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Category: news

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

DF95 Summer Series 2024 #1 – 20/4/24

A nice spring day welcomed the 12 skippers who entered the first DF95 summer season, which considering at least 5 regulars were unable to attend for various reasons. A very warm welcome to our new member Ian Davies who showed a good turn of speed throughout the afternoon.
The wind was a light breeze from the north west which swung randomly to be a northerly or westerly at random intervals, providing opportunity for all to gain or loose places all over the course.  As the far end of the lake was in calmness for most of the afternoon, a windward mark ¾ of the way up was used, taken to port with no spreader, so straight back down the lake to a gate before the finishing line half way up the lake. Our RO for the afternoon was Paul Ps better half Sharon who kept us under control. 14 races were sailed mainly single laps but with a couple of 2 lappers thrown in the mix towards the end of the day.  The racing was as always super competitive with 6 different winners and 8 helms finishing in the top 3 at some stage
The first half saw 4 different winners, first race was our new member Ian Davies, taking the honours, and showing that this was no fluke, followed this up with another in race 4. Alan took races 2 and 7, and Paul P races 3 and 5 with Frans race 6. On the heels of the leaders there were some consistent performances by John C, Neil and Clive. S o it was all to play for after the Coffee break.
The second half  saw 2 new names on the score sheet, Clive came out of the blocks with wins in race 8, 10 and 14,  and Neil in 9 and 11 with Alan adding another 2 to his collection from earlier in the day. Paul P and John C again sailing consistently behind the race leaders.
At the end of the session the results were very close as the complete results below show very clearly.


DF/RG65 Summer Series 2024 #1 – 13/4/24

8 skippers all sailing RG65’s turned up for a 1pm start, we all sailed the first race in swing A rigs but with some really vicious gusts appearing everyone decided to go down a rig for race 2. The direction the wind was coming from was from all points of the compass or as we like to say at Birkenhead, Tescos, clubhouse, factories and houses winds.
We sailed another 4 races until calling a tea break in the hope the wind direction would settle, it didnt.
Another 2 races after tea and we were all sent back to the clubhouse to change down yet again.
The racing was close in most races and resembled a piece of elastic as the leaders fell into holes allowing the chasing pack to catch up.
Graham sailing his Electronica had the lions share of the wins (7) with John sailing his Ivy winning the other 3, Bill who normally challenges for the lead was unfortunately not getting used to his new radio gear and had a bit of a miserable day for his standards, Alan suffered in the final 5 races with rig size but George sailing an Uno really turned it round in the final 5 races with a 6,4,2,2,5 finish, well done George in very trying conditions, George is only 9years old by the way.
  1. Graham Elliott       ELECTRONICA   9POINTS
  2. John Brierley           IVY                         15
  3. Alan Bennet             IVY                         20
  4. Bill Culshaw             IVY                         37
  5. Alan Watkinson      UNO                      38
  6. George Bennet        UNO                       43
  7. Dave Williams         UNO                       50
  8. Charles Legg            UNO                       55

DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2024 – 10/4/24

DF65’s

Spring has (allegedly) sprung, but there wasn’t much evidence of it at Gautby road this morning, where arriving sailors were greeted by a rising S.Easterly breeze, persistent rain and a temperature of around 7deg C. Not a great Spring day.

On the up side there was a bit of breeze, and early launchers returned to say that A+ should actually be A, and even then there were some chunky gusts at the top end of A rig. The resident fishermen started to pack up straight away and were no problem at all.

The usual course was used, other than that one of the gate marks was missing and it was agreed simply to do a port hand leeward mark rounding. Strangely no one seemed keen to go for a paddle and replace the mark.

There were 11 skippers to start – a good turnout given the unpromising conditions – and after a small delay while everyone changed rigs Dave Williams got the racing started.

The first three races had three different winners, and the final beat up from the bottom mark proved tricky to get right. The starting line looked port end biased from the lake edge but proved to be a good compromise. Mike and John then shared the remaining 5 races between them with Mike just running out the winner.

Sally had boat trouble after only two races but very kindly stayed on to RO the rest of the morning. Thank you!

Clive managed three races, but then after sorting out what looked like a rudder servo problem returned to race; unfortunately with the hatch not completely sealed. His boat partially sank, but was fortunately close to the bank and nudged ashore safely, which ended his day. Dave Howard arrived late and only completed one race before having to fix a rigging issue. All in all an eventful mornings racing.

Racing was closer than the results might suggest, with places being swapped right up to the line. Final results as shown below with thanks to Dave and Malcolm for sorting them out, and thanks again to Sally.

  1. Mike de St Paer          7.2pts      4 wins
  2. John Carlin                 10 pts        3 wins
  3. Neil Westbrook         17 pts
  4. Paul Plested               22 pts
  5. Dave Williams          30 pts         1 win
  6. Frans King                 30 pts
  7. Richard Walker        32 pts
  8. Malcolm Harvey     46 pts
  9. Clive Warren             50 pts         3 races
  10. Sally Collings            63 pts         2 races
  11. Dave Howard            64 pts         1 race

DF95’s

Following a morning of wetness with a chilly wind only 4 brave skippers got their boats rigged for the afternoon, the weather forecast and Easter holidays putting a lot of people off. As it turned out, the afternoon weather forecast didn’t materialise and the rain stayed away. The wind eased slightly from the morning making the A rig a perfect choice, the generally South Easterly direction remained similar to the morning, with the normal shifts and holes associated with Gautby Rd to keep the helms on their toes, it was very easy to pick a bad shift and end up head to wind, loosing meters.
Paul martialled the start line and the first home recorded the scores.
8 races were sailed, a mixture of one and two lap, Paul started as he meant to go on taking the first 2 races, before Clive stepped up to take the 3rd. Meanwhile after taking a second in the first race Dave managed to tune his boat to a standstill and took time out to make some rigging adjustments in the clubhouse. Race 4 and Paul was on top again before Mike got in on the act taking race 5. Once again Paul took line honours in races 6 and seven before Mike won the final race. All races were very close between the boats with the lead changing hands regularly in most races but it was Pauls day who had his boat set up just right and mastered the conditions with 5 wins.
1,   Paul Plessed      –    5 wins
2.   Mike de St Paer  –  2 wins
3.   Clive Warren       –   1 win
4.   Dave Howard