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Category: Fleets

DF65 Social Racing #18 (4/5/22)

It was a cold damp day at the lake with the wind blowing straight down from the top end. Due to John C injuring his leg whilst dinghy sailing, and having mobility problems, wishing to assist our RO Sally, a course was set starting from the middle and finishing in the middle. Windward mark to port, spreader to port then down through the gate to finish at middle.

For the racing, A+ was the suit of choice but as the racing progressed ‘A’ would have been more appropriate as positions changed several times with boats overwhelmed on the downward run. There was very close racing between Alan and Neil with James putting in some very good results until gear failure dropped him out of three races, leaving Alan the winner by only two points. Thanks to Sally for organising the ten races and to John her assistant for clerical duties.

  1. Alan Watkinson       373  16 pts 4wins
  2. Neil Westbrook          03  18 pts 3wins
  3. Dave Williams          233  20 pts 2 wins
  4. Simon Bates                69 31 pts
  5. Richard Walker          39  35 pts
  6. James Douglas            73  39 pts 1 win
  7. Stan Metcalf                46  39 pts
  8. Charles Legg                21  63 pts
  9. John Beech                   80  68 pts

DF65 Social Racing 2022 #17 (27/4/22)

A rather cold and shifty easterly wind greeted the nine DF 65 racers today, and enabled a course using the full length of the lake to a windward mark at the clubhouse end.

As always racing was close, and was dominated initially by John Brierley who won races 2,3, and 4 but then had to leave for a work appointment. There were four race winners during the day, with Alan Watkinson steadily improving his “spare” boat to win by a point from Richard Walker who had tied on points with Andrew Potter but ended up ahead with two wins to Andrews one.

The fleet became slightly depleted as other sailors had to follow John due to commitments elsewhere, and as the breeze went progressively left and became even more shifty eight races was judged to be enough for the day.

  1. Alan Watkinson   373   14pts 2 wins
  2. Richard Walker      39   15pts 2 wins
  3. Andrew Potter      194   15pts 1 win
  4.  Dave Williams     233    18pts
  5. John Brierley           84   27pts 3 wins, 4 races sailed
  6. Sally Collings       829   28pts, 6 races sailed
  7. Charles Legg           21    35pts, three 5ths
  8. John Beech               80   35pts
  9. Malcolm Harvey  1019 49pts

IOM Summer Series #2 (23/4/22)

Well, Charles was right, it was indeed a 2nd suit wind, having arrived earlier than most Charles rigged his boat with 2nd suit but everyone else opted for top suit so Charles followed suit and changed up. The wind was trying to come from Gautby Road but it was all about the strength of the gusts that could come from anywhere from Gautby Road to the factories.
After the first race and not one boat managing to survive the gusts we took a fleet decision to all change down to 2nd suit, our PRO for the day, Dave Williams gave us 15 minutes to do so and this was indeed just enough time.
The racing at the front of the fleet was nip and tuck for the first 3 races with Darin, Martin and Graham swapping places but after race 4 it was Graham that began to make to make his move, winning races 4 and 5 with Darin slipping out of the top 3 for these 2 races.
7 races before a short break and a cup of tea supplied by the ever present Jack and back out on the water for race 8. Andrea had now blown the cobwebs off and getting to grips with her chartered BritPOP! and her results showed this with podium finishes in all but one race in races 5 through to 10.
A challenging and thoroughly enjoyable afternoons racing with 12 races completed and many thanks to Dave Williams for starting and finishing us (and taking a couple of photos), Jack for making the tea (great tea maker but at 92yrs old he has had plenty of practice) and Martin who put the waders on to move a few buoys and give us a great start line.
Good luck to all Birkenhead skippers that make the journey up to Loch Winnoch for next weekends IOM National Championships.
!st      Graham Elliott        13points            BritPOP!         7 race wins
2nd     Darin Ballington    22points           BritPOP!         3 race wins
3rd      Martin Roberts      24points            Vanilla             2 race wins
4th      Andrea Roberts     39points            BritPOP!
5th      Alan Watkinson    49points            BritPOP!
6th      Graham Birkett     51points            Widget
7th      Charles Legg           75points            K2

DF65 Social Racing #16 (20/4/22)

Another lovely sunny late spring day – ideal for gardeners, but not much use for sailors.  A very light and variable South to South East whisper of a breeze started the days racing, with 13 sailors choosing the A Plus Rig.  Dave Williams as Race Officer set a full and sometimes challenging course for the fleet, when reading the wind shifts, even off the start line, proved to be the hardest part of the day.

We managed 10 races, with some sailors giving up early in the difficult conditions, but as seems frequent with Birkenhead lake, as the day progressed, the wind filled and steadied, and we ended the day with glorious weather and a steady breeze, and a 2 lap race to finish.

  1. Alan Watkinson      373  14 pts
  2. John Carlin                   11  16 pts
  3. Andrew Potter         194  25 pts
  4. Andrew Peter           919  32 pts
  5. James Douglas           73  34 pts
  6. Richard Walker          39  42 pts
  7. Charles Legg               21  49 pts 1 x 2nd
  8. Stan Metcalf               46  49 pts
  9. Sally Collings           829  69 pts (after being Cinderella for the last 4 races)
  10. John Beech                   80  74 pts
  11. Malcolm Harvey     1019  80 pts
  12. Graham Reeves         187  93 pts
  13. Paul Whalley                53 103 pts

DF/RG65 Summer Series 2022 #1 (16/4/22)

A select fleet of just five RG65 sailors assembled for the first event in the 2022 Summer Series for DF and RG65’s. With the weather turning very warm and sunny, there was a decent top suit breeze from the SE with some lulls and gusts (along with significant shifts) that made rig selection difficult.  Peter Baldwin used a near full height A swing to good effect, winning the first race, with John Brierley slightly underpowered at times with a lower aspect full area swing in second.  John then took race two with Peter close behind, with the lower aspect rig working well upwind in the stronger gusts.  Race 3 went Peters way with Race 4 back to John for the win after Peter picked up an underwater carrier bag at the end of lap one and had to retire (unhurt!).  At the break after 5 races, Peter was leading John on 3 races against two, with strong performances from both Alan Watkinson and Charles Legg behind them leading to some close finishes.

After the break with the wind appearing to moderate John changed up to a taller A swing and this gave him four out of the next 5 races to take the day, with Peter only taking one win and second overall, although there were some very close finishes and even loss of control downwind in the gusts. The final race saw the course invert as the breeze suddenly clocked through 180 degrees in what appeared to be a cooler sea breeze.  This made for some interesting mark roundings as the leeward gate became a windward gate and the leeward marks were a rounding pair.  Charles and Alan had a very close day for third place with the final honours going to Charles on the basis of his 2nd (by a boat length) in Race 4.

Next in the Series of DF/RG65 races is on Saturday 7th May starting at 13:00.

John Brierley             84      Uno         10pts    6  wins
Peter Baldwin            63      Uno         12pts    4  wins
Charles Legg              16       Uno         27pts    (1 x 2nd)
Alan Watkinson        23       Scurry    27pts
Dave  Williams          33        Uno         33pts
After 10 races.

DF65 Social Racing #15 (13/4/22)

Sunshine and 5-10Kt north-west wind greeted the 10 competitors for today’s DF65 racing.  A+ rigs were order of the day with only the occasional gust causing problems on the downwind legs. With the wind blowing straight down the lake, it enabled the full length of the lake to be used with all races going through a gate for the windward marks followed by a run and through a leeward gate then to the finish. For the last 5 races the course was changed slightly to provide a better beat to the finish with the leeward gate being switched for a starboard handed mark.

With the clock ticking for the first start, one (to remain nameless!) competitor decided his transmitter needed a quick wash and dropped it in the lake effectively ending his day before it had even started

Mike looked unbeatable winning the first 3 races and following it up with another 2,1,2. Not content with beating everybody by sailing quickly, he then tried starting over the line, and crashing into various other boats in the subsequent races which put him back down the fleet, but not by enough to stop him winning the day.

John sailed consistently to win a couple of races and a multitude of seconds and thirds to come second overall while Dave managed to get his act in gear after a ropey first 3 races to sail consistently enough to beat a more inconsistent James by a single point for 3rd place.  Thanks to Andrew Potter for being Race Officer today.

Saturday is a combined RG65 and DF65 racing afternoon with a start time of 13:00.

  1. Mike de St Paer   14 pts (4 wins)
  2. John Carlin            17 pts (2 wins)
  3. Dave Williams     21 pts (2 wins)
  4. James Douglas    22 pts (2 wins)
  5. Richard Walker   30 pts
  6. Martin James       37 pts
  7. John Beech            54 pts
  8. Paul Whalley        61 pts
  9. Malcolm Harvey 65 pts
  10. Mister Mystery    RTD ……… to the clubhouse to dry out!