Sadly by the time the IOM fleet launched for a 13:30 start after the DF95 morning session, the wind had faded and rain beginning to fall, leaving barely a ripple on the water for the 15 entries which included four visitors.
Dave Williams was once again our RO for this afternoon session, with a fair but keen eye on the start line. We only sailed two races in 50 minutes before having an enforced break due to a distinct lack of breeze for racing. These two races were won by Graham Elliott and Brad Gibson, with Peter Baldwin and Martin Roberts also taking podium positions.
Racing restarted at 15:10 with a light breeze and a Met Office forecast of strong winds from 15:00. After Race 3 in a light breeze and a win for Olly Murray, the wind picked up to be much stronger and unfortunately bringing with it heavy rain. This breeze was very gusty and shifty (from W to N) with occasional wipeouts on the run if you were in the wrong place. Graham strung a series of three wins for races 4 to 6 and was all for calling it a day in the rain and sudden drop in temperature. However, the RO told the fleet that we would sail just two more races and complete eight races for two discards. Peter managed to hold off John Tushingham (sailing a pre-production “Mint” design) for the win in Race 7 and then Bill Culshaw took Race 8 with a clear lead over the fleet for the whole race.
So we ended the day very wet and bedraggled with Graham winning by a clear margin of six points from Brad, with Peter just one point behind Brad, taking third place from Martin Roberts on the basis of a race win. Graham had the lions share of four wins and then another four other helms each had single a win. Unfortunately the weather resulted in a number of early baths, which rather decimated the fleet by the finish and only ten boats sailing.
Thanks go to Dave Williams for acting as RO and taking some early photos in the rather windless conditions and for our four visitors for turning up to race with us.
- Graham Elliott Britpop! 09 10pts (4 wins)
- Brad Gibson Post Punk 42 16pts (1 win)
- Peter Baldwin Britpop! 63 17pts (1 win)
- Martin Roberts Britpop! 22 17pts
- Olly Murray Sedici 183 22pts (1 win)
- Bill Culshaw Britpop! 21 31pts (1 win)
- John Tushingham Mint Yellow 31pts
- Simon Fairman Alioth 71 37pts
- Tim Lomg Mint Pink 52pts
- Robert Macintosh Venti 64 64pts
- Guy Cowper Lintel MMX 16 65pts
- Alan Watkinson Corbie 5 23 74pts
- John Brierley Venti 84 76pts
- Clive Warren Britpop! 86 76pts
- Duncan Neale MX14 52 78pts
Lovely sunshine and a decent mid to top end of ‘A’ rig wind straight down the middle from the top end of the lake.
With 7 skippers sailing 4 different designs it promised to be a good afternoons sailing and it was.
The first race was won by Graham sailing his BritPOP! but it was tight up the first beat with all the usual Birkenhead shifts to contend with, unfortunately Paul hadn’t listened carefully to what was the first windward mark was and this put him out of contention for this race.
Six races sailed before a break with some close races, Simon sailing his Alioth got a deserved 2nd in race 4, Alan in race 1 with a decent 2nd place and Ian banging in 4 3rd places but it was Peter and Graham out in front most of the time. Unfortunately we lost Paul at the break due to wiring problems on his battery connections.
The wind stayed pretty much the same for the remaining 6 races, Charles featured in a few of these races which was great to see, often picking out a great shift from both banks.
The water is still occupied by blotches of green algae that did effect boat speed in the lighter stuff, the art was to keep the momentum and stay away from the far bank.
It finished with race wins going to Peter with 2, should of been 3 and Graham with 10. Neil and David watched us all afternoon and weren’t afraid to recall any premature starters, thank you Dave and Neil. Photos courtesy of Dave and Paul.
After the inaugural DF95 Social Racing, some (such as your author) were hoping that the warm temperatures might lead to a sea breeze swinging the gradient more to the West. However, this was not to be and the afternoon continued with the same gusty SW/WSW breeze that became more Southerly as the afternoon progressed. We sailed with the same course as the 95’s in the morning under the watchful eyes of Neil Westbrook and Dave Williams as our RO team.
Most of the ten sailors opted for their A rig in the first session of five races, with Brad sporting a B rig to get some time on the water with it as most of our racing has recently been in A rigs, including all the Ranking events completed to date.
Peter took the first race after getting off the line on Port in a gust and staying in front of Brad and Martin who were chasing hard. Martin then took wins in races two and three with Brad second and Robbie Mac and Peter taking thirds. Then Brad’s decision to go for the B rig paid off as some strong gusts led to big knockdowns for everyone else and he picked up two wins with Peter, Alan and Martin taking the podium positions, with Robbie Mac missing three races due to a boat problem. There were some good performances from Guy Cowper and John Beech, with young Noah plugging away and getting some decent results, including rounding the first mark in second in one race after a great start.
We then had an early break and most opted to change down to B with just Martin and Phyl sticking with A on the restart (Phyl didn’t have a B for his borrowed boat unfortunately).
After the break, results continued to be dominated by the same names as before with Brad taking two of the last seven races and Martin five. However, Martin did also quickly change down to B as the gusts picked up in intensity. Although short lived, they were difficult to survive and usually left you pointing in the wrong direction and 20 – 30m lost on the other boats if you did succomb. These wins gave Martin the overall win, with Brad second and Peter third.
Podium spots (other than the two racee winners mentioned) were taken by Robbie and Peter with Alan not far behind (tricky for Dave with photo finishes between Peter and Alan in a few races). Phyl coped well in his A rig picking up a sixth in race 9. Thanks must go to Neil and Dave for running the racing once again and dave for taking the photos for illustrating this report.
