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Category: Fleets

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.

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