Category: rg65

Sadly, the weather gods were against us this week with a wind from the SW pretty well straight across the lake.  Peter replaced the mising gate mark at the clubhouse end and setup for a course starting at the clubhouse end as it was forecast to swing around to be from the W sometime after 14:00.  Most people opted for an A swing rig, with Alan on a conventional A.

The first race got started soon after 13:00 (with a leg that was anything from a run to a fetch) to a first mark near the bank with a starboard rounding and back down to the gate.  Unfortunately the lake was rather like a pea soup and most boats were getting fin and rudder coated up after a single leg, which could be difficult to shake off.  Boat handling was tricky and if the breeze dropped, tacking was not at all easy catching a few out.  Alan Bennett led the first race, but decided to take his boat out after one lap as his battery was being quickly depleted and ended his day there.  Alan W took the first race after a very close finish with George just second.

In race two it was Dave’s turn for a win with George second once again after leading for a good part of the race.  Peter then took wins in the next two races, with George second in both with Alan and Dave sharing the third places.  We then an early break and re-fuelled hoping that the wind might improve in the second half.

The direction had gone more westerly (to WSW) and at times the gusts would knock the boats over on the run, but they were short-lived and we would often be waiting for the next gust to get moving again.  Charles had to finish at this point due to mobility problems leaving just four sailors to see out the afternoon.

This second session belonged to George though with three wins from the four races, with Peter picking up an additional win.  Racing was very close most of the time though with the final result not clear until five metres from the finish line.

After eight races, everyone agreed to save their sanity and call a halt.  George (one of our youngest skipper by a long way) ended up the well deserved winner this afternoon, with Peter second and Alan third.  Thanks go to our finishers, Martin Whittingham Jones (first half) and Alan Bennett and chief photographer Dave Williams.

1. George Bennett      71     Uno    9pts  3 wins
2. Peter Baldwin          63    Uno  10pts 3 wins
3. Alan Watkinson      23    Uno  16pts  1 win
4. Dave Williams          33    Uno  17pts  1 win
5. Charles Legg             26    Uno  30pts

What a great Saturday afternoon we had, 6 skippers, warm, wind, fire, nosediving, flat calm, rain, flares, yes we had it all.

It all started at rigging up before the race when Alan had a bit of mishap with his batteries, plenty of smoke and burnt out cables but miraculously after this the radio gear fired up with a new set of batteries and off we went to sail.

The wind was constant with large gusts so we all chose our ‘B’ rigs but this wind direction then decided to sort of turn around and come from the houses aswell as other places at times. The first 6 races before tea break belonged to Alan for sure.

Tea break and we all changed up to our bigger rigs as the wind dropped a little and the gusts did die down a little, we also came out to a nice Everton blue flare that someone had left lakeside, obviously testing the colour before the Liverpool celebrations on Monday. First race after tea and we all fell over on the downwind leg so back to the club and change down for the next 5 races. Graham did make a better effort in the second half but the day belonged to Alan for sure. A returning Gary Benson to the club and RG racing had a great afternoon and deserved his podium finish, George got caught out a few times with his rig choice but did manage a trio of third places in races 5 through to seven. A good battle all through the fleet was great to see.

Many thanks must go to Neil Westbrook for starting and finishing us all afternoon and Dave Williams for the photos.  After 12 races the final results were as follows:

1. Alan Bennett            68  Ivy                   12pts
2. Graham Elliott        09  Electronica  16pts
3. Gary Benson             68  Ivy                   35pts
4. Alan Watkinson       23  Uno                 37pts
5. George Bennett        71  Uno                 45pts
6. Dave Wiliiams          33  Uno                 49

The lake was much clear of bags and weed after the Wednesday afternoon crew did a fantastic job of cleaning up ready for next Saturdays IOM open race, if you haven’t entered yet, why not?

A poor turn out of only four RG65 sailors although it was an almost perfect sailing day. The wind was straight down the lake with very few shifts sunny but a chilling wind. B rig conventional seemed to be the suit of choice with Charles opting for B swing. Starting on time with self umpiring in force most starts went as planned although Dave was caught out twice in succession.

From the start Bill set out to show us how well his Ivy sailed and dominated the afternoon’s twelve races. Alan sailing his UNO was the only person to put up a challenge but faded by the start of the second lap on a few races. An early break was called for with Bill stepping in to sort out Charles and Dave’s boats. Returning to sailing and the same formation continued with only Dave and Charles having a race, while Bill and Alan disappeared way ahead. Although the finishing order had been predicted it was still a very pleasant race afternoon with twelve races completed. Three of the sailors did agree to pose for a photo before they could depart.

1. Bill Culshaw         10pts 10wins
2. Alan Watkinson 20pts
3. Dave Williams    32 pts
4. Charles Legg       36pts

Another day and a different breeze – one that was difficult to find as it kept itself well hidden for most of the morning.  Our RO and chief wader Paul Plested was kept busy moving marks around in an attempt to create a course that allowed for some racing without it being a procession.  We started sailing from the clubhouse end, then the wind had other ideas and we sailed the opposite way around for a short while before returning to something like the original course.  How long should the course be was the key question today as at times, race duration extended to 20 minutes for two laps and so had to be shortened and then lengthened again when the breeze picked up towards the end of racing.  Paul did a sterling job in both trying to keep racing going whilst also rescuing boats that seem to wrap themselves on the mark tubes with insufficient brreze to remove themselves.  The breeze did pick up and straighten to come from the far end for the last three races, but after the earlier difficult sessions racing was finished after 12 races.

Onto the racing; today it was John Tushinghams’ turn to be leader of the pack with five wins from the 12 races sailed and take the overall win.  Next in terms of race wins was Tobias Laux with 4 wins, but relegated to third place by Alan Bennett with just two (all sailing Ivy’s) and Peter Baldwin (Uno) with one. Bill Culshaw sailed consistently all day and took the fourth place overall, leaving a clutch of four Ivy’s at the top of the leader board.  Peter Baldwin and Robert Macintosh were both sailing Uno’s and picked up fifth and sixth spots.

We should have had fifteen boats racing today, but unfortunately one boat had terminal arm winch failure before we started sailing.  Another couple of boats had issues which put paid to their event and an early homeward journey.  Chris Elliott was one of these, which was unfortunate as he had shown good boat speed in a number of races, but unfortunately was having issues for most of the day, which had stopped him from performing well overall.

Special mention to our Junior member George, who stuck at it, with what can only be described as very tricky wind conditions finishing 11th overall with a number of eight and ninth places and a prize for being first junior.

Thanks go once again to Paul Plested and wife Sharon for running the racing assisted today by Malcolm Harvey carrying out the scoring and for Joss managing the galley once again as well as bringing yet more cookies after we had eaten most of yesterdays batch.  Paul also found time when not in the waders to take more photos.

The next RG65 TT’s are at Fleetwood over the weekend of 12/13th April, with an NoR promised soon.

As sailors and the event team started to arrive, there was already a nice ESE breeze straight down the lake from the clubhouse end.  Our RO, Paul Plested soon donned the waders and worked with the Commodore to set out a windward leeward course starting at the far end of the lake.  Setting a good start line proved to be a bit tricky as the wind was having difficulty on deciding whether it was from the top left or right corner.

After a short briefing, the fleet of 17 RG65’s got started on time in a decent mid to top suit A swing rig breeze, with just a couple of boats using a full sized conventional rig.  The day was sailed at a decent but steady pace of 4 races followed by a break for a drink or lunch, with 16 races completed by the time the wind shut down (well actually reversed direction!) at around 16:00.

The day belonged to Alan Bennett sailing an Ivy with 7 wins, followed by Tobi Laux (another Ivy) with four, Graham Elliott (Electronica) with three, then Martin Roberts (Uno) and Bill Culshaw (Ivy) with one each.  Aside from these race winners, a number of boats had some good results and even had the lead at some point, but unfortunately never quite made that elusive first place.  Chris Elliott had a  number of seconds after a difficult start to the day missing the first two races with gear problems. Peter Baldwin also had a good day, but never managed to capitalise on some decent positions mid race.Vernon Appleton and Roger Hopper were also going well  with Vernon picking up a second and third during the day and based upon his speed later in the day, may well be better placed tomorrow.

As the full results sheet below will show, Alan Bennett not surprisingly won the day on 25 points, with Tobias Laux second on 32 points and then Graham Elliott in third on 41.  It was close for fourth to seventh place with only 6 points separating these 4 boats.

Out thanks go to our RO Paul Plested and his assitant wife Sharon, Joss in the galley for making drinks and some great cookies and also to Paul for some cracking photos.

A great entry of 9 boats for race 5 of the club DF/RG65 Winter series, the wind started off as a mid A rig from Gautby Rd and all the RG’s sailed using swing rigs, Phil sailing his DF65 was allowed to use his A+ rig and rightly so.

We sailed 6 races before tea with Alan, sailing his rebuilt Ivy comfortably winning the first half. Alan’s boat was in an unfortunate accident (involving his car) a few weeks ago and should of been written off, but he managed to do some serious surgery to her and she was as good as new and performing extremely well.

Vernon was racing his new Ivy for only the third time and went home a very happy skipper, his best result coming 3rd in race 6, a few little tweaks on his rig and he will return for the RG TT race next month.

After race 7 the wind swung around and around and died off considerably, that much so that our PRO, Neil Westbrook decided we should shorten the course to one lap for the final 4 races.

Overall the fleet, made up of Ivy’s, Uno’s, one Electronica and one DF65, enjoyed a pleasant afternoons sailing with race wins going to Alan, Graham, Peter and Bill but there was only one winner, Alan sailed extremely well and gave us all a good hammering.

Thanks go to Neil Westbrook who started and finished us by himself for all 12 races.

1. Alan Bennett      Ivy                  13pts
2. Graham Elliott  Electronica  19pts
3. Bill Culshaw       Ivy                   30pts
4. Peter Baldwin    Uno                 31pts
5. Vernon Appleton  Ivy               44pts
6. Paul Plested        Uno                 55pts
7. Dave Williams    Uno                 65pts
8. Charles Legg       Uno                 72pts

Phyl Fanning      DF65               10pts