A decent fleet of seven RG65’s turned out for racing today on a sunny afternoon with a breeze that was nominally straight down the lake. With a single Ivy sailed by Alan Bennett and six Uno’s, it became an Uno shoot out for second place overall.
Alan Bennett dominated the day with a masterclass taking a win from all 12 races sailed. Other than a couple of races where Peter picked the right start and got an initial leg up, Alan was usually first to the windward mark and then off downwind, leaving the rest playing an impossible task of catch-up.
With around 8 to 10mph wind, there were a selction of different rigs to start with from full sized swing through to low aspect swing and conventional rigs. It soon became obvious that boats with a full sized swing rig were coping well with the conditions and so a few changed up after a couple of races, although others left it until half-time to make the change up to a full size swing rig. John Berry was going well in the first session using a full sized low aspect conventional and seemed to have more power going upwind and only at a slight disadvantage downwind. Alan W also had a decent first session picking up a number of seconds and thirds, but seemed to struggle with boat speed after the break. This allowed John to overhaul him in the overall standings by the end.
We were joined this week by Phil Davies from Etherow, who by the time he had sailed 9 races was starting to get to grips with the nuances of a swing rig and ended up with a good consistent day. Dave had some good results as well showing good speed at times, but unfortunately was unable to capitalise on this for the whole afternoon.
By the time we had sailed 12 races, Alan B stood out as clear winner, discarding two firsts, with Peter clear second and John Berry getting a well deserved third. Thanks go to Neil Westbrook for acting as RO for the afternoon and Dave for taking the photos (dropping out for at least one race to do so) and producing the final scores below.
The breeze was forecast to be SW and so it was always going to be a tricky day for deciding on a course and getting around the race track. During the early practice period the wind would swing back and forth between a fetch to the clubhouse followed by one the opposite way. Peter tried to keep our options open as to which way to start by setting some form of start line at both ends, along with a pair of Windward marks for each class and a single leeward rounding mark.
In the end, there was more West than South in it and so we started at the clubhouse, up to the finish mark and then a reach/fetch (and an occasional run!) to the far end. Then it was nearly a run back to to the clubhouse end and beat back to the finish. This was sailed for a couple of races, before the breeze picked up and straightened from the far end. This allowed us to sail a course without using the finish as a Windward mark and did involve quite a bit of tacking as the gusts swung the breeze back and forth. Oh and the sun was out at the start making for a very pleasant sail in the first session.
Knowing that there was rain forecast for later, Dave suggested that we sail seven races before a break, although with the wind being light at times we only sailed a single lap and finish leg, so race duration was about seven or eight minutes. We sailed and scored as a single fleet, with the DF fleet using a nearer mark, the fleet were closely matched, with the edge going to the RG’s (although Clive would prefer a bit more separation between the Windward marks for another week).
The first session belonged to Peter, with seven straight wins, although the chasing pack were often not far behind. A good number in the fleet posted seconds and thirds, with Alan and Clive posting similar results by the break. Dave had a difficult first race, but then posted a second and two thirds later on. It all depended on where you were positioned on the water and whether you saw the gust or not. Overall, we saw some very close finishes, with only inches separating boats in many races.
Alan Bennett decided this was going to be his day and aced the ten races. He didn’t have it his own way up to the windward mark but then downwind he just vanished. The UNO sailors were then left with trying to get the better of Gary sailing the other Ivy but ultimately felt short.
This was the last of this years Summer Series for the DF and RG65 fleets, although in common with just about every other week, there were only six RG65’s out and no DF65’s. The wind continued where it left off after the morning session with the DF95’s. The direction remained pretty well down the lake on average with some big shifts to exploit along with some holes to find. Expecting the breeze to build rather than die, most people sailed the first session with B rigs, although some were on low aspect A, with amix of both swing and conventional rigs.
The afternoon belonged to Alan’s Ivy with twelve straight wins. Peter worked hard to try and keep up and occasionally did hold the lead for a while, but Alan soon seemed to overhaul him. This was especially so in the first session of six races when Peter had a smaller/lower B rig compared to the other boats. The wind failed to build leaving him struggling for speed at times.
George and Dave were closely matched in this first session, so much so that after six races they were tied on points for the third/fourth places. Duncan sailing a new to him Goth, was struggling for boat speed as the B swing rig was definitely underpowered. The A rig was thought to be too big for the conditions in the first session, but did trade up for the second one, but was then over pressed in the gusts!
Five RG65’s turned out for Round 6 of the Summer Series, with two brave souls carrying on from the DF95 Social Racing in the morning. Conditions were not dissimilar to the morning session and the forecsat Westerly breeze never materialised in either strength or direction. Combined with the ever present algae it was a tricky afternoon trying to cope with the shifting wind and significant impact of the algae. Three sported Swing Rigs and two in full size conventional, with not a lot to choose between them in performance terms.
Our initial course was a single beat and run over the whole length of the lake, but as the race took so long, from race two onwards our RO of the day Neil Westbrook shortened it down to two laps using the finish mark halfway up the lake.
Garry Benson took the lions share of wins with five from the eight races. Peter managed a win in race two and Alan Watkinson took the win in Race 4, with Dave Williams picking up the win in the final Race after Garry suffered a rudder servo failure towards the end of the race. Many of the races were very close and finishes could go to anyone in the fleet, with the fickle wind suddenly bringing a back marker up to the front on a run whilst the leaders sat stationary close to the line.
Charles had a great day with four 2nds, narrowly missing out on a win in one race and ended up only one point behind Peter at the end and place a very satisfying third overall. Alan was unable to build on his win in Race 4 and even though he asissted Garry to the shore in Race 8, still picked up a third place as Peter had an intermittent electrical problem and so sat out Race 8.
