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Category: rg65

RG65 TT Round 9 – 27/10/24

Once again the breeze hardly failed to materialise all day and when it did it was never stable in direction for more than 30 seconds.  Primarily from over the houses, it proved troublesome to decide on an appropriate course to setup, with the Southern Bank in the Lee of the houses.  We therefore ended up with courses that were often a fetch followed by a reach back, although that could be a run followed in quick succession by another fetch.

As is usually the case, the cream rose to the top with Graham Elliott (Electronica) winning five races, Tobi Laux and Alan Bennett two each and John Brierley one.  After Graham, the next four boats were all Ivy designs followed by two Uno’s.

At the prizegiving, Graham thanked everyone for coming and the Race Team of Paul and Sharon Plested, Malcolm Harvey and Neil Westbrook along with Chris having another stint in the galley.

The photos from Malcolm don’t seem to show much wind, but there was some at times, but perhaps in the excitement and being absorbed in the racing Malcolm forgot to take photos with wind!

RG65 TT Round 8 – 26/10/24

The day started with little or no breeze as competitors arrived along with some mist drifting across the water.  However, by the time of the first start, a light breeze had filled in from the clubhouse end.

Tobi Laux stamped his mark from the start with two early wins, before Peter Baldwin managed to catch the right shifts and take the win in Race 3.  Martin Roberts then was the winner in Race 4 before a break was taken in racing.

After the break, another 3 races were sailed before lunch, with wins for John Brierley, Graham Elliott and another for Martin.  Lunch was earlier than expected at this point as the breeze seemed to be swinging more towards the West but had also dropped.

As is often the case, the breeze confounded us and after lunch we had another three races using the original course before another drinks break and allow for the course to be reset.  Winners in this session were Graham, followed by Dorian Crease and then Tobi with his third win.

We were then into the final session, with a revised course starting at the clubhouse end.  The wind was primarily from the SW, but could easily come from the West or South at any time along with big lulls.  The winners in this final session were Martin (twice) and John Tushingham.

So the final results saw Tobi with a good win by 10 points from Graham and then Martin picking up third place.

Thanks to our RO John Carlin assisted by Malcolm Harvey and Neil Westbrook and for Chris who kept us “fed and watered” in the galley.

Round9 takes place tomorrow.

 

 

DF/RG65 Summer Series 2024 #8 – 28/9/24

Our 1.00pm start was delayed due to a heavy downpour. Only five sailors were taking part due to the IOM ranking race at Chelmsford. The light wind from the top end of the lake varied from straight down to over the houses, sudden gusts and zero wind_ Typical Birkenhead.

Alan Bennett sailing his Ivy took all but one of the races with son George taking the other. Although Alan appeared to win easily he did have some very close competition from Alan W and Charles. George, sailing a new to him Uno, mastered the conditions with ease and put in some very good starts taking six second places. The rest of the fleet were having close racing with some of the finishes inches between the three boats, Alan losing places by stalling just before the finish allowing Charles and Dave to sneak in a couple of times.

Twelve one lap races were held.

Alan Bennett           Ivy     10pts 11wins
George Bennett      Uno   26pts 1win
Alan Watkinson     Uno   29pts
Dave Williams        Uno   34pts
Charles Legg           Uno   49pts

 

Recent Club Successes at RG65 Nationals and Full report for Saturday

RG65 Nationals

I am pleased to report that Graham Elliott gained another MYA RG65 Nationals title last weekend sailing a Brad Gibson designed Electronica. The event had strong competition including a number of French entries, although unfortunately winds were light all weekend coming from the cafe (one of the more difficult directions for Eastbourne).  Bill Culshaw was our other club entry who finished 8th in a field of 20 boats.  Full final results are available via the RG65 website here

Updated post for Saturdays IOM Racing

The post for Saturdays IOM racing has now been updated to include a report.  Click here to view it again, although it should be visible below this post!

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

 

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