The first DF65 Racing in 2025 was unfortunately called off as there was little or no wind and after snow fall, the walkways were icy and dangerous. We are hoping for better conditions next Wednesday.
Category: Fleets
DF/RG65 Winter 2024 #3
The first Birkenhead race of the New Year was for RG65 sailors and at the start held with as much water on the banks as in the lake.
The first job was to unblock the drain weir and then decide on a course. There was a slight reluctance to don the waders and move marks ude to the depth of water lapping over the path. Neil arrived and took on the RO’s position and due to the very light wind sorted a short course, sailing from half way up the far bank to a starboard rounding of the windward mark at the Clubhouse end across to a spreader mark, then downwind to a starboard rounding of the outer start mark which had been positioned by a good throw from John B. We sailed two laps and had a downwind finish.
Racing started at 12.00pm but unfortunately Charles was unable to compete due to the depth of water on the pathway likely to affect his wheel chair. The starts were very close with a couple of general recalls, the first race set the pattern for most races with Alan Bennett and John Brierley having very close races with Alan on top but unable to shake of John, both sailing very closely matched Ivy’s.
The other trio sailing Uno’s were also very close most of the time with George just finding the extra speed on the final leg. Due to Alan B and John match racing most of the time, they missed out when Dave and George caught them unaware’s in two races stealing a win each.
Thanks must go to Neil for keeping the racing going with twelve races, even though at times the wind died altogether, and thanks also to Dave for the creating the final results sheet. Unfotunately we have no photos to share of the racing this week and so a stock photo has had to suffice.
- Alan Bennett Ivy 13pts 8wins
- John Brierley Ivy 19pts 2wins
- George Bennett Uno 33pts 1win
- Dave Williams Uno 34pts 1win
- Alan Watkinson Uno 42pts
DF95 Winter 2024 #2 – 21/12/24
This last day of sailing in 2024 at the club, proved to be one to blow the cobwebs away. As we arrived, the tail end of a squall gave heavy rain and strong gusts such that a C rig looked to be on the cards, but soon after the wind abated and we started on B rigs after Peter had tweaked the marks a little to align with the Westerly breeze. It was nearly straight down the lake but had some strong gusts from over the houses. Big shifts and the potential for stalling the boat was very likely at any point during the afternoon and so the key task was to keep it moving at all times.
In the first session of six races before the break we had five different winners, in the form of Peter Baldwin, Paul Plested, John Brierley, Martin Roberts and visitor Paul Middleton, with only John racking up two wins. The wind abated at one point such that we really needed A rigs as we bobbed up and down waiting for the next gust. However, this was very short lived and by the start of the next race B rig was the right one to be using once more.
After the break, conditions were very similar for around three races, until the gusts started to increase in strength. The forecasts were suggesting at least double in the gusts and that looked to be the case with plenty of nose-diving and occasional loss of control. That is until the last race when the average picked up a notch during the race and we were into survival mode for the remainder, leading to some lost places for those who couldn’t tack away from the far bank. This session belonged to John as he notched up 4 wins, with Martin and Peter taking the other two. This gave John an easy win on 14 points with Martin second on 21 and Peter third on 25.
Thanks go to Neil for running the afternoon and to Dave for helping him out and scoring the day after some electrical problems during the afternoon led to few race finishes for him. Photos from Dave Williams and Paul Plested.
- John Brierley 84 14pts
- Martin Roberts 184 21pts
- Peter Baldwin 172 25pts
- Paul Middleton 06 34pts
- Paul Plested 154 48pts
- John Carlin 50 55pts
- Alan Watkinson 23 58pts
IOM Xmas Open 2024 – 14/12/24
It was good (and unusual!) to arrive at the club with a WNW breeze already blowing straight down the lake even at 8:00, with a forecast that it would remain that way and potentially increase during the day. Race Officer Dave Williams (assisted by Clive Warren, Neil Westbrook, Judith Baldwin and yong Scarlett) set out a course and got the briefing underway promptly at 10:00 for the 19 sailors who attended.
Racing then started on time at 10:15 and a sequence of 4 races, break 4 races, break, which continued all day to achieve a total of 16 races, before the 15:00 final cutoff time. We even had two sailors who travelled the furthest all the way from Glasgow; great to see such dedication.
The wind was pretty well to forecast with some meaty gusts after lunch causing occasional loss of control downwind, but it was all very short lived and everyone stayed in A rig for the whole day.
Over the day, we had six different race winners; Brad Gibson had the lions share of 8 wins, with Graham Elliott, Martin Roberts and Darin Ballington all getting two wins each, then Peter Baldwin and Simon Fairman each gaining a single win. Next we had second and third podium places from none race winners John Brierley, Derek Priestley and Pete Walters. Best placed without a podium place and most consistent over the whole day was Rob Macintosh. There were some good performances at some point during the day for a good part of the fleet, but unfortunately most were often unable to capitalise on their initial position to gain a podium spot.
Overall, a great and very competitive days sailing with very little rain and a bit of sun earlier in the day. The overall win easily went to Brad Gibson on 18 points, 21 ahead of Graham Elliott in second with Martin Roberts just 3 points adrift in third.
At the prizegiving, Brad thanked Dave and his race team helpers for running the event and achieving 16 races in a short day and for the ladies in the galley keeping us all going with hot drinks, cakes and biscuits. Photos courtesy of Dave Williams and Clive Warren. These photos and a few more are available on our Flikr account here.
IOM Racing continues at the club with the second Winter Series event on Saturday 11th January – See the Upcoming Events links and visitors are always welcome for this open series.
DF65 Social Racing 2024 – 4/12/24
Southerly breeze today – more or less as forecasted – from the clubhouse corner, which slowly filled in after looking very unpromising as DF65 racers were arriving. Although forecast to build significantly during the morning, this never quite happened and the breeze varied up and down quite a bit with some fairly significant shifts as well.
Mike dsp was quick out of the blocks to win the first three races but then slightly lost his way after a race RO duty when normal business was resumed with John B winning the next three before he had to leave to catch up with work. The next three races had three different winners with JohnC, Clive and Mike taking the last three.
Racing, and particularly the starts, was all very close, with a few OCS calls during the morning and once again, although the start looked somewhat starboard end biased, skippers were able to take different sides of the beat during the morning to get to the top mark in the leading group. The last beat up from the leeward gate also proved interesting with different gate marks paying off at different times for the beat back to the line.
Following JohnB’s departure Mike dsp was able to hold on to win, with very close racing reflected in the points across the fleet with 3rd, 4th and 5th covered by 5 points (and some less than one point differences when averages for RO were used), and then 7th to 10th by less than 5.
Overall results as shown below with the usual thanks to Dave for getting everything going and Malcolm for working out the results (with a bit of help from AFleet!).
- Mike de St Paer 10.3 pts 4 wins
- John Carlin 16 pts 1 win
- Clive Warren 22 pts 1 win
- John Brierley 27 pts 3 wins
- Richard Robinson 27 pts
- Simon Bates 37.7 pts
- Paul Little . 44.6 pts
- Sally Collings 44.6 pts
- Richard Walker 46.9 pts
- Dave Williams 48.7 pts
- Charles Legg 53.9 pts
- Malcolm Harvey 64.9 pts
- Frans King 82 pts
DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2024 – 27/11/24
DF65
A bright day greeted the 10 sailors who turned up, but with wind sadly lacking for the first couple of races. David Williams opted to run the racing today and after setting an additional start mark racing got underway shortly after 11 with a short course used for the first two races to minimise the race duration.
James Douglas showed his light wind potential by winning Race 1, followed by Clive Warren who took Race 2. The RO then extended the course to use the length of the lake as we now had breeze straight down the lake for most of the time, although there were a number of holes and localised gusts that could catch anyone out. Peter Baldwin took Race 3 and then Alan Watkinson achieved the win in Race 4. Although we had seen four different winners, it could be anyone’s race and Mike De St Paer, Paul Plested, Sally Collings and John Carlin were all in the mix with top 3 places.
In races 5 to 7, James seemed to have the engine on as he scored three straight wins, leaving the others in his wake, with his run finally spoilt by Peter taking the win in Race 8.
Helped by the four wins, James took the morning, with Peters two wins aiding his second place overall and a consistent set of results placed John Carlin third.
- James Douglas 73 13pts (4 wins)
- Peter Baldwin 63 15pts (2 wins)
- John Carlin 11 18pts
- Paul Plested 154 21pts
- Clive Warren 53 22pts (1 win)
- Sally Collings 829 27pts
- Alan Watkinson 373 34pts (1 win)
- Mike De St Paer 35 38pts
- Frans King 95 45 pts
- Malcolm Harvey 1019 53pts
DF95
5 skippers were on the start line for the DF95 afternoon sailing, the conditions were very similar to the morning but with a bit more breeze. This still made sailing tricky with directional shifts which could be a gamechanger, in either direction, read it right and you could be at the front, get it wrong and you would be left head to wind, stranded!!
With only 5 skippers, the normal self monitored start and the finish was recorded by the first over the line. 6 races were completed, with a standard course set, utilising the full length of the lake we were ready to go.
Race 1 – was saw close racing with all 5 boats all the way around the course, with Paul finally taking line honours
Race 2 – and Clive tried to get a cheeky port start which failed miserably and then got headed on a shift dumping him out of the back of the fleet. The other 4 had a good tussle until Peter and Paul pulled away Finally Alan got a wind shift as he rounded the last mark which left him in irons which saw first Malcolm pass him on the outside and then Clive on the inside. Peter taking the top spot with Paul a close second
Race 3 – saw another good battle with Peter taking his second win of the series, with Clive second
Race 4 – was a battle between Alan, Clive and Paul with Clive crossing the line first, Peter showing how tricky the wind was finishing a safe 4th. Unfortunately Paul had to retire after this race with toothache
Race 5 and 6 and normality returned with Peter taking the wins with Alan and Clive picking up a second place each. The sun had by now dipped behind the houses and as the temperature dropped drastically it was agreed to call a end to an enjoyable afternoon.
In summary , good afternoons sailing, close racing, good light breeze with difficult shifts to read keeping the skippers on their toes.
1. – Peter Baldwin 6pts, 4 wins
2. – Clive Warren 13pts, 1 win
3. – Alan Watkinson 14pts
4. – Paul Plested 15pts, 1 win
5. – Malcolm Harvey 19pts
