c

Category: Fleets

IOM Summer 2024 #6 – 31/8/24

A great afternoon of very competitive sailing with 19 boats on the water.  Was this really a club race afternoon??  Traffic delayed a few visitors from starting the first couple of races and a number of boats were blighted with various technical issues leading to missed races.

The breeze was pretty much as forecast with a good mid to top end top suit afternoon, with occasional gusts mid afternoon that caught some boats out with a major nose dive.  Peter donned the waders at the start of the day and moved a few marks around to give the best course for the swinging breeze.

Brad started off the day well with wins in the first four races, until Rob got in the groove winning the next two after his traffic delayed arrival, with Brad getting the final win before a break.  Consistency of results was proving difficult as getting on the wrong side of some shifts could prove costly.  A good part of the fleet had their moment of glory towards the front of the fleet in at least one race however.  Graham Elliott was pretty consistent during this first session with plenty of seconds and thirds, with Peter Baldwin, Darin Ballington, John Brierley, Chris Harris, Shaun Priestley and Martin Roberts all picking up seconds or thirds at some point.  There was also some good results from Alan Bennett and Tracey Ballington in the first session.

After the break, the wins were shared between Rob (3), Brad (2), Shaun (1) and Graham (1).  Minor places were again shared around the fleet with most of the earlier front runners once again picking up a podium place, with Alan Bennett and Derek Priestley being added to the earlier list.

Consistency and finsihing every race was key to doing well and Brad ended up the clear winner by a 28 point margin from Graham in second and then John Brierley in third a further 25 points adrift.  The final result would have been different though if Rob Walsh had sailed every race (suffering gear failure 3 races from the end and arriving late), Chris Harris having to leave early and Shaun et al hadn’t been delayed by by traffic at the start of the day.

A great afternoon with pretty much champagne sailing and a strong competitive fleet to test everyones’ capabilities.


Thanks to all the visitors who helped give today’s racing that extra edge.  Thanks also to Dave Williams and Judith, without whom the event would not have happened and who even with a number of races suffering from general recalls we still completed 14 races during the afternoon.  Photos courtesy of Dave Williams with a few more  from him in the Gallery via the following link  here.

For the IOM sailors in the North, there is the Wnndsor Trophy open event at Fleetwood next Sunday (8th Septmber and Entry via the MYA Events page) and the next IOM racing at the club is on Saturday 21st September.

DF65 Social Racing 2024 – 28/8/24

8 sailors turned up today to find, after a number of very tricky Wednesdays, a very pleasant and reasonably consistent (by Gautby Rd standards), SE breeze from the clubhouse end of 5-8knts. Having said that, there were still plenty of snakes and ladders to be found when the wind went patchy or puffs consolidated the fleet on the downwind legs

A+ rigs were the obvious choice and at no point was anyone really overpowered. A standard windward/leeward course with a spreader mark at the top end was used for all races

Andrew won the first race showing good enough speed to deter him from making any rig or tuning adjustments for the rest of the day. The tactics worked as he was never out of the top 2 in every race and consequently won overall. Alan put in a challenge early on but faded in the later races largely due to some poor starts. Neil was Mr Inconsistent with race wins mixed with back of the fleet results. In the end Alan and Neil could only be separated by Alan’s 2 x 5th place finishes versus Neil’s 2 x 6th places. James, fresh from dominating last weeks racing with A rigs, turned up without his glasses and used that as his excuse for failing to get his A+ rig working properly although he finally improved enough to win the last race. Dave periodically appeared at the front of the fleet but could never keep it up long enough to stay there.

  1. Andrew Potter       7 pts (3 wins)
  2. Alan Watkinson  10 pts (2 wins, 1 second, 2 thirds, 2 fifths)
  3. Neil Westbrook   10pts (2 wins, 1 second, 2 thirds, 2 sixths)
  4. James Douglas    15pts. (1 win)
  5. Dave Williams     18pts
  6. Paul Little             19pts
  7. Don McKinnon   20pts
  8. Richard Walker  30pts

DF65 Social Racing 2024 – 21/8/24

Groundhog day at Gautby road with a supposedly South West breeze blowing right over the houses. There was wind in some areas, and after a quick conflab the start was positioned in the north east corner opposite the clubhouse to allow a beat of some sort up to the opposite side. The start mark was positioned about half way down in the usual place and this provided a reasonably good beat. Of course by this time the wind had gone left so the line bias meant there was really only one place to be at the start, but the conditions were such that some good starts were made from various positions (and different tacks) on the line during the morning.

Neil suggested A rig after a quick sail, and although this seemed a bit underpowered initially it proved absolutely the correct choice as the wind steadily picked up, so by the end of racing boats were nose diving – sometimes on the run and sometimes on other legs of the course.

James calmly sailed straight to a win, and then another one after his RO duty. But the rest of his day was frustrated by a recurring winch problem which turned out to be the elastic return line having lost its mojo. This left Paul and Mike to fight it out until James returned with his boat fixed to put in another two bullets in the last two races.

Results ended as shown below, with James having to include a DNS after missing three races, and Mike just beating a very consistent Paul.

A surprisingly pleasant day’s racing despite the unhelpful conditions.

Thanks as always to Dave for keeping us organised and doing the results.

  1. Mike de St Paer        8 pts  4wins
  2. Paul Plested            11 pts   1win
  3. James Douglas      18 pts   4wins
  4. Richard Walker    20 pts
  5. Neil Westbrook    24 pts
  6. Frans King             26 pts
  7. Dave Williams      30 pts
  8. John Lee                  33 pts
  9. David White           40 pts

DF/RG65 Summer 2024 #6 – 17/8/24

Once again we were treated to a decent 6-8mph breeze nearly straight down the lake with the odd gust thrown in and some sun to start the afternoon.  The existing course was used, although the start line proved to be rather port biased in the main, with Neil managing to get in a couple of port flyers during the afternoon whilst the rest of the fleet floundered on a left shift.

The first session belonged to Bill who took wins in five of the six races, with Graham manging to take the first race after Bill was left in a hole at the Leeward gate prior to the finish allowing Graham and Peter through.  The podium places were mostly taken by Peter and Graham, with Dave holding onto second in Race 3 after a great first beat.  Alan and Charles were often in close contention for a good part of the race, but the tricky conditions (was that a shift or not?) often catching them out.

After the break, Bill took the first race, but then Graham managed a run of 3 wins, which should probably have been 4, but Bill pulled through in the last 20m after Graham (I was robbed!) was caught out with what became tricky conditions at the end of the afternoon.  Although racing was still tight throughout the fleet, Bill, Graham and Peter filled all of the podium spots in this second session.

Neil meanwhile, was unfortunately sailing on his own in a DF65 with A+ rig as both of his RG65’s are currently out of action.  Initially sailing the same course, we changed it so that he was only sailing to a nearer windward mark.  He was then finishing with the leaders and therfore in company for more of the time.

Another enjoyable afternoon at the lake – thanks to Dave for working out the scores once we had finished the eleven races.

  1. Bill Culshaw          Ivy                   21  11pts
  2. Graham Elliott     Electronica  09  15pts
  3. Peter Baldwin       Uno                 63  23pts
  4. Alan Watkinson   Uno                 23  37pts
  5. Dave Williams      Uno                  33  44pts
  6. Charles Legg         Uno                  26  46pts

DF65

  1. Neil Westbrook  03  9pts

DF65 Social Racing 2024 – 14/8/24

Blue skies greeted the 9 sailors who turned out for what was a morning of close racing in a shifty North Westerly light breeze, which built as the day wore on. A standard windward leeward course was used and with a good start line, with a degree of post end bias, the fleet was pretty well behaved on all starts with only two boats being course side for the 9 races completed.
The early races had lots of place changing at the front with the main fleet being pretty close behind. Neil Westbrook set the early pace with 3 firsts, in the first four races, which also included a turn as RO. Alan Watkinson was also going well with a 1st and two 2nds early on. John Carlin, who was in the mix throughout the early races, then stepped up a gear and scored 3 wins on the bounce. Paul Plested finished the day with two firsts, which helped his overall score, but not enough to threaten the top spot. Frans King was showing some good boat speed on the water with a 2nd and a two 4ths and Malcolm Harvey posted a 3rd in race four. Newcomer John Lee was also in the mix off the start line, but sailing with an A rig on a day perfect for A+ rigs was always going to be a challenge.
On a day of very close racing with at least 3 photo finishes, John C came out on top, pipping Neil by 1 point, followed by Paul who just pipped Alan into 4th by a single point.
  1. John Carlin                 50 10pts 3 wins
  2. Neil Westbrook         03 11pts 3 wins
  3. Paul Plested              154 13pts 2 wins
  4. Alan Watkinson      373 14pts 1 win
  5. Franz King                   95 26pts 1 2nd
  6. Dave Williams            33 27pts
  7. John Lee                     N/A 37pts
  8. Malcolm Harvey   1019 38pts 1 3rd
  9. David White                94 39pts

DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2024 – 7/8/24

DF65’s

With the wind over the houses this week, it was a morning of wind shifts, big gusts and a fleet of 13 frustrated sailors.  After Peter had donned the waders and moved a few marks around to get some sort of windward and leeward leg, racing got underway at 11:00 under the wathful eye of Dave, whilst Peter finished helping out John Lee to setup his newly rigged boat.

Race 1 was a very comfortable win for Paul, whilst the rest of the fleet battled for the remaining places and some tight finishes.  Peter then took the win in race 2 with Alan and Andrew making up the podium.  Wins were spread over another 3 sailors in the next six races sailed.  It was certainly difficult to be consistent with the wind sometimes coming from an unexpected direction and often changing the winner at the last minute on the (nominal) beat to the finish line.

One finish in particular looked to be going to John Carlin for the win, until Alan got a gust up the near shore and broad reached over the line, with a photo finish between 3 other boats (if only we had a finish line camera!).

A “fun” morning’s sail with Peter getting the overall win even with the one “lost race” penalty, followed by John Carlin and then Alan Watkinson.  Thanks to Dave for the photos and for working out the averages as we didn’t all do an RO duty.

  1. Peter Baldwin         10pts 3wins
  2. John Carlin               14pts 2wins
  3. Alan Watkinson     15pts 1win
  4. Dave Williams         18pts 1win
  5. Paul Plested             21pts 1win
  6. Charles Legg            28pts
  7. Neil Westbrook      29pts
  8. Malcolm Harvey    39pts 1x3rd
  9. Sally Collings          39pts
  10. Richard Walker       41pts
  11. Andrew Potter         42pts
  12. Frans King                51pts
  13. John Lee                     70pts

DF95’s