The first DF65 Racing in 2025 was unfortunately called off as there was little or no wind and after snow fall, the walkways were icy and dangerous. We are hoping for better conditions next Wednesday.
Category: news
DF/RG65 Winter 2024 #3
The first Birkenhead race of the New Year was for RG65 sailors and at the start held with as much water on the banks as in the lake.
The first job was to unblock the drain weir and then decide on a course. There was a slight reluctance to don the waders and move marks ude to the depth of water lapping over the path. Neil arrived and took on the RO’s position and due to the very light wind sorted a short course, sailing from half way up the far bank to a starboard rounding of the windward mark at the Clubhouse end across to a spreader mark, then downwind to a starboard rounding of the outer start mark which had been positioned by a good throw from John B. We sailed two laps and had a downwind finish.
Racing started at 12.00pm but unfortunately Charles was unable to compete due to the depth of water on the pathway likely to affect his wheel chair. The starts were very close with a couple of general recalls, the first race set the pattern for most races with Alan Bennett and John Brierley having very close races with Alan on top but unable to shake of John, both sailing very closely matched Ivy’s.
The other trio sailing Uno’s were also very close most of the time with George just finding the extra speed on the final leg. Due to Alan B and John match racing most of the time, they missed out when Dave and George caught them unaware’s in two races stealing a win each.
Thanks must go to Neil for keeping the racing going with twelve races, even though at times the wind died altogether, and thanks also to Dave for the creating the final results sheet. Unfotunately we have no photos to share of the racing this week and so a stock photo has had to suffice.
- Alan Bennett Ivy 13pts 8wins
- John Brierley Ivy 19pts 2wins
- George Bennett Uno 33pts 1win
- Dave Williams Uno 34pts 1win
- Alan Watkinson Uno 42pts
Good showing by Club at Fleetwood Twixmas IOM Event
Seven club members travelled to Fleetwood for the annual Twixmas Regatta on Sunday 29th January. It was a great days sailing with everyone in B rigs for the whole day with the wind very nearly straight down the lake. The forecast of an increasing wind never materialising during the racing period so no rig changes were needed.
All seven club sailors finished in the top ten (just) with Brad Gibson narrowly winning the event from Rob Walsh of Fleetwood. Chris Harris (Windrush) was third and then Graham Elliott and Martin Roberts took fourth and fifth places. The day proved to be difficult to be consistent for some and after the top 5, the next seven places were separated by only ten points. Fleetwood at its best and a great but challenging days sailing. Always worth travelling to if you can at this time of the year.
Club Facebook Page
The Club has now started a Facebook page to promote the clubs activities to a wider audience. You can now follow via “Birkenhead Radio Sailing Club”.
The pages will not allow all members to post an article. That responsibility will reside in the admins who are Paul Plested, Peter Baldwin and Brad Gibson. You will however be able to share posts, make comments and follow the club.
If you have anything that you think should be posted, please send it through to one of the admins.
Seasons Greetings
The Commodore and the Club Commitee would like to wish all our members and sailing friends a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year.
We thank you for your support and participation over the past year and look forward to seeing existing and new friends at Birkenhead in 2025.
DF95 Winter 2024 #2 – 21/12/24
This last day of sailing in 2024 at the club, proved to be one to blow the cobwebs away. As we arrived, the tail end of a squall gave heavy rain and strong gusts such that a C rig looked to be on the cards, but soon after the wind abated and we started on B rigs after Peter had tweaked the marks a little to align with the Westerly breeze. It was nearly straight down the lake but had some strong gusts from over the houses. Big shifts and the potential for stalling the boat was very likely at any point during the afternoon and so the key task was to keep it moving at all times.
In the first session of six races before the break we had five different winners, in the form of Peter Baldwin, Paul Plested, John Brierley, Martin Roberts and visitor Paul Middleton, with only John racking up two wins. The wind abated at one point such that we really needed A rigs as we bobbed up and down waiting for the next gust. However, this was very short lived and by the start of the next race B rig was the right one to be using once more.
After the break, conditions were very similar for around three races, until the gusts started to increase in strength. The forecasts were suggesting at least double in the gusts and that looked to be the case with plenty of nose-diving and occasional loss of control. That is until the last race when the average picked up a notch during the race and we were into survival mode for the remainder, leading to some lost places for those who couldn’t tack away from the far bank. This session belonged to John as he notched up 4 wins, with Martin and Peter taking the other two. This gave John an easy win on 14 points with Martin second on 21 and Peter third on 25.
Thanks go to Neil for running the afternoon and to Dave for helping him out and scoring the day after some electrical problems during the afternoon led to few race finishes for him. Photos from Dave Williams and Paul Plested.
- John Brierley 84 14pts
- Martin Roberts 184 21pts
- Peter Baldwin 172 25pts
- Paul Middleton 06 34pts
- Paul Plested 154 48pts
- John Carlin 50 55pts
- Alan Watkinson 23 58pts
