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Category: rg65

RG65 Summer 2023 #7 – 19/8/23

Unfortunately it was more of the same as the last RG65 Saturday racing with the wind predominantly from the SW,  so over the houses, round the houses etc etc.  A strong gusty 2 to 15 knots tested the sailors in choosing the right rig and most opted for a low aspect A conventional, unless you only had swing rigs that is.

Peter setup a course starting from the far side in more breeze and with an easier sighting of the start line to a mark and spreader just past halfway across and back to a gate.  It was mostly a beat or fetch to the first mark, although may start as a broad reach and end up as a beat with no real indication on which tack you would finally take into the mark.

Martin and John shared the wins in the first session of 6 races, until Johns’ winch broke loose from its mount and he had to retire for the day.  This left Martin to take the remaining wins, with Alan, Bill and Peter chasing hard and occasionally in front, but never quite keeping the win from Martin.

So Martin won the day comfortably on only 7 points from the 10 races, with Bill second on countback from Peter in third.  The countback went all the way to their result in the last race, so a very close day for this pair, with Alan almost causing a 3 way tie just one point behind them.

  1. Martin Roberts            133  Pocket Rocket   7pts
  2. Bill Culshaw                    21  Ivy                         25pts
  3. Peter Baldwin                63  Uno                       25pts
  4. Alan Watkinson            23  Uno                        26pts
  5. John Brierley                 84  Uno                        32pts
  6. Dave Williams               33  Uno                        47pts
  7. Charles Legg                 26  Uno                         61pts

DF/RG65 Summer Series 2023 #6 (29/7/23)

Sunshine and no rain, unusual so far for July, if only the wind had straightened it would of been perfect conditions for the 8 skippers sailing RG65’s, the wind was blowing from the top left which means at times it bends around the houses, through the houses, over the houses, you get the picture.
The choices for which end of the start line to start, start low in the slightly more consistent wind and hope for a shift or a lift to take you into the windward mark or start high and hope you don’t sail into a hole, middle to bottom seem to work best if you played the averages.
All 8 skippers chose a reduced height full area rig to try and cope with the gusty conditions, 6 conventional rigs and 2 swing rigs, the conventional rig definitely having the advantage.
Unfortunately we lost Dave Williams before the start due to a defunct rudder servo but as always Dave willingly volunteered to stick around and start and score the fleet, thanks Dave. We also lost John Brierley after 6 races, after putting on the waders on retrieving his boat attached to a mark warp with something.  We also had other skippers missing the odd race due to running repairs or rig changes or even one skipper launching his boat but forgetting to switch it on, always worth waggling your rudder before releasing I find.
Most races saw the fleet quite spread out due to the conditions but at least 4 races were hotly contested where any one of 4 boats could have got the win.
After 12 races we had 4 race winners, Graham (Elestronica) 8 wins, Bill (Ivy) 2 wins, Peter (Uno) 1 win and John B (Uno) 1 win.
Scores after 12 races with 2 discards….
  1. Graham Elliott      Electronica  09  12pts
  2. Bill Culshaw           Ivy                    21  23pts
  3. Peter Baldwin        Uno                  63  29pts
  4. Alan Watkinson    Uno                  23  34pts
  5. John Brierley          Uno                  84  52pts
  6. Charles Legg          Uno                   26  55pts
  7. John Carlin             Uno                   87  61pts

Many thanks to Dave Williams for running the day and keeping us all in line.

DF/RG65 Summer 2023 #5 (24/6/23)

Six RG65s took part in an enjoyable and often closely fought afternoon of racing across eight two lap races that started at the clubhouse end, saw a beat up to a mark at the far end of the pond to be rounded to port, a nearby spreader also taken to port, and a run down to a single red at the clubhouse end to be taken to port. Owing to the wind direction it was decided to dispense with a downwind gate. For the most part, the course worked as planned but there were a couple races late on in which we found ourselves reaching up to the ‘upwind mark’ and reaching back to the ‘downwind mark’, with some very fluky winds in between. For most of the afternoon the sun shone and the breeze was strong enough to get the boats with their A swing rigs up to a good turn of speed without serious nosediving on the downwind legs. In the end, John Brierley was the runaway winner with Dave Williams to be congratulated on a well earned second place. The results in full are:

  1. John Brierley                    84  Uno                 6 Pts
  2. Dave Williams                  33  Uno               13 Pts
  3. Alan Watkinson               23  Uno               20 Pts
  4. John Carlin                          11  Uno              22 Pts (1 x second)
  5. Charles Legg                     26  Uno              22 Pts
  6. Neil Westbrook                03  Uno              31 Pts

DF/RG65 Summer Series 2023 #4 – 10/6/23

Today turned out to be one of the warmest days of the year on the Wirral, with final temperatures reaching 30C, but at least the Easterly breeze was still with us, with an average of probably 6-8 knots, but holes (2knots) and gusts of 12+ knots causing a few nose dives and boats out of control, especially in the last race.

Peter donned the waders and made a few tweaks to Wednesdays course, but in the end the wind was a lot straighter by the time we started and this resulted in a bit too much port bias on the line.  Peter and Martin slugged it out for overall honours with 5 wins each. However, the consistent Martin took the day in the Pocket Rocket with his swing rig further forward and the boat living up to the “Rocket” name.

There were strong performances at times during the day from John, Bill (Ivy) and Clive once he changed to a conventionally rigged Pocket Rocket following electrical problems.  A number of boats had gear and electrical failures during the day causing one or more lost races for 6 of the 8 boats.  Was it the warm day or just bad luck?

Line watching and results recording was done by the fleet for half the races, until John Carlin paid a visit and helped out in the middle session; so thanks John.

  1. Martin Roberts           133  Pocket Rocket    11pts
  2. Peter Baldwin               63  Uno                         14pts
  3. Bill Culshaw                   21  Ivy                           30pts
  4. Clive Warren      184/163  Scuttle/Pocket    33pts
  5. Dave Williams               33  Uno                         39pts
  6. John Brierley                 84  3D print proto    42pts
  7. Alan Watkinson           23   Uno                         43pts
  8. Charles Legg                 26   Uno                         48pts

DF/RG65 Summers Series 2023 #3 – 27/5/23

A depleted turnout of only 6 sailors due to illness, Graham competing in France, Martin competing in Lincoln and some off on holidays.  A really good sunny afternoon with a decent wind from the top end of the lake with quite a few shifts to gamble on.

A bad first race for Bill with his battery failing straight after the start enabled John to take his first win closely followed by Alan in second. The next three races were Bills’ with John and Dave fighting over second place. John managed another two wins but the rest of the day went Bills way with another six wins from a closely followed John.

Further down the fleet, Neil and Clive were having their own private battle with Neil eventually coming out on top.

  1. Bill Culshaw          Ivy          11 pts 9wins
  2. John Brierley        Uno         17 pts 3 wins
  3. Alan Watkinson  Uno         29 pts
  4. Dave Williams      Uno         41 pts
  5. Neil Westbrook    Uno         45 pts
  6. Clive Warren         Scuttle   48 pts

DF/RG65 Summer Series 2023 #2

Competitors arrived to find the land breeze fighting the sea breeze but luckily all settled down by race 3 when we got a nice NW mid A rig wind plus wall to wall sunshine, hottest day of the year so far. A few members were missing today, Peter Baldwin PRO and John Brierley sailing at the Fleetwood DF Global race, good luck John.
Graham gave his Electronica one final outing for club racing and took the first two wins but Alan sailing his Uno and Bill sailing his Ivy were never too far behind. The next 4 races were all quite closely contested with Alan getting to the windward mark in first position in quite a few. Dave Williams very kindly shared helms with newcomer Clive Warren with whoever not sailing taking on the role of starter and finisher, many thanks for this, both of you.
In the end it was Graham Elliott with 9 wins from Bill Culshaw with 3 wins, ever so consistent  Martin Roberts, who actually scored a third in every race bar 2 races and then the consistently inconsistent Alan.
12 races sailed.
1st     Graham Elliott      Electronica            11 points
2nd    Bill Culshaw           IVY                            17 points
3rd     Martin Roberts     Pocket Rocket     30 points
4th     Alan Watkinson   Uno                          34 points
5th     Dave Williams       Uno                          49 points