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Category: news

DF65 Social Racing 2024 – 29/5/24

As this was a Wednesday in Bank Holiday and half-term week, entries were limited to only 7 sailors who enjoyed a good A suit breeze straight down the lake with occasional gusts later that were overpowering everyone both upwind and down. Early in the session though, we were wondering if A+ would have been a better choice as the breeze was a little light at times for a couple of races, with boats struggling to power through the chop that was being setup.

Racing got underway after Peter had moved a few marks around to give a decent windward/leeward course, although the start line was mostly port biased as the wind swung more to W after being WNW during setup.

Peter took today seemingly easily with eight wins from the ten races sailed, although that doesn’t really tell the whole tale as is often the case at Gautby Road.  Windward mark roundings were often very tight with four boats in close contention going down onto the run.  If you managed to get in a gust which others missed out on, then you could easily lose several places.  For example Andrew led race one only to miss out on the downwind breeze and nearly ended up third.  Paul was leading race 2, but then didn’t cover Peter on the way into the finish and got on the wrong side of a shift which dropped him into second place.  Paul was however nearly always up there in the lead group and his persistence finally paid off in Race 6 when he achieved a race win.  It was close between him and John C, who was  consistent but never managed that elusive win.  Charles had a storming first beat in race 9 to lead around the top mark and held onto this to the finish for the win, although he was chased hard by Richard all the way.

A great mornings racing which we self policed and recorded finishes apart from the final two races when Neil steps in to watch the line and record the finish – thanks Neil.

  1. Peter Baldwin             63  8pts  8 wins
  2. Paul Plested                 54 21pts  1 win
  3. John Carlin                   11  24pts
  4. Andrew Potter         194  25pts
  5. Charles Legg               21  34pts  1 win
  6. Sally Collings          829  40pts
  7. Richard Walker         39  44pts

Potential change of event in the Calendar

I am looking at changing the sailing for next Saturday 25th May to be DF/RG65 Summer #3 and swapping the VMYG & Social sailing day to the 1st June.  Please do not book the VMYG/Social Sailing event at this stage.  The swap of event will take place by Tuesday 21st.  The change is being considered as there is an RG65 TT at Keighley on the 1st June which will reduce the turnout for club racing.

Peter Baldwin – Sailing Sec

DF65 & DF95 Social racing 2024 – 1/5/24

DF65’s

The first of May, Hurrah. Sun, blue sky, a breeze blowing straight down the lake – the DF65 fleet arriving at Gautby Road could have been forgiven for thinking that they had all magically emigrated to somewhere a long way south of Birkenhead.  As always with sailing however the devil was in the detail, and although the SE breeze seemed reasonably steady and held in all morning, there were big shifts and lulls.

Racing was very close, with some very crowded mark roundings at both the windward and gate ends of the course, and various skippers had to take turns during the morning.  Don and Richard both experienced boat problems during the morning and did well to keep going, with Don attempting to drain the lake using his boat – amazingly with no major damage – and Richard having to replace a rudder servo.

The start line proved a good compromise, with shifts meaning that both ends were favoured during the morning, and the beat also proved true, with roughly even times on both tacks, but with big variations which were difficult to spot ahead of time.

James, John and Mike were evenly matched for the first 5 races, but then James aced the next 5 with three wins and a second to run out the winner one point ahead of Mike with John third.

Another excellent days 65 racing, with thanks as always to Dave for doing the results which are shown below:

  1. James Douglas         10 pts  5 wins
  2. Mike de St Paer        11 pts  3 wins
  3. John Carlin                15 pts  2 wins
  4. Neil Westbrook       20 pts
  5. Alan Watkinson      28 pts
  6. Frans King                37 pts
  7. Dave Williams         42 pts
  8. Don MacKinnon     45 pts
  9. John Beech                47 pts
  10. Richard Walker       54 pts

DF95’s

Only six skippers made it for the afternoon session with the other contenders away on holiday or preparing for a race evening in big boats. The wind and sun were the same as the morning so the same course was ideal. The self regulated start worked well with no obvious clock beaters.

Neil had a brilliant session winning all six races but was pushed by Alan in the first two races. Unfortunately Alan then had to depart and it was now Richard Walker who then took over the challenge, taking three seconds with Frans taking the other. After six races it was decided to call it a day.

  1. Neil Westbrook    5pts 6wins
  2. Richard Walker   13 pts
  3. Frans King             18 pts
  4. Martin W-J.           19 pts
  5. John Beech            21 pts
  6. Alan Watkinson  25 pts

IOM Summer Series 2024 #1 – 27/4/24

The first IOM Summer Series had a great turnout which included a few vistors getting some pre-Nationals practice in.  A light ENE breeze with some good shifts (and holes) leading to numerous place changes in many of the races.

Neil donned the waders and set a course with a bit of help from Peter on-shore, involved moving most of the marks around, although working out well for most of the day.  This always provided some challenges as to where to start and which side of the course was favoured up the beat.

Darin started the day with a win in Race 1, before Graham showed great form by takng the next three races, with Brad, Alan Bennett, John Berry and Andrea all picking up top three places in these races.  As some of these races were rather long due to very light breezes at times we then had a break, before continuing to complete another 6 races.

After the break and a few boat tweaks, Brad had a good second session, with 3 wins in the six races (plus a couple of seconds).  The other three race wins went to Darin, Alan and Graham, with the podium places split between, Alan, Andrea, Brad, Graham, Peter and Simon.  Finishing positions were however very close throughout the fleet with Alan Watkinson, Simon and Graham Birkett always in with a chance of gaining a good result. Sometimes, it came down to the final positions being determined by who managed to get the best breeze on the final leg into the finish.  Occasionally the finish line tested the line judge with 4 or 5 boats all crossing within a few seconds.

A close tussle then between the top three boats for overall honours, with Brad coming out on top after the 10 races completed.  Thanks to our joint RO’s for the afternoon Dave Williams and Neil Westbrook who ran a tight ship all afternoon.  We also have Dave to thank for the photogtaphs below.

  1. Brad Gibson            42   Post Punk  13pts
  2. Graham Elliott       09  Britpop!      17pts
  3. Alan Bennett         180  Britpop!      24pts
  4. Darin Ballington    98  Britpop!     37pts (2 wins)
  5. Andrea Roberts       37  Britpop!     37pts
  6. Peter Baldwin          63  Britpop!     40pts
  7. Simon Fairman      471  Alioth        48pts
  8. Graham Birkett      133  Widget      55pts
  9. Bill Culshaw              21  Britpop!    61pts
  10. John Berry                 12  Viper          74pts (1x3rd)
  11. Alan Watkinson      23  Britpop!   74pts
  12. Ian Davies                  33  Britpop!   96pts
  13. Charles Legg             40  K2             105pts