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DF/RG65 Summer Series 2023 #4 – 10/6/23

Today turned out to be one of the warmest days of the year on the Wirral, with final temperatures reaching 30C, but at least the Easterly breeze was still with us, with an average of probably 6-8 knots, but holes (2knots) and gusts of 12+ knots causing a few nose dives and boats out of control, especially in the last race.

Peter donned the waders and made a few tweaks to Wednesdays course, but in the end the wind was a lot straighter by the time we started and this resulted in a bit too much port bias on the line.  Peter and Martin slugged it out for overall honours with 5 wins each. However, the consistent Martin took the day in the Pocket Rocket with his swing rig further forward and the boat living up to the “Rocket” name.

There were strong performances at times during the day from John, Bill (Ivy) and Clive once he changed to a conventionally rigged Pocket Rocket following electrical problems.  A number of boats had gear and electrical failures during the day causing one or more lost races for 6 of the 8 boats.  Was it the warm day or just bad luck?

Line watching and results recording was done by the fleet for half the races, until John Carlin paid a visit and helped out in the middle session; so thanks John.

  1. Martin Roberts           133  Pocket Rocket    11pts
  2. Peter Baldwin               63  Uno                         14pts
  3. Bill Culshaw                   21  Ivy                           30pts
  4. Clive Warren      184/163  Scuttle/Pocket    33pts
  5. Dave Williams               33  Uno                         39pts
  6. John Brierley                 84  3D print proto    42pts
  7. Alan Watkinson           23   Uno                         43pts
  8. Charles Legg                 26   Uno                         48pts

DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2023 – 7/6/23

There was no decision to be made on rigs this week, with a cool, good mid to top end of A+ blowing down the lake from the clubhouse.  After Peter moved a few marks around to give a reasonable start line and leeward gate position, racing got underway soon after 11, but without Peter who was helping to try and get Martin on the water as he had an intermittent winch issue.  Unfortunately there appeared to be no immediate solution, so Martin Whittingham-Jones very kindly agreed to be RO for the morning.

John Carlin ran the first race and so he was given average points for that race (based upon his 7 other counting races).  This left the top 4 very close, with Alan taking the day on 16 pts and 3 wins, John C second on 19.4 pts and 3 wins, Peter 3rd on 20 pts (2 wins) and Clive 4th on 21 pts (2 wins).

  1. Alan Watkinson   373   16 Pts
  2. John Carlin                11 19.4 Pts (3 wins)
  3. Peter Baldwin         63   20 Pts (2 wins)
  4. Clive Warren           53    21 Pts (2 wins)
  5. Andrew Potter      194   29 Pts
  6. James Douglas        73   40 Pts
  7. Frans King                95  54 Pts
  8. Charles Legg            21   55 Pts
  9. John Beech               80   60 Pts

Out of interest, if Peter had been given average points for missing race 1, that would have given him 18.3 pts and second place.

Afterwards five DF95’s had an hour or so of one lap racing and tune up ideas, with some close finishes once again.

DF65 Social Racing 2023 – 31/5/23

Another good turnout for DF racing. The wind was N.Easterly ish, with the usual holes, lifts, and gusts and a coolish air temperature.

John Carlin won the first race and went on to dominate the day’s racing with a total of 6 wins and an excellent 11 point score after discards.

There was much close racing throughout the day, with a very port end biased line making for some interesting starts. These included starboard tack boats being tagged by those attempting port end flyers, and quite a bit of boat to boat contact with a couple of starts looking like a real melee.

John was followed by Clive, who had two wins and then Mike with one win and a certain amount of radio trouble, along with Neil, Alan and Charles who all suffered with some boat issues during the day.

Overall excellent racing with the overall fleet standard still improving.

Final Positions were:

  1. John Carlin                                  11 pts          6 wins
  2. Clive Warren                              27 pts          2 wins
  3. Mike de St Paer                         29 pts          1 win
  4. Neil Westbrook                         31 pts           1 win
  5. Dave Williams                           31 pts
  6. Richard Walker                         43 pts
  7. Frans King                                  45 pts
  8. John Beech                                  48 pts
  9. Alan Watkinson                         57 pts
  10. Charles Legg                               63 pts
  11. Don Mackinnon                         69 pts
  12. Martin Whittingham-Jones 79 pts

DF/RG65 Summers Series 2023 #3 – 27/5/23

A depleted turnout of only 6 sailors due to illness, Graham competing in France, Martin competing in Lincoln and some off on holidays.  A really good sunny afternoon with a decent wind from the top end of the lake with quite a few shifts to gamble on.

A bad first race for Bill with his battery failing straight after the start enabled John to take his first win closely followed by Alan in second. The next three races were Bills’ with John and Dave fighting over second place. John managed another two wins but the rest of the day went Bills way with another six wins from a closely followed John.

Further down the fleet, Neil and Clive were having their own private battle with Neil eventually coming out on top.

  1. Bill Culshaw          Ivy          11 pts 9wins
  2. John Brierley        Uno         17 pts 3 wins
  3. Alan Watkinson  Uno         29 pts
  4. Dave Williams      Uno         41 pts
  5. Neil Westbrook    Uno         45 pts
  6. Clive Warren         Scuttle   48 pts

DF65 Social Racing 2023 – 24/5/23

An almost perfect sailing day, with a fresh NW breeze, with some substantial gusts to keep you ‘on your toes’, and make life on the water more interesting. The results show just how incredibly close the racing was, with wins shared by seven sailors across the fleet.The sun shone all morning, and we chased a brood of 8 baby ducklings with their mother up and down the lake. They quickly learned how to keep out of the way, after some very near misses on the first race.

John Carlin                                     11    35 Pts
Alan Watkinson                         373   36 Pts
Clive Warren                                 53   51 Pts
James Douglas                             73   52 Pts
Andrew Peter                             919   53 Pts
Neil Westbrook                           03   54 Pts
Mike De St Paer                           35   65 Pts
Don Mckinnon                          933   71 Pts
Richard Walker                            39  76 Pts
Dave Williams                              33   81 Pts
Charles Legg                                 21   91 Pts [ 1 X 4th ]
John Beech                                     80  91 Pts [ 1 X 5th ]
Frans King                                     95  113 Pts
Martin Wittingham-Jones     54  166 Pts [ Rtd ]

DF65 Summer Series 2023 17/5/23

Blue sky, full sun, cold wind from the top of the lake, good A suit conditions.

Twelve sailors including a new member Martin, all anxiously waiting whilst Neil donned the leaking waders to move the start mark. With each skipper dropping out in turn racing commenced.

It was soon realised that the apparent steady wind was far from it and was proving very difficult to read, especially at the gate. On several occasions the leading boat made the wrong decision and ended losing a couple of places on the short beat to the finish. In the end it was down to the consistency of Neil and John C that enabled them to take first and second places. 12 races held.

  1. Neil Westbrook                       16 pts 5 wins
  2. John Carlin                                18 pts 3 wins
  3. Andrew Potter                         28 pts 2 wins
  4. Alan Watkinson                       38 pts 2 wins
  5. Dave Williams                          38pts
  6. Clive Warren                             46 pts
  7. 7th. Andrew Peter                   51 pts
  8. John Beech                                 56 pts
  9. Richard Walker                        59 pts
  10. Frans King                                  74 pts
  11. Malcolm Harvey                       85 pts
  12. Martin Wittingham-Jones   97 pts