Category: dragonforce

DF65

The day started inauspiciously, with mist, leaden skies and little sign of breeze. By the time we arrived at the club, the skies remained dreary, but the breeze had started to fill in from the Southeast, and we found ourselves with consistent wind along the lake, allowing us to set a course from the far end start marks to the clubhouse end, with a gate at the two furthest marks at the end of the downwind leg. Rather than persuading someone to don the waders we left a fairly short start line that created challenges for many of us as we tried to time our approaches to the line without contact with other boats or the start marks. As Neil kept pointing out, this shouldn’t have been a problem as we are all good sailors.

We tried one race with the buoys closest to the clubhouse as the windward mark and spreader but, after howls of anguish went up as boats hit dead air as we approached them, the decision was made to use the two start marks at the clubhouse as a port-hand windward mark and a spreader. This allowed for some close, competitive and enjoyable racing. Each sailor acted as race officer in turn, giving us nine races in which positions changed regularly and in which many results were settled on the finish line. Our congratulations to John Carlin for his superbly consistent sailing and our thanks to Dave Williams, who turned up to open the clubhouse before returning home.

At the end of the nine races, the results were:

1. John Carlin                  8.1*                      5 wins
2. Neil Westbrook        15.5                         1 win
3. Alan Watkinson       15.9                         1 win
4. Clive Warren             25.9                         1 win
5. Charles Legg             31.1
6. Paul Little                  33.8
7. Richard Walker       34.9
8. Frans King                 49.6
9. David White               52.6

*The decimal points are there because of the use of average ponts for races in which sailors acted as race officer

DF95

The numbers for the afternoon 95 racing, like the morning session, is still being affected by the “senior holiday season” even so 6 skippers rigged their boats. Unfortunately before getting his on the water Paul L had a phone call from home signalling the end of his fun for the day. So 5 skippers took to the water in very similar conditions as the morning although the 95’s seem to handle them better or was there a bit more wind and a few less holes to fall into? A rigs were perfect.

The same course as the morning was used, and with the limited numbers the starts were self regulated with the first home recording the results. 7 races were sailed of 1 lap each, with the final race extended to 2 laps.

The weather looked rather unpromising for todays racing, and in fact as everyone was rigging up there was a really heavy downpour. Frans and Neil arrived, but very sensibly decided that a coffee in front of a fire might be a better option and elected not to stay.

This led to a slightly ”Whitehall Farce” situation with various people running in and out of the door without much else very useful happening, but then the rain went through fairly quickly and A rig was agreed on as the wind had eased down, and this proved to be a good call – well done Clive – and racing got away a few minutes late.

There were marks in good positions for the usual course configuration with a good beat the full length of the lake, and it remained very shifty all morning with some big gains and losses to be made which made for good racing with four different winners over seven competitors and six races.

The other factor which affected the racing was small bits of vegetation catching boats as the council folks were doing some strimming and this all got blown into the lake. It couldn’t be seen from the bank and caught a few people out. Malcolm was also unlucky to miss a race having relaunched after a clubhouse rain break with the boat not fully switched on (we’ve all done that….) but it was retrieved undamaged from the far side.

With a couple of other brief spells in the clubhouse – including one for a really heavy hail squall – 6 races were completed and it was agreed to quit while we were ahead with the final results as shown below, with thanks to Malcolm for organising these.

The wind today could not really make up its mind.  Very light on arrival, picking up to a good WNW in front of the rain followed by little or nothing by the start from the South.  Still, I guess that can be Gautby Road for you.

Racing got underway soon after 11:00, after Peter had reset the marks after Saturday and with Dave’s help retrieved the finish line bench that had made its way into the lake. We started from the clubhouse end and although it was initially a reach to the far end, it did straighten up a little , becoming a fetch by the end of th beat.  The run downwind became very light as the rain started.  We then had to take at least 10 minutes break as the rain was so heavy and not everyone was kitted out to get wet, including a visitor from the US (Clyde Jones) who was staying on the Wirral with the pen pal of his wife.

We restarted with a light and fickle wind which was generally from the West, but could easily flick to SW or NW at times.  With the rate of progress around the one lap course and the wide range in ability, each race took some time to complete and we only managed to finish 7 races by the time we finished at 12:45., by which time the wind (what existed) was more or less straight down the lake.

Peter took the lions share of the wins (4) with Paul Plested and James Douglas taking one each.  This left Peter with the clear win and Paul and James 10 points behind separated by the number of thirds gained.

There were some very close finishes even in the light breeze, with Race 1, where 4 boats finished with only a boat length between them.  This was won by Frans after he picked up a freeing breeze along the shoreline to overtake two or three boats on his way in.  Then in Race 5 it looked (from behind) like a tie between James and Neil, but James was awarded the win by the RO.  Overall a tricky day, but some good results across the fleet, including Neil who had a consistent day and ended up fourth.

Thanks go once again to Dave for running the morning taking the photos and also working out the scores (A+ rig problems apparently in case you were wondering).

1. Peter Baldwin           8pts 4wins
2. Paul Plested            18pts 1win, 1x2nd, 3x3rds
3. James Douglas       18pts 1win, 1x2nd, 2x3rds
4. Neil Westbrook     24pts
5. Richard Walker     32pts
6. Alan Watkinson    36pts
7. Clyde Jones             38pts
8. Paul Little               44pts
9. Frans King             49pts   1win
10. John Beech             51pts
11. John Lee                  57pts
12. Malcolm Harvey  58pts
13. David White           69pts

After the rain and light wind of the morning there was no appetite for any DF95 racing after lunch, although by leaving time at 2pm it was much warmer with a decent breeze down the lake.

8 sailors turned up today to find, after a number of very tricky Wednesdays, a very pleasant and reasonably consistent (by Gautby Rd standards), SE breeze from the clubhouse end of 5-8knts. Having said that, there were still plenty of snakes and ladders to be found when the wind went patchy or puffs consolidated the fleet on the downwind legs

A+ rigs were the obvious choice and at no point was anyone really overpowered. A standard windward/leeward course with a spreader mark at the top end was used for all races

Andrew won the first race showing good enough speed to deter him from making any rig or tuning adjustments for the rest of the day. The tactics worked as he was never out of the top 2 in every race and consequently won overall. Alan put in a challenge early on but faded in the later races largely due to some poor starts. Neil was Mr Inconsistent with race wins mixed with back of the fleet results. In the end Alan and Neil could only be separated by Alan’s 2 x 5th place finishes versus Neil’s 2 x 6th places. James, fresh from dominating last weeks racing with A rigs, turned up without his glasses and used that as his excuse for failing to get his A+ rig working properly although he finally improved enough to win the last race. Dave periodically appeared at the front of the fleet but could never keep it up long enough to stay there.

1. Andrew Potter       7 pts (3 wins)
2. Alan Watkinson  10 pts (2 wins, 1 second, 2 thirds, 2 fifths)
3. Neil Westbrook   10pts (2 wins, 1 second, 2 thirds, 2 sixths)
4. James Douglas    15pts. (1 win)
5. Dave Williams     18pts
6. Paul Little             19pts
7. Don McKinnon   20pts
8. Richard Walker  30pts

Groundhog day at Gautby road with a supposedly South West breeze blowing right over the houses. There was wind in some areas, and after a quick conflab the start was positioned in the north east corner opposite the clubhouse to allow a beat of some sort up to the opposite side. The start mark was positioned about half way down in the usual place and this provided a reasonably good beat. Of course by this time the wind had gone left so the line bias meant there was really only one place to be at the start, but the conditions were such that some good starts were made from various positions (and different tacks) on the line during the morning.

Neil suggested A rig after a quick sail, and although this seemed a bit underpowered initially it proved absolutely the correct choice as the wind steadily picked up, so by the end of racing boats were nose diving – sometimes on the run and sometimes on other legs of the course.

James calmly sailed straight to a win, and then another one after his RO duty. But the rest of his day was frustrated by a recurring winch problem which turned out to be the elastic return line having lost its mojo. This left Paul and Mike to fight it out until James returned with his boat fixed to put in another two bullets in the last two races.

Results ended as shown below, with James having to include a DNS after missing three races, and Mike just beating a very consistent Paul.

A surprisingly pleasant day’s racing despite the unhelpful conditions.

Thanks as always to Dave for keeping us organised and doing the results.

1. Mike de St Paer        8 pts  4wins
2. Paul Plested            11 pts   1win
3. James Douglas      18 pts   4wins
4. Richard Walker    20 pts
5. Neil Westbrook    24 pts
6. Frans King             26 pts
7. Dave Williams      30 pts
8. John Lee                  33 pts
9. David White           40 pts