Category: dragonforce

Only 8 competitors remained to sail (after a lake tidy) in this the last DF65 Social racing of 2022.

The wind was a light breeze over the houses and a Windward/Leeward course was setup by Peter, which tested the patience of most sailors during the morning.  The wind had the ability to switch direction suddenly catching some out especially when it happened on the starting line.  By the end of the session, the breeze seemed to be picking up from a more WSW direction, but there were still plenty of holes to fall into.

There were 5 different winners in the 7 races sailed.  Mike De St Paer had the most consistent day and two wins to take the morning overall.  Peter Baldwin was second with just one win and Richard Robinson taking third with two wins, but losing two races due to a battery problem.  Racing was close throughout the fleet with countback separating 3rd and 4th and also 5th and 6th.

The next Wednesday Sailing will be on the 4th January, although there is DF/RG65 racing on Saturday 31st December starting at 12:00.

After lunch a small group of 5 sailed DF95’s, with some informal racing and help with tuning setup.  The wind was as fickle as before lunch with some larger gusts which died away by 3pm, when everyone packed away.

 

There was a good A+ breeze from the clubhouse end and so the existing mark positions made for a decent one lap windward leeward course.  Malcolm Harvey opted to be RO for today as his main masthead mainsail tie failed just before racing was due to start, but racing still got underway on time at 11:00.

Peter Baldwin took the wins in races one, two and four, with John Carlin races three and five.  Mike De St Paer then had a string of 3 wins in races six to eight before John took race 9, leaving Mike with the win in the final two lap race 10.  Many races were very close throughout the fleet, with one race having 4 boats cross the line within a single second, but Malcolm coped admirably on his own, to separate the boats and get the finish order.  The breeze did pick up slightly during the morning and the gusts caused a number of boats to lose control downwind, but it was never for too long and some boats even managed to escape falling over completely.

With excellent consistency and the highest number of wins (4) Mike took the morning, with John five points behind in second and Peter a further two points behind in third.

Thanks to our RO Malcolm having his tablet with him to score today, here are the full results.  These were available to view soon after racing had finished for the day.

Wednesday November 23^rd saw the sort of weather conditions that had even the best skippers despairing. We started with near flat calm, a start-line at the clubhouse end of the pond that was heavily biased to port and finished with an eighth race with a storming downwind start. On any single leg, the wind could come from dead astern to dead ahead within the space of a few metres. Between the marks, success seemed to depend on working out whence the wind was blowing and adjusting sails and course accordingly. In all, it was a most testing day. Mike De St. Paer rose above these conditions and came in a well deserved first with ten points, closely followed by James Douglas on 11.

1. Mike De St Paer                 35         10pts       3 firsts
2.  James Douglas                  53         11pts       3 firsts
3. Alan Watkinson              373         17pts       2 firsts
4. Clive Warren                       73        19pts
5. Richard Walker                  39       22pts
6. John Carlin                           11        32pts      1 first
7.  Andrew Potter                 194       34pts
8. Charles Legg                       21        36pts
9. Sally Collings                   829       39pts
10. Frans King                           95       44pts
11. John Beech                          80       51pts
12. Paul Little                            45       66pts

Results after 8 Races and 2 discards

A good A+ wind from the Clubhouse end greeted the 15 keen sailors. Alan Watkinson volunteered to be RO and was able to keep the racing at a good pace managing to run 10 races. The wind although strong at times did ease off during the racing causing the usual problems of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Mike and John managed the conditions well taking most of the wins between themselves. Clive Warren, new to radio sailing took 3rd overall with a very consistent run of top 4 positions.

 

1. John Carlin             15pts 5 wins
2. Mike de St Paer     17pts 2 wins
3. Clive Warren          34pts
4. Richard Walker     36pts 1 win
5. Dave Williams       39pts 1 win
6. Simon Bates           44pts 1 win
7. Derek Matthews   54pts
8. Charles Legg           64pts
9. Sally Collings         67pts
10. Paul Little               69pts
11. Don MacKinnon   70pts
12. John Beech              80pts
13. Stan Metcalf           81pts
14. Malcolm Harvey   84pts
15. Frans King              97pts

After a quick lunch break, 8 DF95s took to the water sailing the same course as the DF65s with a volunteer RO Paul Little, many thanks go to him on behalf of the “fleet”. Racing to the first mark was very evenly matched as it was only after the spreader that the leading boats managed to pull away. 5 races were held with the last race “three laps”!  Thanks go to John Beech for the photos of the DF95’s.

1. John Brierley         5pts 3 wins
2. Alan Watkinson  10pts 1 win
3. Andrew Peter       15pts 1 win
4. Richard Walker   16pts 2 x 2nds
5. John Carlin            16pts 1 x 2nd
6. Clive Warren         18pts
7. Dave Williams      19pts
8. Malcolm Harvey  31pts

13 sailors started racing with a warm sun and the light wind from the top of the lake. Malcolm volunteered to be race officer and managed to give us ten races even with the patchy wind.  Downwind caused the most problems where the possibility of a good finish position was lost, running out of wind and just bobbing about whilst being overtaken by several boats!

John Carlin took the most wins being pushed hard by Mike, Alan and Dave who took the rest. Charles having now recovered from COVID make a welcome return and put in some good results. Many thanks again to Malcolm for being RO today.

1. John Carlin            17pts 5wins
2. Mike de St Paer    19pts 1 win
3. Alan Watkinson   23pts. 2 wins
4. Dave Williams      26pts 2 wins
5. Derek Matthews  40pts
6. Charles Legg         49pts
7. Richard Walker    51pts
8. Paul Little               57pts
9. Sally Collings        58pts 1 x 3rd
10. Don MacKinnon   58pts
11. Clive Warren          62pts
12. Frans King              77pts

The wind today was not as strong as expected but ended up near the top of A suit range. Paul our RO set a full length course starting at the top end of the lake with the windward mark at the clubhouse, port to a spreader then downwind through the gate to the finish in its usual place.

A couple of general recalls and a few individual recalls were the result of sudden gusts just on the final few seconds of countdown. The first leg of the course was a challenge as to which tack to be on with no consistency of the wind, bunching at the windward mark caused a few problems with more to come on the run with severe broaching. Mike and John were able to handle the conditions to their advantage taking 7 wins between them with just 1 point between them at the end with a similar position between Richard and Derek.

Thanks again to Paul Little for volunteering to be RO and giving us 10 races.

1. Mike de St Paer       12 pts 4 wins
2. John Carlin                13 pts 3 wins
3. Richard Walker       25 pts 1 win
4. Derek Matthews     26 pts 2 wins
5. Dave Williams         43 pts
6. Frans King                48 pts
7. Don MacKinnon     50 pts
8. Malcolm Harvey     51 pts
9. Clive Warren            54 pts