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Category: Fleets

IOM Summer 2024 #7 – 21/9/24

Round 7 of the IOM Summer series presented thirteen skippers with a tough race track in light variable mainly Easterly winds.

Visiting us for the day were Shaun Priestley (Fleetwood) and Rob Wilson (Lincoln) looking to fine tune their setups for the upcoming World Championships in Australia, as well as Darin Ballington (Lincoln) and Simon Pope (Market Bosworth).

PRO Dave Williams ably asisted by Clive Warren got racing underway at 1pm with Brad setting the tone with 3 straight wins in the fickle winds. Alan Bennett, John Brierley, Rob Wilson and Martin Roberts were finding form with consistent top placings with John taking races 4 and 5 before a break for tea was called in the fading conditions.

After the break Alan and Martin continued good form with a string of top 3 placings including a win for each in races 8 and 9 respectively. Shaun steadily built through the day, as did Simon with strong placings, while both Darin and Andrea Roberts had rare days where good starts faded to scores that deserved better.

In all it was a challenging days sailing that favoured those that minimised their worst scores and held on to better ones.

After 11 races and 2 discards, Brad took the win from Martin who enjoyed a welcome return to form and John Brierley rounded the podium.

Again a big thank you to Dave and Clive for keeping the day rolling on our behalf.

Our next IOM club race is on the 12th of October and the Strebor Open on the 2nd of November. All are invited to enter on the website and join us for some of the countries toughest racing.

  1. Brad Gibson                42         Birkenhead              Post PUNK   11pts
  2. Martin Roberts          46         Birkenhead              Viper             31pts
  3. John Brierley              84         Birkenhead               Venti            33pts
  4. Alan Bennett             180         Etherow/Bhead      Britpop!      34pts
  5. Robert Wilson            97         Lincoln                       Britpop!      40pts
  6. Rob McIntosh             12         Birkenhead                K2                 53pts
  7. Shaun Priestley          87         Fleetwood                 Britpop!      59pts
  8. Peter Baldwin             63         Birkenhead               Britpop!      61pts
  9. Simon Pope                  19         Market Bosworth   Britpop!      65pts
  10. Andrea Roberts        127         Birkenhead               Britpop!       66pts
  11. Darin Ballington       98         Lincoln                       BritPOP!      68pts
  12. John Berry                    12         Etherow/Bhead       Viper            95pts
  13. George Bennett          17         Etherow/Bhead       TS2              103pts

Thanks go to Clive Warren for the photos.  There are a few more in the Event Flikr  Album here

 

 

DF65/95 Social Racing 2024 – 18/9/24

DF65

The day started inauspiciously, with mist, leaden skies and little sign of breeze. By the time we arrived at the club, the skies remained dreary, but the breeze had started to fill in from the Southeast, and we found ourselves with consistent wind along the lake, allowing us to set a course from the far end start marks to the clubhouse end, with a gate at the two furthest marks at the end of the downwind leg. Rather than persuading someone to don the waders we left a fairly short start line that created challenges for many of us as we tried to time our approaches to the line without contact with other boats or the start marks. As Neil kept pointing out, this shouldn’t have been a problem as we are all good sailors.

We tried one race with the buoys closest to the clubhouse as the windward mark and spreader but, after howls of anguish went up as boats hit dead air as we approached them, the decision was made to use the two start marks at the clubhouse as a port-hand windward mark and a spreader. This allowed for some close, competitive and enjoyable racing. Each sailor acted as race officer in turn, giving us nine races in which positions changed regularly and in which many results were settled on the finish line. Our congratulations to John Carlin for his superbly consistent sailing and our thanks to Dave Williams, who turned up to open the clubhouse before returning home.

At the end of the nine races, the results were:

  1. John Carlin                  8.1*                      5 wins
  2. Neil Westbrook        15.5                         1 win
  3. Alan Watkinson       15.9                         1 win
  4. Clive Warren             25.9                         1 win
  5. Charles Legg             31.1
  6. Paul Little                  33.8
  7. Richard Walker       34.9
  8. Frans King                 49.6
  9. David White               52.6

*The decimal points are there because of the use of average ponts for races in which sailors acted as race officer

DF95

The numbers for the afternoon 95 racing, like the morning session, is still being affected by the “senior holiday season” even so 6 skippers rigged their boats. Unfortunately before getting his on the water Paul L had a phone call from home signalling the end of his fun for the day. So 5 skippers took to the water in very similar conditions as the morning although the 95’s seem to handle them better or was there a bit more wind and a few less holes to fall into? A rigs were perfect.
The same course as the morning was used, and with the limited numbers the starts were self regulated with the first home recording the results. 7 races were sailed of 1 lap each, with the final race extended to 2 laps.
It didn’t take long for our second casualty as Neil fell foul of an intermittent electrical problem during the first race, but managed to return for race 5. Although only 4 boats remained for the initial races,  the races were very competitive with extremely close all the way to the finish with the final positions, more often than not changing hands on the beat to the finish.
Neil’s return in the 5 race only added to the competitiveness, and after 8 races  4 of the 5 helms had bagged at least one first place. Success was all about picking the right wind shift to tack on or to bear away, with much ground to be gained or lost and if you hesitated more often than not you’d end up head to wind and floundering.
Final results after 8 races (2 discards)
1.    Clive Warren             9pts        3 wins
2.    Frans King                 14pts      2 wins
3.    Alan   Watkinson     17pts
4.    Richard Walker        19pts       1 win
5.    Neil Westbrook        20pts      2 wins
In Summary,  a very enjoyable afternoon spent in the sunshine with a tricky wind with a bunch of like minded friends. Unlucky for Neil, without his electrical problem Im  sure his result would have been a lot better. Well done to Clive for winning and to Frans showing some good boat speed.

DF95 Summer Series #6 = 24/9/24

With a few quality sailors away on holiday the top positions were up for grabs for the 11 who turned up to race under mainly blue skies, but with a challenging SW breeze coming from over the houses. The start was set for the clubhouse end, but with the early races having a beat, reach and a run on the first leg, we could easily have started at the other end!
The breeze was lighter before the break, with lots of dead patches. There were 5 different winners in this session. Paul P picked up two, with Alan, Neil, Clive and Ian also taking the chequered flag once each. Ian showed quick speed off the starts early on, and on another day he would have been away, but not today in the fluky winds.
In the afternoon the breeze, whilst still as challenging, was stronger. This seemed to favour Paul P who won all 5 he sailed in. Alan had a good day with another win and a string of 2nds and thirds. Clive also went well, but just lucked out on a couple of finishes. Ian may well have finished higher on the day if he hadn’t sat out a few races to take on some refreshment. Frans went well and was up towards the front in several races, just being pipped towards the end of the race, but still scoring 3rds, 4ths and 5ths on the day. Paul L also went well in a number of races, again with some good results around 3rd to 5th. Dave managed a 2nd and was very consistent with 6 5th places. John was also had a number of good starts, being up at the front early on several times, but losing out when the fleet came up from behind. Martin and Malcolm also had their moments both scoring a 4th each.
Whilst sailing needed concentration, being RO had it’s challenges as well with a number of close finishes, as boats came from behind with the wind. You could have thrown a net over the fleet at the finish of race 3!
A tough day, and whilst good to be racing, all were all glad when the last race was done and dusted. Thanks to Dave and Clive for the photos of proceedings and Malcolm for the full results sheet.

DF65 Social Racing 2024 – 11/9/24

The weather looked rather unpromising for todays racing, and in fact as everyone was rigging up there was a really heavy downpour. Frans and Neil arrived, but very sensibly decided that a coffee in front of a fire might be a better option and elected not to stay.

This led to a slightly ”Whitehall Farce” situation with various people running in and out of the door without much else very useful happening, but then the rain went through fairly quickly and A rig was agreed on as the wind had eased down, and this proved to be a good call – well done Clive – and racing got away a few minutes late.

There were marks in good positions for the usual course configuration with a good beat the full length of the lake, and it remained very shifty all morning with some big gains and losses to be made which made for good racing with four different winners over seven competitors and six races.

The other factor which affected the racing was small bits of vegetation catching boats as the council folks were doing some strimming and this all got blown into the lake. It couldn’t be seen from the bank and caught a few people out. Malcolm was also unlucky to miss a race having relaunched after a clubhouse rain break with the boat not fully switched on (we’ve all done that….) but it was retrieved undamaged from the far side.

With a couple of other brief spells in the clubhouse – including one for a really heavy hail squall – 6 races were completed and it was agreed to quit while we were ahead with the final results as shown below, with thanks to Malcolm for organising these.

DF/RG65 Summer 2024 #7

There was a light ESE breeze nearly straight down the lake to start the day with just six RG65’s on the water and no DF65’s.  With no dedicated RO, we ran a  self policing start line which worked quite well and a course that initially started as a 2 beat and one run windward/leeward to keep race duration to a reasonable time.

The first session before a break consisted of just five races with the breeze seeming to pick up only to disappear again.  Graham took the first race win, before John Brierley and then Toby each had two wins. Alan had some good results culiminating in a second in Race 5.

After the break we started with the same course, with the thought of perhaps extending the course length if the breeze continuted to build. However, the breeze didn’t build from the East, but swund through 180 degrees as a light sea breeze formed and we had about three races with a decent breeze using a course started from the clubhouse end, before it petered out again during the final race 12.

This second session of seven races belonged to Toby with five race wins with only Graham and Peter managing to wrest two wins from him.  John and Graham had similar sets of results, with Graham perhaps just having the edge.  Meanwhile Peter, Dave and Alan were mostly fighting out for the minor places and also trying hard to find the best wind. The final results were as follows:

  1. Toby Laux                161  Ivy                     14pts
  2. Graham Elliott         09  Electronica  20pts
  3. John Brierley            84  Ivy                    26pts
  4. Peter Baldwin          63  Uno                  38pts
  5. Alan Watkinson      23  Uno                   42pts
  6. Dave Williams         33  Uno                   49pts

 

DF65 Social Racing 2024 – 4/9/24

The wind today could not really make up its mind.  Very light on arrival, picking up to a good WNW in front of the rain followed by little or nothing by the start from the South.  Still, I guess that can be Gautby Road for you.

Racing got underway soon after 11:00, after Peter had reset the marks after Saturday and with Dave’s help retrieved the finish line bench that had made its way into the lake. We started from the clubhouse end and although it was initially a reach to the far end, it did straighten up a little , becoming a fetch by the end of th beat.  The run downwind became very light as the rain started.  We then had to take at least 10 minutes break as the rain was so heavy and not everyone was kitted out to get wet, including a visitor from the US (Clyde Jones) who was staying on the Wirral with the pen pal of his wife.

We restarted with a light and fickle wind which was generally from the West, but could easily flick to SW or NW at times.  With the rate of progress around the one lap course and the wide range in ability, each race took some time to complete and we only managed to finish 7 races by the time we finished at 12:45., by which time the wind (what existed) was more or less straight down the lake.

Peter took the lions share of the wins (4) with Paul Plested and James Douglas taking one each.  This left Peter with the clear win and Paul and James 10 points behind separated by the number of thirds gained.

There were some very close finishes even in the light breeze, with Race 1, where 4 boats finished with only a boat length between them.  This was won by Frans after he picked up a freeing breeze along the shoreline to overtake two or three boats on his way in.  Then in Race 5 it looked (from behind) like a tie between James and Neil, but James was awarded the win by the RO.  Overall a tricky day, but some good results across the fleet, including Neil who had a consistent day and ended up fourth.

Thanks go once again to Dave for running the morning taking the photos and also working out the scores (A+ rig problems apparently in case you were wondering).

  1. Peter Baldwin           8pts 4wins
  2. Paul Plested            18pts 1win, 1x2nd, 3x3rds
  3. James Douglas       18pts 1win, 1x2nd, 2x3rds
  4. Neil Westbrook     24pts
  5. Richard Walker     32pts
  6. Alan Watkinson    36pts
  7. Clyde Jones             38pts
  8. Paul Little               44pts
  9. Frans King             49pts   1win
  10. John Beech             51pts
  11. John Lee                  57pts
  12. Malcolm Harvey  58pts
  13. David White           69pts

After the rain and light wind of the morning there was no appetite for any DF95 racing after lunch, although by leaving time at 2pm it was much warmer with a decent breeze down the lake.