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Category: dragonforce

DF95 Summer 2024 #3 – 15/6/24

The forecast for the day suggested that the 6 sailors who turned out would probably get soaked, with the added risk of possibly being struck by lightning, but whilst the surrounding areas seems to suffer deluges of rain, Gautby Road escaped with a very light shower early on, with increasingly bluer skies as the afternoon wore on. Winds were light from the NW with some big shifts, so A rigs were the order of the day.
Paul got off to a good start winning race 1 followed by Clive and then Peter. After that the first session went more to form, with Peter notching up 4 wins on the bounce followed by a third. Paul continued to post some good results, all being in the top 3. Clive and John were also pushing for the front, with Clive posting 2 seconds and John securing a 1st and a 2nd. In race 4 John decided to moor up on the leeward gate mark for a rest, which ultimately required a spell in the club waders to recover his boat. Both Dave and Martin were getting good starts. Dave was struggling with upwind speed having only just finished rigging his new A set minutes before going afloat.
The big talking point of the first session, was what were we all hitting below the water? All strikes were in the same broad area, but not in one spot. Clive seem to have more than his fair share. All we could conclude was that we were hitting fish, or that they were attacking us!
After the tea break, normal service was resumed at the front with Peter scoring another 5 firsts and a third, although he was having to work hard for some of those. John thought he’d won one, only to realise he still had another lap to go, but he was consistent in the second session posting 4 seconds. Paul did manage another 1st, but was not as quick around the course in this session with only one other podium result. Clive was getting some great starts and was in the mix for the front in most races. Dave was far more competitive after a bit of rig tweaking by Peter over coffee. Martin was also quicker in the second session. The fish were still causing problems, but they were less fussy, with everyone being impacted at some point.
As it turned out, it was a very enjoyable afternoon’s racing.
  1. Peter Baldwin                            172 12pts 9 wins
  2. John Carlin                                   50 23pts 1 win
  3. Paul Plested                               154 25pts 2 wins
  4. Clive Warren                                93 31pts
  5. Dave Williams                             33 46pts
  6. Martin Whittingham-Jones  77 59pts

DF65 & DF95 Socal Sailing – 12/6/24

There seemed to be a promising middle to top end A+ breeze when we arrived at 10:15, although nothing like a summers day, requiring fleeces and coats on all morning.  At least the wind was still from (generally) WNW and so the course from Saturday sufficed and enabled us to get started soon after 11:00, although without Peter and visitor Andy Dines whilst they sorted Andy’s boat and A+ rig out, with Dave Williams running the first race and a plan for everyone to run a race each.

Andrew Potter had a storming first race  and led by a good margin at the finish.  In the second, James Douglas took the win, hotly pursued by John Carlin, Clive Warren and Paul Plested for a very close finish.  Peter ran this second race, only for Dave to lose his steering and end his day.  We therefore changed to Dave acting as RO for the rest of the morning and Peter discarding his first two (unsailed) races.

Peter then took the next four races, albeit with some luck in the shifty conditions coming into the finish.  Jon Whitehead then won race 7 and Alan Watkinson, race 8.  Clive got the win in race 9 with James roundong out the day with a second and final win.

Peter took the morning with his clutch of wins, but Paul placed second after a consistent morning with only one result outside the top 4 and of course no win.  Jon was third with another (relatively) consistent set of results, which were hard to achieve in the conditions.

Overall some very close racing this morning with boats separated on the finish line by only inches at times especially at the front of the fleet and wins spread around 66% of the fleet.

  1. Peter Baldwin             63  18pts  4 wins
  2. Paul Plested                 54  22pts
  3. Jon Whitehead           771  27pts  1 win
  4. Clive Warren                 53  33pts 1 win
  5. Alan Watkinson         373  34pts 1 win
  6. James Douglas              73  35pts 2 wins
  7. Andrew Potter             194  38pts 1 win
  8. Andy Dines                     36  58pts
  9. Malcolm Harvey       1019  68pts

There wasn’t much enthusiasm for 95 sailing after lunch with limited numbers.  Peter and Clive used the opportunity to replace the anchor warps on the final 5 marks which weer being coated in weed growth.

DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2024 – 5/6/24

DF65’s

The morning started with Peter moving the marks around and removing a number for later work to put new warps on them.  There were enough left for a decent windward/leeward course complete with gate. It also turned out even after tweaking the line with the help of those practising, the line was rather port biased at times.

So to the racing where there was a delay before we even started as having opted for A rigs, the breeze strengthened such that B rigs were needed (and in some gusts even C would have been useful!), so everyone changed down.

Paul Little opted to act as RO after having transmitter problems before the start (thanks Paul), which allowed everyone to sail all eight races.  Consistency was key today and very hard to achieve in the gusty and shifty Westerly, which also created problematic waves at the clubhouse end, especially if the wind dropped off for a few seconds.  You could often find yourself going backwards after a tack until the next gust came along to provide some forward motion.

We had five different race winners today in the eight races sailed.  Only Peter managed to pick up three race wins, with Clive taking two then Mike DSP, Alan and Neil all having their moment of fame.  Dave Williams was unlucky to miss out on a win having led at the windward mark for two of the later races, but was unfortunately pipped to the post in both cases.

The final race went to a Black Flag start having tried two starts with no penalty, each resulting in a general recall after a freeing gust pushed too many boats over the line when we couldn’t bear away quickly enough.  Fortunately, nobody was caught out when the race finally got away on the third attempt.

A good but frustrating mornings racing with the main comment at the end  being   “have we only done 8 races??” as it seemed like 18 to some.

  1. Peter Baldwin         63   11pts   3x1st
  2. John Carlin               11    16pts
  3. Alan Watkinson   373   20pts  1x1st
  4. Dave Williams      233   21pts
  5. Clive Warren            53   23pts    2x1st
  6. Mike De St Paer       35   23pts    1x1st
  7. Neil Westbrook        03  29pts   1x1st
  8. Paul Plested              54   33pts

DF95s

 After the lunch break it was the turn of the 95s to take to the water, like the 65s the turnout was down on our usual numbers and Richard forgetting his transmitter didn’t help, but did provide us with a very efficient RO for the afternoon. Thanks Richard.

The wind and course were very similar to the morning and B rigs were choice of the day, which proved a good one. One lap races were used with the last race of the day extended to 2 laps.

As in the morning races, the race was won by being in the right place at the right time to take advantage of the wind shifts but just as importantly picking the right wind shift to tack on, a lot of the time the wind would back and the boat would be caught in irons, with the resulting loss of distance frustrating for the skipper as they watched the other competitors powering away.

Race one, and Neil came out of  the blocks well and took the race win followed closely by Clive and Paul. Race 2 and it was Clive’s turn to master the conditions best, taking the win from Neil followed by Paul. This was the case for races 3 and 4, until Neil put an end to Clive’s winning streak in race 5. Race 6 saw Clive back on top with Neil second. Meanwhile Paul who in his words “was having a nightmare day” began to find some boat speed but more importantly his way around the lake taking second place behind Clive in the last 2 races, with Neil third. Unfortunately Martin also had a bad day at the office but did manage to pick up a third place in race 6

Results after 8 races with 2 discards

  1.   Clive Warren                                6pts
  2.   Neil Westbrook                         10pts
  3.   Paul Plested                               16pts
  4.   Martin Wittingham-Jones  21pts

DF65 Social Racing 2024 – 29/5/24

As this was a Wednesday in Bank Holiday and half-term week, entries were limited to only 7 sailors who enjoyed a good A suit breeze straight down the lake with occasional gusts later that were overpowering everyone both upwind and down. Early in the session though, we were wondering if A+ would have been a better choice as the breeze was a little light at times for a couple of races, with boats struggling to power through the chop that was being setup.

Racing got underway after Peter had moved a few marks around to give a decent windward/leeward course, although the start line was mostly port biased as the wind swung more to W after being WNW during setup.

Peter took today seemingly easily with eight wins from the ten races sailed, although that doesn’t really tell the whole tale as is often the case at Gautby Road.  Windward mark roundings were often very tight with four boats in close contention going down onto the run.  If you managed to get in a gust which others missed out on, then you could easily lose several places.  For example Andrew led race one only to miss out on the downwind breeze and nearly ended up third.  Paul was leading race 2, but then didn’t cover Peter on the way into the finish and got on the wrong side of a shift which dropped him into second place.  Paul was however nearly always up there in the lead group and his persistence finally paid off in Race 6 when he achieved a race win.  It was close between him and John C, who was  consistent but never managed that elusive win.  Charles had a storming first beat in race 9 to lead around the top mark and held onto this to the finish for the win, although he was chased hard by Richard all the way.

A great mornings racing which we self policed and recorded finishes apart from the final two races when Neil steps in to watch the line and record the finish – thanks Neil.

  1. Peter Baldwin             63  8pts  8 wins
  2. Paul Plested                 54 21pts  1 win
  3. John Carlin                   11  24pts
  4. Andrew Potter         194  25pts
  5. Charles Legg               21  34pts  1 win
  6. Sally Collings          829  40pts
  7. Richard Walker         39  44pts

DF65 Social Racing 2024 – 22/5/24

A very, very soggy Gautby Road for the four sailors today with lots of puddles but, on the upside, a chunky N.West breeze blowing straight down the lake from the far end which was just about right for A rig..

There were enough marks in the right places, so sailing was able to get started without any wading. There was no bottom gate, but with so few boats it was agreed to use one mark as a leeward mark.

Despite the rather dismal conditions a very entertaining set of races ensued with some very close racing, and crowded mark roundings despite the small fleet. All the skippers did some rig tuning during the morning with slightly mixed results. Richard’s boat ended up looking much better balanced after some input, while Paul had a more frustrating day with a boat which didn’t quite look happy with the conditions.

It seemed at some points that it might be better to change to A+, but in the end A was probably the best compromise, but the forecast increased wind didn’t materialise.

The small fleet made it interesting to compare upwind v.m.g. with pointing fractionally higher vs. footing quicker.

It was agreed that eight races were enough as we were all soaking wet by then. Starting and scoring was a team effort, with thanks for Paul for bringing the keys so we could get into the clubhouse.

  1. Mike de St Paer        8 pts  4 wins
  2. John Carlin               10 pts  3 wins
  3. Paul Plested             17 pts  1 win
  4. Richard Walker       18 pts

DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2024 – 15/5/24

DF65’s

10 sailors for what was forecast to be a showery morning but ended up totally dry. The wind was nominally from the SE so straight down the lake from the clubhouse end and perfect for A+ rigs. The standard course was used with a windward mark to port, followed by a spreader, down the run to a gate and up to the finish.

Despite what initially appeared to be a reasonably steady and consistent breeze, proved to be anything but, once racing got underway ….. so typical Gautby Rd conditions. Puffs from a more easterly direction lifted those on port tack who had headed to the far bank while those that hit the near bank enjoyed better wind, but a worse direction. With no side proving consistently best it was a coin toss each race as to which way to go.

As the morning progressed, lulls in the wind added to the unpredictability

John had the boat speed to get himself out of trouble most of the time and won with 5 race wins, just narrowly beating Paul with 4 wins. Alan was the only other race winner, as the rest of us played snakes and ladders with the conditions

  1. John Carlin            10 pts 5 wins
  2. Paul Plested          11pts 4 wins
  3. Alan Watkinson   17pts 1 win
  4. Clive Warren         27pts
  5. Andrew Potter      30pts
  6. Richard Walker    38pts
  7. Sally Collings        39pts 1 second
  8. Frans King             39pts
  9. Dave Williams      41pts
  10. Dave Howard        47pts

DF95’s

Another glorious afternoon welcomed the 6 skippers for some social racing. A big welcome to Darren who is a new member and new to sailing and RC sailing, although he has practiced a bit.
The same course as the morning was used and 2 laps were generally set with a couple of exceptions. As is the norm with only a few skippers, self regulation of the starts and first across the finish line records the result. 7 races were sailed.
Darren actually sails a 65 with an A rig but, as this was social sailing, and we’re a social bunch we set a shortened course for him so he could mix it with the big boats and get some valuable experience. So instead of going the full length of the lake from the start he used the outer finishing buoy as his windward mark, before running back down the lake to the gate. This worked well and proved a good handicap
Racing got underway and saw Alan off to a flyer taking the first 2 races, pushed all the way by Clive and Paul. Race 3 and Dave suffered rigging failure before the start and retired from further sailing. The race saw Paul getting into his stride and took the win, Clive second and Darren third. Race 4 and Paul continued his winning ways chased hard by Alan and Frans. Unfortunately Alan had time constraints and had to leave, Paul continued his winning way with his 3rd win in as many races with the ever improving Darren second. The last 2 races were very similar to each other, with the reduced field trying to chase down Darren in the 65, but failing to catch him before the line, another 5 meters and Clive would have had him in race 6 and Paul in race 7. It gave another dimension having the 65 there and I’m sure Darren learnt a lot from the experience.
Results
  1. Paul Plested         10pts  3 wins
  2. Darren                    15pts  2 wins
  3. Clive Warren        15pts
  4. Alan Watkinson  22pts  2wins
  5. Frans King             25pts
  6. Dave Howard        Rtd.