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Category: dragonforce

DF65 Social Racing 2025 – 14/5/25

A real Gautby road day today for the ten 65’s. Lovely sunshine, and a bit of breeze blowing gently from wherever you thought it wouldn’t be, but sort of from the top corner opposite the clubhouse. The usual course format was used starting from the far end with a line which, as so often, looked pin end biased but starters on a number of races from that end either found a flat spot or got headed as they came back out on port– but not all the time.

Peter proved master of the conditions despite being becalmed on at least one occasion, albeit in the right place, and ran out a clear winner with five firsts over ten races. Alan sailed consistently well counting three wins to finish second, three points clear of Paul with one win.

These front three were comfortably clear of the pack, although there was close racing further down the order as well. The course was slightly shortened after race seven to squeeze in the last three races in time but this didn’t seem to affect the front three as shown in the full results below.

Thanks to Dave for getting us away on time (and the photos showing conditions early on), and PaulP for doing the results as shown below.

 

DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2025 – 7/5/25

DF95

Skippers arriving at Gautby road today could be forgiven for thinking not just that they were in the wrong location, but possibly the wrong country. Blue sky, blue water, and a reasonable breeze blowing straight down the lake – it doesn’t get any better than that.

The usual course was used with the full length of the lake available. There was a bit of bias on the line but not enough to spoil the starts, but more importantly the leeward gate was definitely biased making for some very busy roundings and in Mdsp’s case a boat well and truly caught on the mark rope after cutting it too fine. After the first couple of races, Dave moved the finish up to the top of the course to give a second full beat which worked very well.

Clive aced the day with seven wins out of ten races, finishing comfortable ahead of Ian Davies who sailed consistently quickly, won two races and was unlucky not to win another when he was overtaken on the final beat. Martin also sailed very consistently to finish third ahead of Mikedsp who gradually got up to speed during the morning but also managed to hit most of the marks at one stage or another.

Richard was fifth, one point ahead of Dave and John who were tied on points with John finishing ahead on countback despite having to leave his boat caught on the windward mark in the last race.

A lovely day to race model yachts – full results as below.

  1. Clive Warren                                    9 pts           7 wins
  2. Ian Davies                                        21 pts           2 wins
  3. Martin Whittingham-Jones    28 pts
  4. Mike de St Paer                             29 pts           1 win
  5. Richard Walker                             36 pts
  6. John Beech                                      37 Pts           1x 2nd
  7. Dave Williams                               37 pts
  8. Malcolm Harvey                           59 pts

DF65

A disappointing turnout of only 4 skippers took to the water for some “extreme social sailing”  despite the blue sky and reasonable breeze. A+ rigs  were the order of the day.  We didn’t bother with a starter box, we didn’t even have a finishing post, just an imaginary line at 90 degrees to the finishing buoy.  The course was set, which was the same as the morning but with the finish halfway up the lake. Clive (our countdown clock for the afternoon) got the sailing underway with a countdown from 20secs.
After sailing 2 races we decided to swap boats and transmitters, the only exception being Charles who has his transmitter set up ‘left handed’ so it was decided this would be too much of a change for both Charles and the ‘swapee’. This proved to be an interesting exercise to see how different the boats were set up by different skippers. Two races were sailed in this format so the rotation went full circle.  A further 3 races with our own boats were sailed before we decided to call it a day.
Results
An Honourable draw all round, well what did you expect with extreme social sailing,
Thanks to David White, Andrew Potter, Charles Legg and Clive Warren for an enjoyable afternoon

DF65 Social Racing 2025 – 30/4/25

A bright sunny day welcomed the skippers to Gautby Rd, the wind was a light breeze coming generally from the East but with a few twists and turns to keep the skippers on their toes. Eight boats turned up, however only 7 made it to the start line with Dave Williams having ongoing transmitter problems forcing him to drop out. His loss was our gain, as he volunteered to be our RO for the morning.
No discussion required as A+ rigs were the order for the day. Dave set the course, start at the far end of the lake, windward mark at the clubhouse end  (the first one, as the the top of the lake was in wind shadow), back to a gate and a beat to the finish half way back up the lake. Racing started  on time at 11:00 and 8 races sailed
Race 1, – Paul and Clive  had a close battle at the front, Clive led at the first mark and dropped into a hole on the run and Paul passed him.  These 2 were clear of the rest of the field which was headed by Alan and Richard in hot pursuit. Paul took line honours with Clive 2nd and Alan 3rd.
Race 2, – This time Paul was called back for an early start providing the rest of the field with a head start. Alan took advantage at the front of the race, Paul had other ideas and a close battle until the finish with Paul taking his second win, with Alan just losing out in the last few metres finishing 2nd and Clive 3rd with the minor places being hotly contested with Malcolm sneaking in ahead of Don.  Race 3 and a slight change to  the course, the finishing line was moved further up the lake to provide a longer second beat. The same 3 broke away from the pack, with Alan leading round the first mark, from Paul followed by Clive. At the gate Paul took the port one while the other 2 took the starboard one.  Paul soon realised that he had a senior moment and forgotten the new finish line, allowing Alan to cross the line first followed by Clive. The race for the minor places was a tight as ever with Don coming out on top.
Race 4,  Clive got a great start and split from the rest of the pack staying on starboard tack whilst the others tacked onto port, this paid off with a good lead at the first mark, behind him the usual suspects of Alan and Paul were joined by Richard in a battle for the minor places. The positions didn’t change until halfway up the final beat as Clive snagged some debris which stopped him in his tracks and alllowed the majority of the fleet to pass him. Line honours agin going to Paul, Alan 2nd, Richard 3rd and Clive finishing in 5th.  Race 5 and 6, – followed a similar pattern to the previous races, with Paul, taking two more wins, Alan two 2nd and Clive two 3rds. Don had found some consistency and added 2 more 4th places to make it 4 in a row.
Race 7 – This time Paul, Clive and Alan were joined by Richard to battle for line honours, whilst behind the overall minor placings only separated by a couple of placings so there were private battles throughout the fleet. Clive notched up his first win with Paul 2nd and the inconsistent Richard 3rd  It was Davids turn to take the honours in the minor places.  Finally to Race 8, Richard was first at the windward mark followed closely by Clive, Paul and Alan, at the gate there was nothing in it and anybody’s race. Richard and Clive opted for the port gate whist Paul took the Starboard mark and sailed into an unfavourable windshift. Clive managed to pass Richard on the beat back up the lake to take his second win, Richard holding on to 2nd with Alan also passing Paul for 3rd. Further down the oeder David took his second 5th place on the trot.
Summary
Good  mornings sailing with a steadyish breeze, a few windshifts and a couple of holes to catch the unawary out. Close racing at the front with Paul the clear winner but not having it all his own  way. The lower order also highly competitive with very close racing.  A big thank you to Dave  Williams for standing in for RO allowing maximum sailing time for all the others, and also for the photos.
  1. Paul Plested            7pts        5 wins
  2. Clive Warren         12pts        2 wins
  3. Alan Watkinson   13pts        1 win
  4. Richard Walker    24pts
  5. Don McKinnon     27pts
  6. David White           33pts
  7. Malcolm Harvey  35pts

DF95 Summer 2025 #1 – 26/4/25

Stock photo – no photographer available today

Nine skippers made the effort to get down to the club early for the first of several double class days over the coming months, with the DF95s starting at 10:15 (followed at 13:30 by IOMs).  After some shifting of buoys the racing got going just after the designated time, with a standard 2 lap windward/leeward course with a beat up towards the clubhouse end in a 7/8 mph A rig breeze.

First to bag a bullet was John Carlin who sailed a perfect race despite the efforts of both Peter Baldwin and Paul Plested to overhaul him.  Then it was Peter’s turn to cross the line first, followed by Paul and then Alan Watkinson, who showed some good speed throughout the morning.   After 2 seconds, Paul P managed to post a 1st in race 3 closely followed by Peter and Alan.
For the next 3 races in was the Peter show, with 3 straight bullets, with Paul P, Alan and John C scoring 2nds and 3rds, although both Martin Whittingham-Jones and Paul Little had both been well placed throughout those races, both scoring 4ths just behind the leaders.
Paul P did manage to break Peter’s winning streak in race 7 with Alan coming in 2nd again.  Race 8 and Paul L showed the fleet a clean pair of heels from the off to cross the line first, followed by Paul P then Peter.
Race 9 was Peter’s from start to finish and it looked like Malcolm Harvey and Alan would be scrapping for 2nd as they rounded the final gate marks, but a coming together stopped both of them in their tracks, gifting Paul P another 2nd and Phyl Fanning, who is definitely getting quicker around the course, a 3rd.
Whether or not the collision in the previous race spurred him on, but Alan was away from the start and never looked back bagging a well deserved first place and a strong performance all morning.  Paul L also sailed well picking up his third 4th place of the day to go with his 1st.  Whilst not having it all his own way, Peter came out the clear winner on the day, followed by Paul P, then Alan.

DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2025 – 23/4/25

DF65’s

St George’s Day welcomed a relatively small turnout of eight DF65 racers for what turned out to be a very pleasant morning on the water. The forecasted easterly winds actually had a bit of south in them meaning the 4-8kt breeze was straight down the lake from the clubhouse end. There was no discussion on rigs …. A+ were fitted and proved the right choice. No buoys needed to be moved and the standard course of windward and then spreader marks followed by a run through the gate and back up to the finishing line could be used for the 10 races sailed.

Once on the water, as is usually the case at Gautby Rd, it was not all plain sailing. 20 degree shifts, bends, gusts and holes with the wind all ensured there was always jeopardy or opportunity to make or break a decent race.

Andrew Potter dominated the results with 7 wins helped by good starts, good boatspeed and reading the shifts well. Neil Westbrook put down a strong challenge with 3 wins and 4 second places for second overall. Alan, Paul and Richard then had a close battle for 3rd with Alan just edging it and Richard being let down by some severe inconsistency!

Many thanks to Dave Williams who acted as Race Officer (and photographer)  for the whole morning after having transmitter problems.

  1. Andrew Potter           9pts (7 wins)
  2. Neil Westbrook.      14pts (3 wins)
  3. Alan Watkinson.     28pts
  4. Paul Little.                 30pts
  5. Richard Walker.       31pts
  6. Phyl Fanning.           48pts
  7. David White.             50pts
  8. Malcolm Harvey.    52pts

DF95’s

Seven skippers were at the clubhouse for todays DF95 racing session although they did not all race.

The wind was straight up the lake from the clubhouse end so the familiar course with the start at the far end of the lake going down to a spreader setting of marks at the clubhouse and a run back up the lake to a gate at the far end with a turn to the finish half way up the lake.

Neil Westbrook acted as RO for the first 2 races and Malcolm Harvey for the remaining 6.

The wind speed was falling all the way through the session but there was some very close racing through the small fleet with Alan Watkinson and Martin Wittingham-Jones showing in the first 4 races although Neil beat Martin on the line with a final tack catching the wind to carry him over the line in race 3

For the remaining 4 races Neil was the dominant skipper winning all the races with the rest of the fleet having some very close racing with Martin and Phyl Fanning who seem to have come to terms with sailing the DF95 keeping Neil on his toes.

As Neil had been RO for the first 2 races he was allocated an average score for these and as a result of his dominance of the remaining races this gave an average of 1 for those races although they were actually won by Martin and Alan.

Overall on the day Martin won 1 race, Alan won 2 races and Neil five.

DF65 Social Racing 2025 – 16/4/25

A very cold, wet and light wind day at Gautby Rd. Only six keen sailors arrived willing to take part. The start was delayed whilst many hands assisted Neil in rebuilding his boat after having to replace various components.

The usual start at the top of the lake down to the port rounding of the windward mark spreader to port and then a run to the gate and then a beat to the finish mark. As we were sailing with only six, the start line was self monitored with out problems.

Neil felt he had to show his gratitude for the help he received and promptly took the first two races! Those two races looked as though we had two separate fleets with Neil, Clive and Alan half a lake a way from David, Charles and Dave.

Then with the wind increasing and the shifts becoming more obvious the fleet closed up and brought David and Charles into the reckoning with a win and two wins respectively. Neil then unfortunately had battery problems and was out of the next three races and then Alan’s rudder failed on the last race. The racing was so close at times the finish line almost needed a camera to spot the first to cross. Due to his consistency the days honours went to Clive with his four seconds and two firsts.

  1. Clive Warren             10pts 2wins
  2. Neil Westbrook       15pts 3 wins
  3. Alan Watkinson      15pts
  4. Charles Legg            18pts 2wins
  5. David White             23pts  1win
  6. Dave Williams        26pts