Category: news

DF65 Social Racing #5 26/9/20

Light wind and rain at the start of the Wednesday race the wind from the top end of the lake. 6 sailors, but unfortunately Don had transmitter/receiver problems from the start so elected to act as RO. Due to the wind, a short course was sailed but later with the wind filling , the final few races used the full extent of the lake. 10 races were held with race wins going to Richard, John and Dave. Close finishes seem to be the order of the day with fractions of an inch (centimetres) separating the boats. The day went to Richard with his six wins.

  1. Richard Robinson   11 Pts
  2. Dave Williams          16 pts
  3. Neil Westbrook        19 pts
  4. John Carlin                25 pts
  5. Malcolm Harvey     40 pts

Thanks again to Don Mackinnon for being RO.

RG65 Social Racing #5 19/9/20

Another sunny and windy day (from the E or ENE) at Birkenhead for our latest social RG65 club race. All 7 boats opted to use there ‘B’ rigs with some big gusts arriving from some very strange directions at times. It was Brad Gibson that made the best start to the day, registering 3 wins in the first 3 races, unfortunately Graham Elliott had some early winch line problems so had to miss a few races to re-string.
After 6 races we had a quick break, this saw a slight drop in the wind and a few skippers opting to change rigs but the results did not change much with Brad Gibson dominating with 8 wins and 4 seconds.
A great days sailing with 12 races completed and all before 4.15pm and great to see John Brierley back on the water.  Many thanks to Bernie yet again for starting, finishing and scoring on the day.
  1. Brad Gibson            9    Electronica         12pts    8 wins
  2. Graham Elliott     55   Argon                    25pts    4wins
  3. John Brierley         84  Uno                        29pts
  4. Peter Baldwin       63  Pocket Rocket    36pts
  5. Alan Watkinson    23  Scurry                   46pts
  6. Neil Westbrook     03  Pocket Rocket   49pts
  7. Dave Williams       33  Pocket Rocket    58pts

After 12 races

DF65 Social Racing #4 16/9/20

6 members took part in the usual Wednesday Social race. With a very light A+ wind from the clubhouse end Sally showed her skill in mastering the conditions and took three wins but was pushed hard by Mike de St Paer. John Carlin missed the first few races drying out his transmitter after a involuntary dunking! With the wind now increasing the lead changed with John and Mike taking two wins each. The results could have been so different if Derek had not been so keen with his three recalls. Chris was consistently third and will be a sailor to watch in future. This was Barry’s first race and has now certainly got the bug thanks to Charles’s tuition.

  1. Mike de St Paer    12pts
  2. Sally Collings       17pts. 3 x 1sts
  3. Derek Matthews  17pts. 1 x 1st
  4. Chris Weston        22pts
  5. John Carlin             23pts
  6. Barry                         33pts

IOM Social Racing #9 12/9/20

A great wind straight down the lake and not the forecast “houses” wind welcomed the 5 skippers to our clubs latest social IOM race. All rigged up with top suits but Graham decided to make a change to his ‘B’ rig after a quick pre-race practice before the first race which proved to be the correct choice with a convincing win in race 1, a quick rig change break was called after this race to allow all skippers to change down to ‘B’ rig.
The wind stayed with us until race 4 then started to gradually die away giving the Italico an advantage in these under-pressed ‘B’ rig conditions over the fleet, 2 more races were sailed until we called a break that saw everyone changing back to the ‘A’ rigs for the remainder of the afternoon that also saw the wind swing around 30 degrees giving some very interesting shifts and gusts to deal with.
The last 4 races also saw the sacking of Martin with Andrea taking the helm of her pink boat which she had not sailed for some considerable time. With a new trim on the boat, she proved to be a force to be reckoned with, winning 3 of her 4 starts.
It was great to see Derek sailing an IOM for the first time and he proved to be a welcome and very able addition to the fleet, also visitor John sailing well in many races but getting unlucky with the Birkenhead shifts, Charles also had many good races.
Many thanks must go to Bernie and Jack for starting and finishing for the completed 12 races.
  1. Graham Elliott     65   Italico               10pts   10 wins
  2. Martin Roberts    55   Gadget              19pts    2 wins
  3. John Berry            123   Lintel MMX    36pts
  4. Derek Mathews    91   Gadget              38pts
  5. Charles Legg         25   Rubix                 50pts

Next week will be another RG65/DF65 social race afternoon starting at 13:00.  Please enter via the links provided.

IOM Social Racing #8 5/9/20 – Full report

A solid NW top suit breeze was the order of the day for the 7 boat fleet. Great to see Mike and Sue back , along with Derek making his debut in the IOM fleet, with a borrowed boat from Andrew.
The story of the afternoon was how you got off the start line. Sudden wind shifts made would define how good a result you would get. At race 5 a tactical chat with the fleet would mean the fleet would get more consistent starts. So an afternoon of good and average sailing, shifts and nose diving, Thanks to Jack and Bernie . Back for more IOM racing next Saturday starting at 13:00.  Please enter via the links to the right or via the Racing Calendar page.

  1. Martin Roberts                Widget        12pts   7 wins
  2. Mike Parkington             Widget        16pts   2 wins
  3. Graham Birkett                Widget       20pts   1 win
  4. Sue Parkington                 Britpop      27pts
  5. Alan Watkinson               Britpop     38pts
  6. Derek Matthews               Widget       39pts
  7. Charles Legg                       Rubix         52pts

After 10 races

RG65 Social Racing #4 29/8/20

Another ‘Marathon’ Session, starting at 11.00am, with 16 races completed by the 4.00pm finish.  5 x RG65 and 2 x DF 65’s competed, in a moderate but shifty Northerly force 3- 4 breeze, with some tricky gusts and swirls firing down through the gaps in the buildings. ( Bring back the trees ?! )

Derek Matthews had to leave early, and Brad Gibson arrived late, so the results may be slightly skewed, but Graham Elliott took the overall win for the day, with 9 x 1sts, Brad with 7 x 1st’s took 2nd overall, with Peter Baldwin definitely ‘off-form’ , taking 3rd overall with no wins but 6 x 2nd’s.

The RG’s won the day on pure speed, but the DF65’s, sailing a slightly shorter course, were not far behind, with Andrew Peter taking 4 x 3rds and 5th overall, proving that DF’s can compete successfully on these mixed RG / DF Race days (with the help of a slightly shorter course).

Very enjoyable sailing, with cakes very kindly provided at break times by Alan Watkinsons’ wife Jocelyn , and thanks once again to RO Bernie doing us proud, as ever.

  1. Graham Elliott    55     Argon                     17pts      9 wins
  2. Brad Gibson           9     Electronica          31pts       7 wins
  3. Peter Baldwin      63    Pocket Rocket    35pts
  4. Alan Watkinson   23    Scurry                   43pts
  5. Andrew Peter      919   DF65                      52pts
  6. Dave Williams      33    Pocket Rocket    63pts
  7. Derek Mathews    57   DF65                       88pts

Start times will now revert to the normal 13.00hrs for all future Saturday racing with room for plenty more sailors to compete.  A booking system will be created to allow online booking.  More details will be published soon.

We return to IOM racing for the next two weeks.  If you wish to join us and have a go, boats are available to loan for anyone wanting to sail. – contact Andrew Peter (see contacts pages)