Category: dragonforce

Eight skippers came along to sail on a lake with a light breeze and reduced algae levels after the recent rain.  The decision was to go with an A+ set up and everyone rigged up their boats and this is where the day set its course when David Howard realised that tensioning his back stay had caused the jib crane to split his mast and he had no replacement.

It was intended to race a course set over the familiar pattern with the wind from the club house, however before the start of the first race it had switched to blowing down the lake towards the club house and back again.  The first race demonstrated how difficult the day would be with the light wind switching, gusting and disappearing as is swirled around the lake.  The course was revised to have the start at the club house end and the finish half way up the lake from race 2 onwards.

As the races progressed, frustration with the conditions seemed to be the main feeling of all the skippers and Malcolm called it a day after race 3 with sail winch creep.  Only 8 races were completed with Alan Wilkinson winning overall having 4 wins and 2 seconds and Dave Williams was second with 1 win and 4 seconds.  Other winners on the day were Richard Walker, Clive Warren and John Carlin who managed to win race 7 after struggling in the first 6 races.

With a nice warm day but very little wind from the Clubhouse end, eight sailors arrived ready to compete. Whilst Clive and Paul did a litter pick Dave returned the pristine clean finish mark to its normal position.(thanks Andrew).

Sailing got under way on the usual course with Clive showing his intent for the day. With low numbers the first over the finish line scored. Start line discipline was very good resulting in only one general recall. Clive had writers cramp with his five wins, Alan two and Dave W the other one.

Paul finally sorted his tuning and had close battles with Clive and Alan. The highlight of the morning was new sailor Dave H taking a fourth place on the final race.

1. Clive Warren            7pts 5 wins
2. Alan Watkinson    17pts 2 wins
3. Paul Little                17pts
4. Richard Walker     19pts
5. Dave Williams       21pts 1 win
6. John Beech              32pts 1 x 3rd
7. Malcolm Harvey  32pts
8. Dave Howard         42pts

A light breeze generally from the club house end of the lake greeted the 6 sailors, down on our normal numbers, 2 working clubhouse restoration, holidays and DF95 nationals accounting for others but this still a competitive fleet.

A lake inspection and algae free trial sail meant racing got underway about 15 mins late. A full size course was set with the start line at the far end of the lake, to a windward and spreader mark before a run down to a gate at the far end. The wind had freshened slightly but there were shifts and holes to test all competitors. With only 6 in the fleet it was agreed that first across the line would record the results.

In the first race, the fleet split very quickly into 2 groups with Clive and Mike leading the way with the remainder battling it out for the minor placings. Mike taking the win, and Richard piping Dave for 3^rd.

The second race followed a similar pattern with Mike and Clive doing battle at the front, and Dave and Richard having a tight dual for 3rd, Dave taking the honours this time.

The 3^rd race saw Mike over the line a he took Clive out whilst returning, the 2 remained entangled for a while. Meanwhile Martin took full advantage and lead Dave for most of the race until Clive passed both on the final beat as the wind began to die. Martin holding on to 2^nd place.

The 4th race was a test of patience for sailors as the wind continued to drop, meaning the holes got larger and the wind shifts even harder to pick. Once again Martin sailed a great race to lead virtually from start to finish with Clive 2^nd and Mike 3rd.  At this stage it was agreed to call it as the wind dropped further and the lake was like a mill pond.

Final results after 4 races (one discard)

1.    53        Clive Warren                                      4pts
2.    35        Mike de St Paer                                 6pts
3.    54        Martin Wittingham-Jones          8pts
4.    33        Dave Williams                                  10pts
5.    39        Richard Walker                               12pts
6.    45        Paul Little                                          15pts

This week there was a good A suit breeze down the lake for the 10 sailors that started the first race.  Unfortunately Andrew Potter had to drop out of the first race with winch failure and with other problems abandoned his sailing for the morning.  The remaining 9 sailed 9 races in a breeze that went from hardly moving the boats through to full bow down nose dives on the run with some big shifts that could catch the unwary out.  Peter moved the marks around to give a good windward leeward course whilst Dave found him a spare rig – thanks Dave!.  In his rush to leave home he only had the A+ rig attached to his boat.  Racing got underway soon after 11:00.  Peter and Mike slugged it out for the top spot with 3 firsts each and good performances from Sally, Richard and Alan all taking a first place.  Mike took first place partly due to Peter’s rudder servo going at the end of race 8 and then missing race 9.  Peter held onto second with Sally a creditable third only a few weeks into sailing again after a long lay-off.

1. Mike de St  Paer                            9pts 3 firsts
2. Peter Baldwin                               10pts 3 firsts
3. Sally Collings                                16pts 1 first
4. Richard Walker                            19pts 1 first
5. Dave Williams                              22pts
6. Alan Watkinson                           23pts 1 first
7. John Beech                                     27pts
8. Martin Whittington Jones      39pts
9. Dave Howard                                48pts

9 races held, Andrew Potter dropped out of first race due to winch failure.

A light wind from the top end of the lake greeted seven sailors when they arrived on Wednesday for the DF-65 Racing and it was agreed that an A+ sail was the choice for the morning.

However once racing began it became apparent that the breeze was alternating from light to nothing on a fairly frequent schedule and after 3 difficult races the skippers decided to abandon racing for the day.  Some however did remain to assist Andrew with lake clearing work.

A fine sunny day at Gautby Road, nine DF 95 sailors keen to race but a horrendous wind kept them guessing as to the best way to tackle the usual two lap course starting from the Clubhouse end. The wind varied from overpowering to moments of nothing. It was imperative to anticipate the wind, to gain the start advantage. John Brierley always pushing did fall foul of the start line judge but generally no recalls. Up to tea break it was John or Alan taking the wins between them although after the break it was John who dominated. Andrew was unable to come to grips with his 95 so after the mainsail collapsed he retired to the Clubhouse to sort it, then returned to put in four good races. Clive had consistent races to gain third place.

A good afternoon sailing with twelve races and very close scoring.  Photos courtesy of Dave Williams.

1. John Brierley          11pts 7wins
2. Alan Watkinson   15pts 5wins
3. Clive Warren         32pts
4. John Carlin             41pts
5. Andrew Peter        42pts 2X 2nds
6. Dave Williams      42pts
7. Neil Westbrook    43pts
8. Frans King             56pts 2 x 3rds
9. John Beech           56pts