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Category: dragonforce

DF/RG65 Winter Series 2022/3 #4

We arrived to find a decent breeze from the West, but with a lake full to overflowing.  Neil and Alan set to and cleared the overflow, although even by the end of sailing at 15:30, the level had only decreased by an inch or so.

Peter moved a few marks around and replaced some that had floated to the leeward shore because of the lake level and racing got started soon after 12:00 with most boats sporting their C rigs (where available).  Although  8 sailors arrived, we only had a maximum of 5 boats on the water at any time and occasionally only 2!  The wind took its toll on most if not all boats with rig and servo failures and others having to bow out due to the lack of a C Rig or problems with the walkway being flooded.

Wins were shared out among the 4 RG’s with John taking four (and the win overall), Peter and Martin three each and Alan one.  Clive was the sole DF65 today as he was unable to get anyone else to join him for the afternoon. Racing was close at times, although equally someone could gain a good lead if they picked up a gust at the windward mark and leave everyone in their wake.

Thanks to Dave for running the most of the races having loaned his boat to Martin who gave it a good run later with a bigger rig especially when the wind abated slightly.

  1. John Brierley          Uno  84  14pts
  2. Peter Baldwin        Uno  63   17pts
  3. Martin Roberts     Uno  33   28pts
  4. Alan Watkinson    Uno  23   33pts

 

  1. Clive Warren          DF65  53  9pts

DF65 Social Racing 2023 11/1/23

Another strange day weather wise, wind from top left hand corner, we all used A but we probably could have sailed with A+. 10 sailors, so the decision to drop one race to act as RO meant everyone had nine races.

Alan, finding the course to his liking took races one and two, Mike then took up the challenge and took the third and fifth race. Neil won the fourth race but Alan and Mike took the rest of the races between them. Further down the fleet there were several close battles especially with Richard who managed a good run of two seconds two thirds and two fourths.

Ten races were held the last finished just before the heavy downpour.

  1. Alan Watkinson   9pts 5 wins
  2. Mike de St Paer   11pts 4 wins
  3. Neil Westbrook   22pts 1 win
  4. Richard Walker   23pts
  5. Charles Legg         31pts
  6. Dave Williams      32pts
  7. Clive Warren         35pts
  8. Frans King             39pts
  9. Paul Little              48pts 1 x 3rd
  10. Malcolm Harvey 48pts

DF65 Social Racing 2023 4/1/23

The absence of any real breeze when the sailors turned up to race only lasted until every one of the 12 had kitted their boats with an “A” rig and started to put them on the water.

The wind from somewhere over the houses had stiffened enough to require a “B” rig which everyone adopted before racing started.  In addition, as the lake was full to overflowing racing took place on the northern side of the lake.

The stiffness of the breeze led to some challenging conditions which made sailing difficult for the first 5 of the 10 races but everyone took the bashes and bumps in good spirits and as usual the wind over the houses was a bit hit and miss.

The wind stiffened further for the last 5 races with gusts making starts difficult and controlling boats generally a challenge particularly on a beat.

John Brierley was able to cope with the conditions best of all with 8 wins from 10 starts with Mike De St Paer’s consistency giving him second place with 5 seconds and 2 thirds and John Carlin taking third, with 2 firsts and a brace of seconds.

Thanks go to Dave Williams and Malcolm Harvey shared RO duties looking after 5 races each.

DF/RG65 Winter Series 2022/3 #3

Six RG65’s made it to the start line for the final club race of 2022.
The wind was quite unlike that was forecast with a steady light breeze from Gautby Road with a few dead patches and some nice shifts.
The race was sailed in a great atmosphere with 4 separate race winners on the day, Graham sailing his Argon and John sailing his Uno had a great battle in all 8 races but certainly not having it all there own way in races 5 and 8 that were won by Neil Westbrook sailing his Pocket Rocket and Alan Watkinson sailing his Uno. Five races sailed before break and then three after break with the wind and light fading fast it was decided to make the last 2 races just one lap races. Graham took the day by two points from John in second and Alan third.
  1. Graham Elliott         Argon             89   8pts  4 wins
  2. John Brierley             Uno                 84 10pts  2 wins
  3. Alan Watkinson        Uno                23  15pts   1 win
  4. Dave Williams           Uno                33  24 pts
  5. Neil Westbrook  Pocket Rocket  03  26pts
  6. Charles Legg              Uno                26  31 pts

During the break a local landed his plane on the lake: see here

DF65 Social Racing 21/12/22

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.

 

DF65 Social Racing 2022 (30/11/22)

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.