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Category: dragonforce

DF65 Social Racing #29 (20/7/22)

After the last few days of intense heat, today was a complete contrast. Sweaters and coats were worn to combat the chilly B rig wind. We welcomed Chuck again to our Wednesday races with him using B rig for the first time. All the starts were very good with no recalls. Alan, reading the wind shifts, dominated the day with 5 wins. Overall the racing was very close with the final decision of which course to take through the final gate could gain you a few places or lose them. Surprisingly with no gear failures everyone completed the 10 races.

  1. Alan Watkinson       12 pts 5 wins
  2. Andrew Potter          17 pts 2 wins
  3. Neil Westbrook        19 pts 2 wins
  4. Dave Williams          23 pts
  5. Andrew Peter            24 pts 1 win
  6. Chuck Millican         27 pts
  7. Charles Legg             31 pts
  8. Richard Walker         42 pts
  9. Malcolm Harvey       52 pts
  10. John Beech                  54 pts

DF95 Social Race Afternoon

The club plans to run an afternoon of DF95 racing on the afternoon of Wednesday 27th July to allow some warm up practice before the DF95 Nationals due to take place at Two Islands on the following weekend (30/31st July).  Start time will be approximately 13:30 and continue until approximately 16:30.

An additional event has been created and all are welcome to enter and join in the fun.

DF65 Social Racing #28 (13/7/22)

You couldn’t get a much better morning to race than today with “champagne sailing” conditions for the twelve DF65 sailors that turned out.  There was a good breeze straight down the lake that was towards the top end of the chosen A+ rig, with some gusts that were close to overpowering boats on the run and some lulls where the boats almost stopped.  Shifts were there and allowed places to be gained if you picked the right way to go in those shifts.

We were joined once again by visiting AMYA President Chuck Millican, and racing was at times very close and this occasionally proved difficult for the RO watching the line and record the sail numbers, without some external assistance.  We opted to run a race each and so with 12 races sailed (using the whole lake) each sailor had nine races to count (with 2 discards) , which were completed soon after 1pm with a final two lap race.

Peter Baldwin put in a rare Wednesday appearance and had the lions share of the wins (7), with Mike De St Paer gaining two, Dave Williams, Andrew Peter and Alan Watkinson one each.  So, the overall win went to Peter, with John Carlin relishing the opportunity to sail once again taking second after a very consistent day of podium finishes and Mike third, 4 points behind him.

  1. Peter Baldwin            63      11 pts
  2. John Carlin                  11       23 pts
  3. Mike De St Paer        35       27 pts
  4. Alan Watkinson      373      34 pts
  5. Andrew Peter           919      41 pts
  6. Dave Williams            33      49 pts (1 win)
  7. Simon Bates                69     49 pts (no win)
  8. James Douglas            73     52 pts
  9. Richard Walker          39     64 pts
  10. Chuck Millican           21      68 pts
  11. Malcolm Harvey    1019     75 pts
  12. John Beech                   80     77 pts

DF/RG65 Summer 2022 #5 (9/7/22)

Once again we were fortunate to have both sun and a decent breeze between a top suit swing and full size (lower aspect) conventional for the RG65’s and one that was sailable in a DF65 A+, but more controllable in an A rig.

Seven RG65’s and six DF65’s started the day and their helms took it in turns to run one race each until a break at Race 7.  There were some early dropouts in the DF65 fleet leading to only 4 boats completing most races.

Graham Elliott sailing the Electronica took four of the first six races he sailed, with Peter Baldwin’s Uno the remaining two.  After the break, we were fortunate to have three volunteers from the DF65 fleet who ran the remaining five races for us, giving a total of 12 races for the day.  Graham took 4 out of the 5 after the break using his Argon, with Peter only managing a single race win, mostly underpowered with the conventional A versus Graham’s Swing rig.  Although Peter and Graham shared the wins, there were some strong performances through the fleet , with Dave Williams (Uno), Alan Watkinson (Uno), Charles Legg and Bill Culshaw (Pocket Rocket) all vying for the lead at various times.

In the DF65 fleet, it was our visitor Chuck Millican (AMYA) who had the Lions share of 8 wins from 12 races, with Andrew Peter and John Carlin each taking two.  This left Chuck the clear winner with Andrew narrowly second one point ahead of John.

Thanks must go to everyone who helped out in running the races especially those DF65 sailors (and support crew) who helped run the last 5 races.

RG65’s

  1. Graham Elliott           09/29  Electronia/Argon    10 pts (8 wins)
  2. Peter Baldwin             63         Uno                               15 pts (4 wins)
  3. Alan Watkinson         23          Uno                              28 pts
  4. Bill Culshaw               163         Pocket Rocket          33 pts
  5. Dave Williams            33          Uno                               38 pts
  6. Charles Legg               26         Uno                                43 pts
  7. John Brierley               84         Uno                                51 pts (gear failure race 5)

DF65’s

  1. Chuck Millican              21        12 pts (8 wins)
  2. Andrew Peter                919      21 pts (2 wins)
  3. John Carlin                      11        22 pts (2 wins)
  4. Graham Reeves            614      40 pts

Photo by Alan Watkinson.

DF65 Social Racing #27 (6/7/22)

A bright, cold day (well it is only July!) with a good wind straight down the lake.  After a trial sail, B rig was selected. Our Commodore was able to read the conditions very quickly and managed to win every race, however he did have to fight for it with several contenders pushing him all the way, notable Neil, Alan, Andrew and Charles. 9 races were held with the usual 2 lap finish.

  1. John Brierley          7pts 9wins
  2. Neil Westbrook    19pts
  3. Alan Watkinson   22pts
  4. Andrew Peter        27pts
  5. Charles Legg         27pts
  6. Richard Walker    36pts
  7. Don McKinnon     37Pts
  8. John Beech              52pts

DF65 Social Racing #26 (29/6/22)

The wind from the Gautby Road end was a good A+, the only problem being not consistent, and so it was imperative that you tacked on the right shift or you were left drifting for a few minutes – any lead built up soon disappeared. Unfortunately our RO to be, John (the Boot) Carlin has contracted COVID again, we wish him well.

After Neil had donned the waders to move a couple of marks we all decided to sail without an RO, the skipper of the first boat over the finish to mark the boats in. This worked well with no problems. The racing was very close with 5 different skippers having a win. 8 races sailed with the usual 2 laps before finish.

  1. Neil Westbrook            10 pts 2 wins
  2. Dave Williams              14 pts 2 wins
  3. Derek Matthews          15 pts 2 wins
  4. Alan Watkinson           19 pts 1 win
  5. Richard Walker           20 pts 1 win
  6. Charles Legg                24 pts
  7. John Beech                    41 pts