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Category: rg65

DF/RG65 Summer 2022 #5 (9/7/22)

Once again we were fortunate to have both sun and a decent breeze between a top suit swing and full size (lower aspect) conventional for the RG65’s and one that was sailable in a DF65 A+, but more controllable in an A rig.

Seven RG65’s and six DF65’s started the day and their helms took it in turns to run one race each until a break at Race 7.  There were some early dropouts in the DF65 fleet leading to only 4 boats completing most races.

Graham Elliott sailing the Electronica took four of the first six races he sailed, with Peter Baldwin’s Uno the remaining two.  After the break, we were fortunate to have three volunteers from the DF65 fleet who ran the remaining five races for us, giving a total of 12 races for the day.  Graham took 4 out of the 5 after the break using his Argon, with Peter only managing a single race win, mostly underpowered with the conventional A versus Graham’s Swing rig.  Although Peter and Graham shared the wins, there were some strong performances through the fleet , with Dave Williams (Uno), Alan Watkinson (Uno), Charles Legg and Bill Culshaw (Pocket Rocket) all vying for the lead at various times.

In the DF65 fleet, it was our visitor Chuck Millican (AMYA) who had the Lions share of 8 wins from 12 races, with Andrew Peter and John Carlin each taking two.  This left Chuck the clear winner with Andrew narrowly second one point ahead of John.

Thanks must go to everyone who helped out in running the races especially those DF65 sailors (and support crew) who helped run the last 5 races.

RG65’s

  1. Graham Elliott           09/29  Electronia/Argon    10 pts (8 wins)
  2. Peter Baldwin             63         Uno                               15 pts (4 wins)
  3. Alan Watkinson         23          Uno                              28 pts
  4. Bill Culshaw               163         Pocket Rocket          33 pts
  5. Dave Williams            33          Uno                               38 pts
  6. Charles Legg               26         Uno                                43 pts
  7. John Brierley               84         Uno                                51 pts (gear failure race 5)

DF65’s

  1. Chuck Millican              21        12 pts (8 wins)
  2. Andrew Peter                919      21 pts (2 wins)
  3. John Carlin                      11        22 pts (2 wins)
  4. Graham Reeves            614      40 pts

Photo by Alan Watkinson.

DF/RG65 Summer 2022 #4 (25/6/22)

An excellent days sailing for the 4th race in the RG/DF Summer series at Birkenhead today. Sunny and windy from the clubhouse end with big enough wind shifts to make the racing interesting.  Swing rigs and conventional rigs were both used in the gusty conditions.

4 Uno’s competed in the RG65 class and 2 DF65’s joined in as well. Although John Brierley won 9 of the races, the finishing was extremely close in many races, with the result only decided on the last leg to the finishing line keeping our RO (and part-time photographer) John Carlin busy.  Dave Williams and Neil Westbrook were so close all afternoon, that they were tied on points and discards at the end with the tie only   broken in Dave’s favour with his win in race 8.

RG65

  1. John Brierley       Uno   84 8pts. ( 9 wins)
  2. Dave Williams    Uno   33 20 pts ( 1win)
  3. Neil Westbrook  Uno   03 20pts
  4. Charles Legg        Uno  26 28pts

DF 65

  1. Andrew Peter             919
  2. Robin (visitor)             0

10 races sailed.

RG65 Popup Open and Summer Series #3

The Birkenhead club decided to run a ‘pop up’ RG65 Open Event with an 11am start on the Saturday of the Jubilee weekend and we managed to get 9 entries, 2 Pocket Rockets (Dave Creed), 6 Uno (Caccerelli/VAM) and 1 Argon (Sails etc/Bantock).
The wind was kinder to us than expected and came mainly down from Gautby Road with shifts and some quite heavy gusts that saw most of the fleet diving downwind at some point. Most opted for a slightly lower aspect rig but Martin, Bill and Graham all opted for there full height swing rigs. We also welcomed Bill Culshaw to the RG fleet this week with his borrowed Pocket Rocket from Peter. Lets hope he returns, but he did mention that he had completed 14000 steps during the day, although we don’t normally sail 18 races in an afternoon!
The racing was a lot closer than normal throughout the fleet and it was only in a few races that the leader broke away from the rest of the fleet to win by a large margin.
With the absence of Bernie, (we all send our best wishes to Bernie who had an op in the week), we decided that each skipper would drop out of 2 races to take up start and finishing duties and score these races with zero points after some discussion.
In the end it was Martin with a fantastic 9 wins that took top honours (and the winners bottle) with Graham in second place with just 2 wins and Peter completing the podium with 4 wins, John in 4th was the last race winner on the day with 3 wins, just 4 points separating the top three.
Pictures thanks to Bill Culshaw and Alan Watkinson.
This event was used as a tune-up for the next RG65 TT at Bournville on Saturday 11th June – Entry via the MYA website.

Club Successes at the RG65 Nationals

Three sailors from the club entered the RG65 Nationals held this year at Eastbourne & District MYC.  All three ended up in the prizes with Graham Elliott sailing an Electronica first, Peter Baldwin in an Uno fifth and John Brierley also sailing an Uno sixth.

A full report and results for the weekend where 33 races were completed is available on the RG65 UK website as follows:

https://rg65.org.uk/2022/05/16/rg65-nationals-2022/

There is a video compilation of some racing from Saturday and Sunday and a series of photographs all available via links on the RG65 UK Class Association Facebook page.

RG/DF65 Summer Series 2022 #2 (7/5/22)

What a days sailing today at Birkenhead for the second RG/DF 65 Summer series. Wall to wall sunshine with a steady top suit from the North West (with significant shifts causing a number of snakes and ladder place changes).  With the lake seemingly divided into two wind patterns it was essential to get in the right lane quickly. With just two DF65s, the boats were sailed in some races by young members of Graham Reeves family, and it was good to see there enthusiasm and capabilities.

In the RG class, the racing was being used as a tune up for the National Championships next week in Eastbourne and any small mistakes were certainly pounced upon. In the first race John covering Graham did not focus on Peter who threaded his way through for the win. It was certainly going to be that close all afternoon.

The other races up to the tea break were shared between Martin and Graham and after the break these two had to withdraw for pressing family commitments leaving John to take the afternoon session with 5 of the 6 wins . The racing between the other Unos was very close and great to see Alan having a good first outing with his new boat.  Neil and Charles were also having moments at the sharp end which resulted in a great and close days sailing.

Thanks to Bernie for running the event and Jack for our drinks at the break.

  1. ​John Brierley             84     uno                       18pts   5 wins
  2. Peter Baldwin           63     uno                       21pts    3 wins
  3. Neil Westbrook        03     uno                       38pts
  4. Alan Watkinson        23     scurry                 42pts
  5. Graham Elliott           09    electronica       43pts   3 wins 
  6. Martin Roberts          33    pocket rocket   51pts    1 win
  7. Charles Legg               26    uno                       52pts
 
DFs
  1. Andrew Peter         919          22pts  4 wins
  2. Graham Reeves      187          24pts  1 win
After 12 races