I have added photos taken by Mark Warren during the recent DF65 and DF95 Social Racing day on Wednesday 20/12/23. They are both available as separate albums in the Gallery section of the website.
Category: dragonforce
DF95 Social Racing 2023 – 13/12/23
9 helms stayed behind for a competitive afternoons racing and out of those 9 helms, 7 recorded a third place or better showing just how competitive it actually was. The wind was similar to the morning DF65 session so initially the same course was used. With a relatively small fleet albeit one of our best Wednesday afternoon turnouts, we managed the start between ourselves and the first over the finish line recorded the results allowing all helms maximum sailing time.
The wind remained tricky coming over from the factories making the starboard end of the start line very biased and in one race the leaders made the first windward mark in one without having to tack. Having said that it was shifting, picking the right one to tack on was paramount, it was very easy to be headed and being in the right place at the right time helped greatly.
After 2 races the leeward gate was changed to a spreader to give the port boats reaching into the mark less of a target for the starboard close hauled boats heading back up the lake. this proved much better with fewer collisions. The tricky area was the approach to the windward mark where the directional shifts were most pronounced. It was same for all and made for interesting racing with many a place won or lost. It was great to see Dave Williams putting in an appearance, showing that he hasn’t lost his touch of the bigger boat
After 7 races, the sun was getting low and the temperature dropping, so we called it a day. Final results with 1 discard
1 Clive Warren 13pts (2 wins, 2 seconds, 1 third)
2 Dave Williams 17pts (2 seconds, 3 thirds,)
3 Alan Watkinson 18pts (1 win, 2 seconds, 1 third)
4 John Carlin 26pts (2 wins, 1 second)
5 Richard Walker 27pts (1 win)
6 Neil Westbrook 29pts (2 seconds)
7 Dave Howard 37pts
8 Paul Little 38pts (1 win)
9 Malcolm Harvey 45pts
DF65 Social Racing 2023 – 13/12/23
After a break of two weeks, the DF65 fleet were back racing this week.
A chilly Northerly breeze to start with at Gautby road for today’s DF social racing. There were some gusts in the breeze, and a large flat patch along the far side of the lake where a windward mark might have gone.
A+ rigs were agreed, and John went wading to try and get the start line a bit less biased. In the event the breeze went somewhat right at the clubhouse end making the start line very biased even after John’s adjustments, and the beat looked to be pretty much of a starboard tack fetch.
However….as always at Gautby road it wasn’t that simple.The breeze faded and went left further up the beat, and those who tried to sail high initially got caught by the edge of the flat area, but not every time, so it seemed to pay by toughing it out on Starboard and try to get across near the top of the beat.
The start line bias, and the conditions led to quite a bit of close quarters sailing with a few entanglements and the odd bit of contact. Malcolm very kindly volunteered as RO after the mainsail tack eyelet failed on his rig – many thanks Malcolm. Mike dsp edged ahead after all this, with the next 8 boats covered by 12 points, so racing was once again very close right across the fleet
1. Mike de St Paer 19 pts 4 wins
2. John Carlin 30 pts 2 wins
3. Andrew Potter 33 pts 1 win
4. Clive Warren 35 pts 2 wins
5. Alan Watkinson 35 pts
6. Neil Westbrook 41 pts
7. Dave Williams 42 pts
8. James Douglas 43 pts
9. Sally Collings 46 pts
10. Richard Walker 49 pts 1 win
11. Frans King 74pts
12. Paul Little 75 pts
DF95 Winter Series 2023 #1 – 25/11/23
DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2023 – 22/11/23
DF65’s
Today’s racing was held in an approximately North Westerly breeze, with all the usual holes and shifts with the wind coming over the houses. Turnout was again great with 15 DF65 sailors.
No one wished to go wading, and with the Port end of the line somewhat favoured the starting was all pretty close. In fact as the morning progressed it was agreed that one of the other gate marks would make a better line, although it remained so shifty this didn’t really affect the first beat much.
A rigs were chosen, and although boats were underpowered some of the time, the gusts would clearly have been difficult with A+.
Once again racing was very close, with 4 different winners, and the first two boats only one point apart after the 10 races sailed, with John Carlin the winner and results as shown below:
1. John Carlin 13.5 pts 4 wins
2. Mike de St Paer 14.6 pts 1 win
3. James Douglas 26 pts 3 wins
4. Clive Warren 29 pts 2 wins
5. Dave Williams 35.3 pts
6. Neil Westbrook 37,5 pts
7. Alan Watkinson 39.5 pts
8. Andrew Potter 42 pts
9. Malcolm Harvey 58.2 pts
10. Richard Walker 62.6 pts
11. Don Mackinnon 71pts
12. John Beech 76 pts
13. Frans King 77 pts
14. Dave Howard 80 pts
15. Paul Little 91.2 pts
DF95’s
The afternoon found 8 boats on the water for the DF95 racing, The wind remained similar to the morning racing, that being from the North West, with gusts and shifts to help or hinder depending if the helm picked the right one or not. B rigs were chosen with the wind forecast to increase throughout the afternoon. Clive was the first casualty finding the eye on the head of the mainsail pulled out, with no spare he was left with the choice of A or C, he plumped for A and an exciting afternoon. Second to fall was Paul with his new 95 which needed the rudder reversing, the problem being nobody was used to the new FlySky transmitter and it cost Paul a start in the first race. The same course as the morning was agreed, and the first home would record the positions of the fleet which allowed all 8 boats to compete in each race.
Alan got off to a flyer having his boat set up just right for the conditions which resulted in him winning the first 3 races, with Clive, John and Richard each sharing the second and third positions equally between them. Race 4 had Richard breaking Alans winning streak, with Alan in second. Race 5 saw Malcolm suffering forestay / jib halyard failure and was unable to finish the race, which was won saw Clive taking the honours Alan again taking the second spot. Unfortunately Alan had to leave and Malcolms breakdown left 6 boats to fight out the last 2 races, Richard won the 6th with Clive second and Dave having his best race in third. The 8th and final race saw Clive getting his 2nd win and John picking up his best finish of the day in second.
Once again the day was very competitive with everyone showing good boat speed at some stage.
Final Results were:
- Clive Warren 93 12pts 2 wins, 2 seconds
- Richard Walker 52 13pts 2 wins, 2 seconds
- Alan Watkinson 23 14pts 3 wins, 2 seconds (6 races)
- John Beech 288 19pts 2 seconds
- Dave Howard 00 26pts
- Frans King 59 31pts
- Paul Little 14 38pts
- Malcolm Harvey 2019 44pts
Although Clive won, its fair to say that if Alan had been able to continue he would have been top of the leader board.
New Section added to Website
I have added a new section and menu Item under “Information”
“Boats for Sale or Wanted”
If you have a boat for sale or want a boat that meets the classes sailed at the club, please let me have further details and I will add it to the page. The page outlines the process, but send me an email (if you have my email address) or a message via the contacts pages and I will confirm details with you. If you are emailing you can of course send details direct as a description and a couple of pertinent photos. If you have more photos also state that in the advert so that any potential buyer can request them if required.
I was not planning to place contact emails or phone numbers in the advert only the sellers name. They can then make contact directly if they know you or send me a message via the Contacts link on the page and I will pass the interest on.
Have a look at some point to become familiar with the page which may be accessed directly through this link. The intention is to try and get more boats on the water and encourage boats to remain within the club and be used rather than sitting in a garage (or loft!) gathering dust.