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Category: news

Birkenhead members at the Marblehead Ranking #1 and DFTT #1&#2

Last weekend Birkenhead club members were competing at opposite ends of the country with the Marblehead ranking race in Poole and the DF TT series in Southport. The Poole event was the start of the qualifying for the World Championship in 2020 at West Kirby, and two members Bill Culshaw and Dave Potter made the long journey south. Bill had an excellent day finishing 6th including a race win and a 2nd and Dave’s new Starkers showed potential with a 2nd in one of the races. At Southport the DF club members of Alan Watkinson, Andrew Peters, Peter Baldwin and John Brierley arrived to find the lake frozen but after a delay of one hour the 35 competitors managed a good days sailing in A+ rig conditions. At the end of day one, John benefited from winning the last race to finish 3rd, with Peter in 7th and Alan and Andrew getting to grips with the A+ rigs as the day progressed.

On the Sunday there was again another delay for thicker ice and as only seven races could be achieved, the fact of only one discard was to make the racing tight across the fleet of 35 boats.  John was level on points with “Uncle Derek” but on count back had to settle for 2nd overall.  Peter had a late charge to finish 5th and Andrew and Alan had close competition all day .
Next weekend it is back to Gautby Rd for the next round of our Winter Series in IOM, Start time 1300. Come and join us at this Open Series.

DragonForce Winter Series#3 16/1/19

On arrival in heavy rain, there appeared to be a good 8-10 knots with strong gusts coming generally down the lake and so everyone decided to opt for A Rig.  By the time that the course was being set, the rain had stopped and taken a lot of the wind with it.  All 8 sailors decided to stay with A Rig as the wind was likely to pick up again before racing finished.  After a few heavy showers, the rain stopped and the wind increased a little, but came from numerous directions but mostly from a WSW direction.  In the end 9 races were completed before everyone decided that a warm drink was required.

Some social racing was undertaken after lunch in a good 10 knots straight down the lake in nearly full sun with 5 boats taking part.

1st.        Peter Baldwin       9pts
2nd.      Neil Westbrook   12pts
3rd.       John Brierley        15pts (gear failure for last two races)
4th       Andrew Peter        20pts
5th       Sally Collings        24pts (1x1st)
6th.       Alan Watkinson  24pts (2x2nd)
5th.      Dave Williams         24pts (1x2nd)
6th.       Richard Walker      33pts

9 races sailed, 2 discards

IOM Winter Series 3

Happy New Year and this was round 3 of the Birkenhead Winter Series and a lovely gentle top suit wind down the middle of the lake with plenty of shifts for all to anticipate, depend upon or hope for.
The early pace setter was Bill Culshaw with two wins and two second places in the first four races sailing immaculately, following him was Martin Roberts and Graham Elliott going into the tea break.
There were many close battles all day with not much love lost but no shouting, just good hard but fair sailing.
Noticeable results were Lawrence and Alan both gaining second places in races 5 and 6, well done, and after 9 races with 4 different race winners it was Graham Elliott who won the day with 5 wins.
Many thanks to Bernie and Dave for starting and finishing the fleet and Joyce for the half time cuppa.

1st      Graham Elliot            10pts
2nd     Bill Culshaw               18pts
3rd      Martin Roberts         19pts
4th      John Brierley             31pts
5th     Dave Potter                32pts
6th     Lawrence Brennon    33pts (2nd place)
7th      Peter Baldwin            33pts
8th      Alan Watkinson         47pts
9th      Neil Westbrook           51pts
After 9 races

IOM Christmas Race

The forecast of icy rain and gale force winds didn’t deter 19 hardy skippers racing for the 2018 Christmas IOM Race. The punchy south easterly breeze enabled Bernie and Jack to set a windward leeward course which used the full length of the lake. Remarkably there were very few retirements, a testament to boat design and maintenance. At the briefing Graham Elliott reminded skippers to race fairly and given the conditions try to keep incidents to a minimum. The leeward gate helped keep racing running smoothly, with the near buoy safer but less advantaged and the far buoy advantaged if you could complete the risky tack on the bank in the big waves! Before lunch racing was fast and furious, with many people posting good and average results. After a warming up with a brew and a mince pie, Bernie promised just 5 more races. With the rain and the wind building and the light dropping this was welcomed news. After 12 races Paul pipped Derek in 1st place with John Brierley sailing very consistently to claim 3rd. The next IOM Winter Series race is on Saturday 22nd December, 1pm start. Fingers crossed the suns out!

1st Paul Allen 31pts
2nd Derek Priestly 36pts
3rd John Brierley 41pts
4th Darin Ballington 42pts
5th Graham Elliot 46pts
6th Martin Roberts 52pts
7th Brad Gibson 59pts
8th Bill Culshaw 72pts
9th Vicky Gibson 73pts
10th Peter Baldwin 84pts
11th David Foster 101pts
12th Lawrence Drennon 117pts
13th Geoff Martindale 119pts
14th Mike Parkinson 122pts
15th Sue Parkinson 128pts
16th Neil Westbrook 129pts
17th Alan Watkinson 139pts
18th Andrew Peter 167pts
19th Dave Williams 181pts
After 12 Races

Thank to Peter Baldwin for risking his camera to take a pic!