Another excellent turnout of thirteen df65s for today’s racing, with a distinctly autumnal feel to the day. The wind was forecast as more or less west, but by the time it had reached Gautby road the weather gods had smiled and a reasonable little N. Westerly breeze was blowing fairly straight down the lake from the far end – a relief after some of the recent “dead slow and stop” conditions we have seen.

Paul adjusted the course and racing got away promptly with a first race win for James. The next three races had different winners, but then John won race 5 to make it two in a row.

Lucky thirteenth for some, but unlucky for others. Clive had a rudder servo fail early on and missed the first three races while he changed it, Andrew’s boat came to a halt soon after the start in race 4 having hit an underwater object (which turned out to be a submerged doggy poo bag. Always something new at Gautby Road) and Mike had to call it a day after Race 4 also with rudder servo failure.

RO duties had initially been shared, but Charles very kindly took over the second half of the day.

Although the breeze seemed quite steady initially there were some big shifts and holes as well. Paul, John and Clive sailed very well to win 2 races each, with John and Paul ending up tied on points after eight races, and Paul winning on countback. James and Alan were third and fourth respectively, with Clive making an excellent climb back to fifth after his technical issues.

Results are shown in full below, thanks to Dave and Malcolm for the results, Paul and Dave for the photos, Paul for going wading to adjust the course and Charles for picking up the ROing.

1. Paul Plested.                 11.3 pts  2 wins ahead on countback
2. John Carlin                    11.3 pts  2 wins
3. James Douglas             16.9 pts  1 win
4. Alan Watkinson          20.3 pts
5. Clive Warren                29   pts    2 wins
6. Richard Robinson      30   pts.   ahead on countback
7. Richard Walker.          30   pts
8. Andrew Potter             33   pts
9. Mike de St Paer           37.1 pts    1 win
10. Dave Williams             41   pts
11. David White                 52   pts
12. Malcolm Harvey        56  pts     ahead on countback
13. Frans King                   56   pts

DF65’s

Wind from the South East today pretty much as forecast with an Autumnal nip to the air to welcome 13 DF65 sailors – another excellent turnout.

The usual course of windward / spreader and a leeward gate was used, and after some detail attention by Paul proved to be a good course with a line allowing good starts from various places along it.

Paul started with a couple of bullets straight away, but the next three races had three new and different winners as an indication of how shifty it was.

First to the windward mark was made at different stages by a long starboard tack almost into the top corner, or a starboard start then a port hike across about half way up, or again a series of tacks up the starboard side of the lake. There was also a very shifty area just at the top mark by the clubhouse which caught out a few front runners and changed the order of play several times.

Paul emerged the deserving winner from all of this with 20pts with Richard a very close second on 20.9, Clive third with two wins and Neil only slightly adrift in fourth with no wins but some very consistent sailing

There was close racing all down the fleet with 6 different winners during the day. RO duties were shared, and thanks to Dave and Malcolm for organising the results which were as shown below.  Thanks also to Dave for the photos of the morning’s racing.

1. Paul Plested.                     20   pts   3 wins
2. Richard Robinson          20.9 pts   1 win
3. Clive Warren                    23.1 pts   2 wins
4. Neil Westbrook               26.4 pts
5. Mike de St Paer               27.5 pts    2 wins
6. Andrew Potter                29.7 pts.  1 win
7. Richard Walker.             37.4 pts    1 win
8. Dave Williams                 44    pts
9. Don McKinnon               53.9 pts
10. Charles Legg                   59.4 pts
11. John Beech                      71   pts
12. Malcolm Harvey           78.1pts
13. David White.                   82   pts

DF95’s

A small, but perfectly formed group of six 95 sailors enjoyed eight close races in the lightish SE breeze, which allowed a windward/leeward course the length of the lake.  As is customary with a small social fleet the starts were self-governed and the first across the line scored the results.

John C and Clive both scored three firsts each, with Paul, who was a tad off their pace at times, scoring two firsts.  There were strong showings from all across the races.  Martin scored a 2nd in one race, and John B raced well scoring four 3rds on the day.

John C took the day with Clive a close 2nd, who may well regret trying to take a start line photo, which saw the fleet disappear up the lake before he got his boat going again.

1. John Carlin                                    50          9pts  3 wins
2. Clive Warren                                 93        10pts  3 wins
3. Paul Plested                                 154        12pts  2 wins
4. John Beech                                   288       20pts  3x3rd
5. Martin Whittingham-Jones    77      28pts  1x2nd
6. Malcolm Harvey                        1019     30pts

Thanks to Clive for the photo’s from the afternoon.

Good luck to the seven club members off to West Lancs YC at the weekend for the DF95 Nationals.

There was only the merest hint of a breeze arriving at 10am, but by 10:30 it was shaping up to be a decent breeze down the length of the lake from the clubhouse end.  Peter donned the waders and shifted a few marks to provide a decent windward leg for the first couple of races.

The fleet of 12 boats started in a light A+ rig breeze with the usual Gautby Rd holes and shifts to catch people out and pose the usual “shall I tack or not” question.  Andrew Potter started well and led for most of the first race, until Peter covered him on the run and overtook at the gate to take the win.  Race 2 and Peter made some new friends at the back of the fleet with a jib sheeting problem, leaving Paul Plested and Mike De St Paer to battle out for line honours, which went to Paul in this instance.

Race 3 was won by Peter after a battle with Clive and Richard Robinson who made a welcome return to Wednesday mornings.  Clive made a great start in Race 4 and led for a good part of the race and through the final gate.  However, Gautby Road decided not to favour him with the win and allowed both Peter and Paul to creep up the bank leaving him stranded in the middle of the lake with or no wind and a resultant third.

By now the wind was definitely across the lake, with starts being sometimes a beat and at other times a broad reach.  The main requirement was to keep your boat moving both off the line and continue to the windward mark.  Peter, Andrew and Clive were all vying for top spot all the way to the finish of Race 5, with a nail biting win for Peter as the other pair got a gust from behind.  In the final race Clive finally managed the win that he had been so close to achieving all morning.

A slightly early finish was called with tidying work to do in readiness for the RG65 TT weekend, although nobody complained with the wind being less than perfect.  Thanks must go to Liz Potter and Sharon Plested for acting as our Race Committee this morning and Paul Plested for the quick photo whilst we were temporarily parked up.

1. Peter Baldwin           63   6pts  4 wins
2. Clive Warren             53  12pts  1 win
3. Paul Plested             154  15pts 1 win
4. Mike De St Paer        35  19pts
5. Andrew Potter         194  20pts
6. Richard Robinson  901  24pts
7. Richard Walker        39  31pts
8. Dave Williams          33  36pts
9. David White              94  42pts
10. Sally Collings         829  49pts
11. Charles Legg              21  50pts
12. Malcolm Harvey  1019  59pts

1. Paul Plested                                   16pts      5 wins
2. Clive Warren                                 24pts     3 wins
3. Alan Watkinson                           31pts      2 wins
4. Andrew Peter                               36pts
5. John Beech                                    47pts      1 win
6. Paul Little                                      59pts
7. Malcolm Harvey                          60pts      1 win
8. Martin Whittingham-Jones   67pts
9. Phil Shepherd                               75pts
10. Frans King    (Retired)

With a Northerly forecast for today, the racing was never going to be great, but we did manage to complete eight races befiore stopping ready for the pre-AGM scheduled for 13:00.

Peter donned the waders to tweak the course, moving the start line and gate to the near bank and we used the outer start line mark as the windward mark and we ready to start at 11:00 in some light rain and a light breeze from a generally Northerly direction with plenty of shifts back and forth such that keeping the boat moving was the key skill today.

Peter had a good lead in race one, but had misunderstood the course as set out by Dave, missed out the spreader and thus scored an NSC instead of a win.  This gifted Paul Plested the win, although for a long while it looked very much like Alan’s race.  Andrew Potter then aced races two and three, before Peter won four of the next 5 races, with Andrew picking up another win whilst Peter was RO.  Although not picking up wins, there were good performances across the fleet with some very close finishes, with Paul P, Alan, Paul L, John and Dave all being well placed in at least one race.

The day was characterised by some very wierd wind conditions with boats occasionally seeing the wind going around in circles, before steadying again 5 seconds later to its original direction.  The wind was also cruel to some leaders as the fleet caught up or even overtook them downwind.  We had more than one race with 5 or 6 boats all trying to fit through the gate at the same time; no contacts were made but it was a close run thing.

Thanks go to Dave Williams and Paul Plested for the photos.

1. Peter Baldwin              63  7pts  4 wins
2. Andrew Potter           194  8pts  3 wins
3. Paul Plested                154 15pts  1 win
4. Alan Watkinson        373  15pts
5. Paul Little                      45  25pts
6. Dave Williams              33  31pts
7. John Carlin                     11  32pts
8. Frans King                     95  36pts
9. Richard Walker            39  37pts
10. Simon Bates                  69  43pts
11. David White                   94  48pts