DF65’s
There were just 8 brave souls who participated in the DF65 racing this morning. One additional sailor turned up and after a quick practice decided he would return home and get on with other things.
There was a light A+ breeze straight down the lake, but unfortunately it was a tough morning and your result was usually based on how you managed the build up of algae on the keel and rudder. The favoured way was to keep to the near bank and “dunk” your boat several times upwind and down to shed the algae. Deciding how often and where to “dunk” could determine the outcome as you needed to catch the shifts right, otherwise you might lose out to someone else who did get it right (by good planning or a bit of luck).
Paul and Peter were vying for top spot with Paul just gaining the most wins, although the last race was very tight and only a boat length separated them at the finish, with a sychronised tack off the bank 2m out from the finish. Unfortunately, Peter hadn’t capitalised on Paul’s RO duty earlier on when Neil took the win, but the overall result would still have gone to Paul who won the last race.
Although it was frustrating at times (Malcolm couldn’t stand the pressure and ended up a spectator after two races), racing was still close and the result could quite easily have gone a different way.
Post racing we celebrateda big “0” birthday for Clive with a Birthday cake very kindly provided by Clives’ sister Gill. Thanks go to Dave W and Peter for the photos and Paul for producing the results.
DF95’s
Before racing started we did take the time to embarrass Clive by singing happy birthday to him as well as enjoying some birthday cake that his sister, Gill, had brought over to celebrate with. He had also been busy on his birthday adding some wider”feet” to the clubhouse benches, so hopefully they will not topple over as easily.
As for the racing, with the wind virtually straight down the lake the usual windward mark, spreader and leeward gate was used. Normally with only a small fleet we would have self marshalled the start with first boat to finish scoring. However, as Gill had stayed the watch the racing she was quickly enrolled as PRO for the afternoon.
With only four boats the racing was very relaxed. In the first two races Phyl definitely had good boat speed off the line and was tough to catch. In race one Paul was slow in comparison, but after some tweaking to his new A rig, he did get his boat going well in the following races. Neil had some good starts and was in the mix throughout the afternoon, as was Clive who got the better of Paul going into the leeward mark holding on to the finish in race three. In the end, Paul counting three 1sts and a 2nd came out on top. With Clive and Neil tied on points, Neil took 2nd overall based on their results in the last race.
Nine competitors for the DF95 afternoon race. The light wind from just about over the houses at the top end of the lake. It was also warm, so what could go wrong? Unfortunately, the algae seemed to like the fins on the 95’s which caused extreme frustration. Joining us from The Great Orme club was Mathew Pritchard, with this his first competitive race.
Racing started on time with the usual course starting at the Clubhouse end, windward and spreader mark to starboard down through the gate and finish halfway up the lake. The first race saw the only call over of the day with Guy just pushing it to extreme, lesson learned. This race saw Ian taking a commanding lead to the first mark with John Br. catching him on the run to the gate but then losing it over the final lap. It was decided to go to one lap after a long 25 min race.
With the boats moving slowly in the light wind, allowing the algae to coat the fin and lead keel. This caused great frustration so we lost two sailors early on. The next race saw a new leader with Dave taking honours from Mr consistent John Brierley ( he managed 4 seconds) before also retiring. Race three saw Ian take another win with Alan and Dave fighting for third. Race 4 saw Alan take the win. Race 5 saw John Beech. come in to his own taking an easy win.
At the break the constant uncertainty of the algae situation saw us lose another two sailors. Mathew was given a little tuning advice during this time which he promptly put to good use on the next five races. Guy refreshed after the break took the next race from Mathew with one of the closest finishes of the day.
The next race saw Alan’s rudder servo burn out and then we were down to 4. We decided to carry on to complete 10 races which suited Mathew taking three firsts. John unfortunately seem to struggle with the algae problems even though the wind had now picked up. Overall Mathew took the event by one point from Dave. Thanks go to Dave for acting RO and for the few photos.
After a request by owners for some additional DF95 racing on a Saturday, six Saturday mornings have been added during the Summer Series to provide social racing between 10:15 and 12:00, prior to racing for other classes in the afternoon. This was the first Saturday in the programme, with the others listed in the main Calendar.
This week 9 sailors turned out to be met with a gusty SW/WSW breeze rather over the houses. Peter set out a starboard hand windward/leeward course diagonally across the lake and racing got underway soon after 10:15 with a fleet member monitoring the line and the winner writing the finish places down. Two laps were initially sailed, which we then reduced to one as the fleet became widely spread after two laps and we wanted to complete eight races by the finish.
The first leg was a mix of a reach or fetch and occasional big shifts requiring a short tack or even making it a run as we approached the windward mark. This was not an easy mornings sail, but most of the fleet had their moment of glory and a podium finish at some point during the morning.
Peter took the lions share of six wins from the 8 races completed, with Paul Plested and John Carlin having a win each. Paul took second overall with a more consistent set of results than John who placed third. Although Paul is listed as 154, he sailed with Peters spare rig (sporting 172 as well) after a boom failure earlier in the week.
The tactic, in the early races at least, was to sail on starboard tack from the line and clean the algae off the fins when the boats reached the bank. Likewise on the run, sailing close to the shore to give the boats a quick clean before sending them back out. Paul Plested seemed to have this down to a fine art and was able to score three bullets on the trot, with Charles Legg also showing great boat speed, scoring two 2nds in the first three races. James Douglas and Clive Warren also made into the top three in the early races. Paul Little managed a 3rd in the first race, but decided racing in the algae wasn’t for him and he decided to call it a day. John Carlin also didn’t fancy competing with the weed rather than other skippers and also packed up before finishing the first race.
For the second half of the morning, whilst the wind continued to swing, it did increase marginally with bigger lifts on starboard. This meant that trying to remove algae of the fins was tricker as it was a bigger detour both upwind and down and, as Paul found out, not necessarily worth the detour. James, after being close to the front in the first three races, managed to score three firsts on the bounce. Dave Williams managed a second in the fourth race, with Clive also taking 2nd in the final race. Paul P, whilst always being in the top 3, couldn’t match his scores of the earlier races.
On the day, with equal points and tied on countback, the outcome was decided on the last race, which James had won. Paul was 2nd overall and a well deserved third place went to Charles.
Thanks go to Neil Westbrook who ran the racing for the morning and to Dave W for skipping a race to take piccies.
It was good to see seven DF95s on the water for the afternoon session, particularly after the frustrations of the morning with the algae affecting the 65s. But we shouldnt have worried, the 95s handled the problem with only a slight drop in performance. The wind freshened a little from the morning but the direction remained the same, providing the typical shifts associated with Gautby Rd. It was also good to welcome Guy Cowper to the 95 fleet with his first outing in the 95 class.
Racing was super competitive from the start with 5 of the 7 skippers recording a top two finish, but it was Paul Plested who sailed consistently well and triumphed in the end with 6 wins, but behind him the real battle ensued between Alan, Clive and Neil with Guy showing good speed for a first outing but lacking a bit of consistency, which will surely come. Unfortunately Alan had to leave after race 4 otherwise the final positions would probably have been different. In the end it was Clives’ consistency that paid dividends over Neil.
It was also great to see Dave Howard at the club for the first time in months and kept his eye in by sailing a race with John Beeches boat, finishing a credible 5th and then took over RO duties for the last 3 races. Thanks Dave
Summary
Seven Df65 sailors were greeted with a gentle breeze down the lake from the clubhouse in what seemed tropical conditions compared to recent days.
The wind was a reasonable direction with all the usual shifts and flat patches to ensure it was never boring, resulting in places won and lost around the course.
Mike won the first and last race followed by John, Neil & Dave all taking it in turn to win. Paul & Richard also had good results with seconds & thirds.
The beats were challenging with holes and huge shifts near the windward mark so a good position was easily lost and last could easily come through the fleet. In other words Birkenhead at its best!!😄
The last beat from the leeward gate was not a procession with the far side often paying if you caught the shifts right. As the morning continued the winds increased with some spectacular nose drives near the gate resulting in further place changes that all added to the fun. Mike prevailed to win the mroning over John, who finished narrowly ahead of Neil in third. Thanks to Dave W for the photos once again and Malcolm for doing the results using A Fleet.
There were insufficient takers for a DF95 session after lunch once again.
A good afternoon?
A reduced roster of only seven sailors turned out for what was a decent afternoons sailing after checking out and clearing the pipework and weirs for the lake feeds (it was noted that there is a slow feed coming in when it rains).
It was a mid A Rig breeze with some occasional gusts to the top end of the rig, but also some light patches when the rain came through which necessitated the odd race or two being only one lap to keep race duration to a reasonable length. Fortunately some of the heaviest rain came whilst on our break, which was extended whilst we waited for the worst to pass over. The second session was the most pleasant with sunshine for most of the time.
The afternoon belonged to Peter with eight wins from the twelve races and nothing less than a second. We also had three other winners in John Carlin, Martin Whittingham-Jones and Clive Warren. John Carlin took overall second place with a consistent number of second and third places, whilst Alan lost oout to Clive on countback for fourth place, due to Clive’s win. John Beech had good boat speed and led a couple of races for a while, only losing out after getting the shifts wrong coming into the finish. Dave Williams struggled for boat speed for most of the day and then sadly had a brand new rudder servo fail after ten races, firmly rooting him in last place.
For ten races we self monitored the starts and had the leader record the finish, with Peter seemingly getting wriers cramp or something similar recording one boat twice and missing another one out completely in one race, so a bit of creative editing had to be undertaken!
An updated set of images from Dave – several missed when checking emails yesterday.