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Recent Club Successes at RG65 Nationals and Full report for Saturday

RG65 Nationals

I am pleased to report that Graham Elliott gained another MYA RG65 Nationals title last weekend sailing a Brad Gibson designed Electronica. The event had strong competition including a number of French entries, although unfortunately winds were light all weekend coming from the cafe (one of the more difficult directions for Eastbourne).  Bill Culshaw was our other club entry who finished 8th in a field of 20 boats.  Full final results are available via the RG65 website here

Updated post for Saturdays IOM Racing

The post for Saturdays IOM racing has now been updated to include a report.  Click here to view it again, although it should be visible below this post!

IOM Summer 2024 #7 – 21/9/24

Round 7 of the IOM Summer series presented thirteen skippers with a tough race track in light variable mainly Easterly winds.

Visiting us for the day were Shaun Priestley (Fleetwood) and Rob Wilson (Lincoln) looking to fine tune their setups for the upcoming World Championships in Australia, as well as Darin Ballington (Lincoln) and Simon Pope (Market Bosworth).

PRO Dave Williams ably asisted by Clive Warren got racing underway at 1pm with Brad setting the tone with 3 straight wins in the fickle winds. Alan Bennett, John Brierley, Rob Wilson and Martin Roberts were finding form with consistent top placings with John taking races 4 and 5 before a break for tea was called in the fading conditions.

After the break Alan and Martin continued good form with a string of top 3 placings including a win for each in races 8 and 9 respectively. Shaun steadily built through the day, as did Simon with strong placings, while both Darin and Andrea Roberts had rare days where good starts faded to scores that deserved better.

In all it was a challenging days sailing that favoured those that minimised their worst scores and held on to better ones.

After 11 races and 2 discards, Brad took the win from Martin who enjoyed a welcome return to form and John Brierley rounded the podium.

Again a big thank you to Dave and Clive for keeping the day rolling on our behalf.

Our next IOM club race is on the 12th of October and the Strebor Open on the 2nd of November. All are invited to enter on the website and join us for some of the countries toughest racing.

  1. Brad Gibson                42         Birkenhead              Post PUNK   11pts
  2. Martin Roberts          46         Birkenhead              Viper             31pts
  3. John Brierley              84         Birkenhead               Venti            33pts
  4. Alan Bennett             180         Etherow/Bhead      Britpop!      34pts
  5. Robert Wilson            97         Lincoln                       Britpop!      40pts
  6. Rob McIntosh             12         Birkenhead                K2                 53pts
  7. Shaun Priestley          87         Fleetwood                 Britpop!      59pts
  8. Peter Baldwin             63         Birkenhead               Britpop!      61pts
  9. Simon Pope                  19         Market Bosworth   Britpop!      65pts
  10. Andrea Roberts        127         Birkenhead               Britpop!       66pts
  11. Darin Ballington       98         Lincoln                       BritPOP!      68pts
  12. John Berry                    12         Etherow/Bhead       Viper            95pts
  13. George Bennett          17         Etherow/Bhead       TS2              103pts

Thanks go to Clive Warren for the photos.  There are a few more in the Event Flikr  Album here

 

 

Social Sailing & VMYG #3 – 24/8/24

Open Sailing Day – a Cornucopia of Boats !

You never know what to expect, which is the Joy of Open Days at BRSC.

Mike de St. Paer certainly won the prize for Largest Yacht, with his enormous and glorious vintage 20 Rater, closely followed by Charles with his Cantebury J Class, both boats rather over canvassed for the brisk Westerly breeze.

Graham Reeves produced a very interesting Marblehead Vane boat, converted to optional RC, with an unusual and perplexing ‘ Sliding Rig’ , which caused much conversation and Alan brought along his splendid wooden Corbie 5 IOM , recently completed from a Hull built by the late Colin Deakin.

Guest Sailor Nick Wooton and Partner sailed a couple of Star Yachts
and a small Seifert Pond Yacht, and Andrew and Alan brought along a selection of Star Yachts to add to the conversations and the fleet on the water.

There was as much time spent in the Clubhouse as on the water, chatting,
rigging boats, fixing Rigs, and discovering fascinating historical details
of the various boats.

We rounded the day off with some Radio Sailing, with DF65 and DF95’s
on the lake, with Graham Reeves grandchildren enjoying the breeze.

As a Finale, our ex Club Captain Robbie Mack turned up with his wife,
to catch -up on club matters and assure us of his vigilance with regard
to lake safety.

Thanks to all for making the day so enjoyable.

We have to also mention the amazing BSYAS – British Star Yacht Appreciation Society , hosted by Graham Hunt, see link BSYAS (birkenheadstaryachts.co.uk)
Star Yachts historically used our lake as a test bed for all their model yachts.

Finally, the Vintage Model Yacht Group, see link , (vmyg.org.uk) do an amazing job of collecting and restoring important and historic model yachts from the earliest days of our sport.

DF95 Summer 2024 #5 – 10/8/24

The forecasts were correct this week to give us a breeze that was close to being straight down the lake with a start at the clubhouse end and with 6 to 10 knots.  Not so good was the light drizzle that we started with, although that soon passed and we had sunshine from around 14:00 for the remainder of the afternoon.  RO duties were shared through the fleet and so 11 races were sailed with everyone dropping out to run a race (and scoring 0 for the race).

The racing was great and very close especially at the windward mark.  This could occasionally cause a few problems, with last minute tacks for the mark, but generally few problems were caused.

Peter had the best of the afternoon with six wins from the eleven races, with Martin picking up four and Alan the remaining one.  Paul Plested had a great afternoon, with a string of second places at the start of the afternoon and may have placed higher were it not for getting hooked up on the windward mark in one race.  John Carlin was often in the mix at the first windward mark and also picked up a good number of seconds and thirds after a difficult start.  John Beech had a great start to the afternoon and led the fleet around the first mark, but unfortunately was unable to capitalise on his position.

So  the win went to Peter, with Martin second and John Brierley third, consistently up there with many races in the top three, but no win.  Martin may have been placed higher except his transmitter battery ran out during the last race giving him a second DNF.  The points were very close in the lower order with 4 places separeted by just a point.

  1. Peter Baldwin      172  14pts
  2. Martin Roberts    184  17pts
  3. John Brieley            84  22pts
  4. Paul Plested           154  25pts
  5. Alan  Watkinson    23  29pts
  6. John Carlin               05  30pts
  7. Frans King               59  50pts
  8. John Beech             288  52pts
  9. Andrew Peter         179  53pts
  10. Dave Williams         33  60pts
  11. Malcom Harvey  2019  68pts

DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2024 – 31/7/24

Today saw 8 skippers turn up to the lake on a beautiful day for sailing and even though the wind was light it was there.

Neil and Malcolm shared the RO and scoring duties for the day.

The racing was close with John Carlin and Mike De St Paer having wins in races 2 and 6 after being last across the start line.

Throughout the morning wins were shared between Mike and John with the exception of race 5 when Clive held Mike at bay on a starboard tack to the finish line which was a tactic John used to beat Mike in race 7.

Throughout the morning the remaining skippers had some close racing but could not match John and Mike’s ability to read the slightly fickle Gautby Road breeze and make the most of a good start or first leg or two.

Although the racing and conditions looked OK from the bench the skippers were happy to call it a day after 8 races.  So Mike ended up the winner (and with 4 wins) just one point ahead of John Carlin (on 3 wins), with Clive third sevn points adrift. There were then insufficient sailors for any DF95 racing after lunch today.

DF95 Summer 2024 #4 – 13/7/24

We arrived to a  westerly light breeze, which comes generally from the top left hand end of the lake and the houses and provides the typical Gautby road conditions. Enough shifts to tax the patience and skills of the 6 helms on the starting line, numbers were lower than usual due to a date clash with IOM event, holidays and illness.
The threatening rain stayed away for the majority of the first session and very timely, persisted down when lunch was taken, good planning by the RO for the day Neil Westbrook. Neil kept us on our toes with a number of early starters getting called back.
The course was set, with the start line at the club end, a beat up to the top right hand corner (to port), to a spreader mark (to port) Down the full length of the lake to a gate and a beat back up the lake to the finish halfway up.
Racing was extremely competitive from the start with the whole fleet scoring either a first  or second during the 12 race series, and in most races the lead changed hands on more than one occasion, thanks to the shifts.
Seven, 1 lap races were sailed in the morning session and with the wind dying and rain threatening a break for coffee was called by Neil, which was a great shout as 2 mins later the heavens opened for about 20min. At the half way stage Alan was leading the way with 4 wins, chased by a group containing Clive (2 wins) and Andrew (1 win). After race 6 Andrew had a play with Martins setup which saw Martin leap up the running order and fighting it out at the front. Meanwhile John and Dave were also having moments of inspiration but without consistency
After the lunch break the rain subsided and the wind improved a little but there were still a lot of shifts to trap even the best helms. The racing was even tighter than the morning especially for Martin with his new setup and resulting speed. But there was no stopping Aln who followed up his morning success with 4 straight wins, only stopped by Clive who took the last race honours, racing was very tight throughout the fleet with many duals being fought all the way to the line, Andrew sailed very consistently with a string of 2nds and 3rds.  Photos courtesy of Dave Wlliams.
The final standings after 12 races, 2 discards
1.   Alan Watkinson                       23     12pts        8 wins
2.   Clive Warren                            93     26pts        3 wins
3.   Andrew Peter                         179     28pts        1 win
4.   David Williams                       33      36pts
5.   John Beech                             288     40pts
6.   Martin Withington Jones   77     43pts  (only 9 races sailed)