11. Sally Collings                60.5 pts
  12. Don McKinnon             64.9 pts
  13. Dave White                     80 pts
  14. Malcolm Harvey         101 pts
  15. Phyl Fanning               103 pts

DF95’s

The morning conditions continued for the afternoon session. With the wind coming from the North / North east there was plenty of holes to drop into and plenty of shifts to make gains. Five skippers took to the water after a slightly delayed start whilst John and Clive helped our new member Steve Miller set his new 95 up.
Steve decided just to get some sailing practice and didn’t join in with the racing, leaving just 4 to participate. The same course as the morning used the full length of the lake with a standard windward mark, spreader and through the gate to the finish. Being a small fleet we self monitored the start and the first to finish recorded the results.
Despite the small turn out the racing was very competitive at the front of the fleet, with the lead changing hands in every race and more often than not the first 3 boats would be covered by less than 10sec at the finish. Five races were completed before the sun started to dip behind the houses, the temperature dropped and the competitors called it a day.
  1. Alan Watkinson     9pts      2 wins
  2. John Carlin             10pts      2 wins
  3. Clive Warren          11pts       1 win
  4. Phyl Fanning
In summary
Good afternoons sailing with some extremely close racing, fun time.
DO NOTE:  To all DF65 and DF95 sailors, please remember that as next Wednesday is the first Wednesday in the month, it sees the first trial day of the 95’s starting in the morning @ 11:00 with the DF65’s starting at 13:30.  This will revert back to 65’s in the morning for the remainder of the month.  To be repeated each month for now as a trial.

DF65 Social Racing 2025 – 22/1/25

The forecast didn’t look to promising for wind once again this week and combined with thick fog early on, it seems to have kept a few at home with only 7 takers for racing.  As it turned out, we had a light ENE to SE breeze (and a bit of mist) which built slightly around 12:00 befor dropping back by the end of sailing.  A total of 8 races were completed with about five of these using a shortened course using only half the lake with the remainder using the whole lake when the breeze picked up.

With the low turnout we self policed the start line and finishing, although Dave did keep a watch on the start line to ensure no major premature pre-starters.  We did have two general recalls, but that was simply because twice (the same!) two boats forgot which pair of marks we were using for the start line as there had been a few changes during the morning. At least this way nobody got caught out by the premature starters returning to start correctly.

We had four different race winners during the morning, although Peter did pick up the bulk of four wins such that one bright spark quipped “will you be getting writers cramp soon?” when writing down the fourth set of results.  All good fun with some close racing on a day when picking the right way to go was not always obvious.  Dave Williams had a great first leg in race 8 having tacked early off the line, picking up a line of breeze and although Peter was catching up by the finish he held onto his lead through to the end.  The time was getting on by the end of Race 8 and as it was raining steadily by now, we decided to call it a day. Full results below, with thanks to Malcolm for plugging them in after finishing.

DF95 Winter Series 2024 #3 – 18/1/25

A gentle A rig breeze from the Clubhouse end greeted todays fleet of DF95 sailors.  We had hoped for 12 boats on the start line, but unfortunately some last minute technical issues precluded two sailors from starting and so they very kindly ran the racing and scoring instead.  In addition, a dropped turn on the boat of Dave Williams led to both himself and his helper Alan missing the first race with RO Neil Westbrook starting on time at 12:00.

Race 1 and 2 had the first three boats in the same finishing positions with Peter taking two wins and John Brierley second place.  John B then won Race 3 after Peter was called OCS, although he did recover to third behind John Carlin in second.  John C then went one better to win Race 4 swapping places with John B (Peter picked up another OCS call and had to return once again losing vital time!).  Martin, meanwhile had a technical issue and missed these two races.  He made up for it in Race 5 with a second to Peters win and then John B won Race 6, this being the last race before a break for an early lunch as Neil had decided to run races as just a single lap as the fleet was often well separated even after one lap.

At the break, the top 3 was Peter first on countback from John Brierley and John Carlin in third.

The second session after lunch saw the breeze drop for a few races, before picking up again for the final couple of races.  There were however some big wind shifts and holes that could easily  catch you out and result in a lead change before the windward mark.

The afternoon session belonged to Martin and Peter, who shared the wins between them. with John B seemingly off the pace with both his discards in this second session.  The results probably don’t show it, but the fleet was often closely contested up the first beat with at least half the fleet often rounding in close contention, with Alan and John C well in the mix. Also, after some boat adjustments from Martin earlier in the afternoon amd from Peter at the break, saw Phyl keeping up with the fleet and picking up a good result in Race 11.

When Malcom had worked out the final scores, Peter ran out the clear winner, with Martin powering through into second place after the second session results, with John B having to settle for third.  Many thanks to Neil and Malcom for running the racing and getting the scores ready soon after we finished.