DF65’s
Paul Plested set the pace in the first race, followed over the line by Mike De St Paer, with Clive 3rd. Guy Cowper, who is only just getting to grips with his recently acquired 65, finished 4th, which proved to be his joint lowest result of the day.
As the breeze came and went there was plenty of opportunity for places to change and, whilst it could pay on occasion to hit a corner on the beat, it was safer to try and keep the boat moving up the middle. Despite doing this Paul in race two lost out to Guy, who seemed to have boat speed to spare, on the final beat. Clive posted another 3rd place, just pipping Charles Legg on the line.
By race three there was enough breeze to use the full length of the lake and the usual windward mark with a spreader was introduced. Clive got away cleanly and lead to the finish, followed by Paul and then Mike.
Races four and five had the same podium positions with Paul bagging two 1sts, Guy two 2nds and Clive two thirds. Dave Williams took one of the 4ths and Charles took the other, both sailing well on the day just behind the front runners in several races. Mike opted to call it a day at this point as he wasn’t enjoying the conditions…but then who was.
Clive took race six closely followed by Paul at the line, with Guy in third. Richard Walker, who had a better second half in the morning’s racing, after some serious boat tweaks took 4th spot. Guy, who had been consistently quick all day bagged his second win in race seven with Charles just pipping Paul on the line to take 2nd.
DF95’s
The afternoon brought a little more wind than the morning session for the 65s, still generally from the clubhouse end of the lake but there were directional swings along the length of the lake and picking these would prove critical to getting a good finishing result.
Eight skippers including a guest, Mathew Pritchard from Great Orme MYC, took to the water for a prompt start on time. The same standard course as the morning was set.
There were a number of personal battles within the fleet but you couldn’t concentrate too much on these as the racing was super tight and this was demonstrated by 6 of the 8 sailors taking a podium position in at least one race. Paul was by far the pick of the bunch posting 7 bullets and 2 second places but the truth is not reflected in the results as he was pushed all the way to the line in almost every race with a couple of boat lengths making the difference. Clive took the other 2 race wins and backed this up with consistent results in the top 4 places. Andy was consistent, posting 3 seconds and 3 thirds but slipped back in a couple of races but is showing great boat speed. The crunch battle of the afternoon was between Guy and his friend Mathew and the pressure seemed to get to Guy. Mathew just managed to hold the bragging rights by 2 points in the end, with Stuart close behind. Malcolm and Steve also had a private battle with Steve prevailing, thanks to a third place in the last race. After 9 races, it was time to call a halt, and retire to the clubhouse to warm up.
A very enjoyable afternoon of DF95 sailing, with some good banter on the sidelines and some tricky sailing conditions picking the right shifts and being in the right area of the lake to pick the wind shifts. Congrats to Paul showing a master class in being at the right place at the right time (for most of the time)
Thanks also to Malcolm for the A fleet results and Clive for the photos.
The next round of the DF95 Winter Series takes place this Saturday the 17th January. Visitors always welcome – make an entry via the Upcoming Events list.
Alan Bennett decided this was going to be his day and aced the ten races. He didn’t have it his own way up to the windward mark but then downwind he just vanished. The UNO sailors were then left with trying to get the better of Gary sailing the other Ivy but ultimately felt short.
It turned out to be an interesting day for rig choice as well – just about on the cusp of B and C. Two boats elected to sail with B – Dave and Malcolm (who didn’t have C rigs available) – with the others on C. The C boats were OK upwind in the gusts but underpowered in the lulls and offwind, while the B rig boats went well upwind in the lulls but were overpowered and tricky to tack in the gusts, and were a handful downwind in the gusts. There was quite a steep chop which also affected the B rig boats coming off the bottom mark. It’s frustrating until one remembers it’s like sailing a Dragon or an Etchells in a 6ft swell!
Clive simply aced the day by winning 6 of the 8 races, and although challenged at some moments sailed consistently well to make it look easy. Alan and Mike swapped positions all morning with Alan making second by one point and with each winning one race.
Dave persevered with the B rig as his C rig was damaged but found it hard going in the gusts, Malcolm also decided half way through the morning that he would take a break from B rig struggles, and kindly RO’d the rest of the morning. Charles started well with plenty of boat speed but then had a winch which developed a mind of its own which made things difficult in the conditions so had to stop sailing.
Fortunately the snow and ice had thawed allowing 4 men and their boats to take to the water for a great afternoon of DF95 racing, tweaking and tuning although a tad cold especially with the wind chill factor. With a fantastic north westerly breeze blowing almost straight down the lake from the far end with no holes and only little shifts, and perfect for a top end B rig.
Before we put the boats on the water Clive gave Andy and Stuart’s boats a few tweaks as it was the first time their B rigs had seen daylight.
A similar course to the morning was set and due to numbers used self monitoring starts and the finishes were recorded by the first across the line. The racing was more competitive than the results show with 3 skippers winning at least 1 race, Clive taking most honours and both Malcolm and Andy showing great boat speed after a few tweaks and challenged for line honours on more than 1 occasion but were lacking some consistency.
The DF95 fleet were greeted by a gusty NNW wind and very chilly temperatures which didn’t seem too inviting.
After a short discussion a it was decided a B rig would be best and these proved to be the case. Malcolm offered to be race officer and after a short delay got the racing off quickly managing to run 7 races in just over an hour.
With just a small fleet the racing and finishing was still very close with positions being lost and gained right up until the finish with spectacular starting techniques due to the wind coming from all directions.
Andy Merns got off to a flying start taking a first in the first race.
The final result gave John C the win, with Andy second, then Steve and Stuart competing for 3rd and 4th
The forecast for the last day of sailing in 2025 at Birkenhead, promised top end A rig rising to B rig as the day progressed for the 12 skippers who turned up to play. As it turned out, it was A Rig all day with only a spell in the morning when a few gusts were a challenge for some.
As is the norm Martin Roberts was cutting it tight arriving at the Club with five minutes to go before the first race. Fortunately, his borrowed boat was already rigged and tuned by John Brierley and he did just make the start, which got away promptly at 11:00 am under the watchful eyes of Neil Westbrook and Sharon Plested, who had kindly volunteered to run the racing for the day.
In the first four races Peter showed his intent by scoring two firsts, but was also down in the pack in the other two races. Martin worked his way up to 2nd in the first race and also got two other podium places in this session. Paul also bagged three podium spots including a 1st in the third race. Alas, this was his best spell of the day, which would eventually end with racing cut short due to intermittent transmitter problems becoming terminal by mid afternoon. Bill Culshaw, in only his second sail with his DF95, showed his experience with a 1st in the 2nd race and a 3rd in the fourth race of the day.
After a slow start to the day by his standards, Olly Murray who had travelled down from Fleetwood, started to find his form and in the two races before the tea break he added a 1st and a 2nd to his scorecard. Peter banked another 1st and a 3rd with Martin and John Brierley picking up podium places. Bill continued to be a threat at the front of the fleet with two 4ths and a number of great starts.
After a short break for a cuppa (thanks to Chris Westbrook) and mince pies, the afternoon session of six races got underway, in what proved to be lighter and perhaps tricker conditions, particularly in the top third of the beat. As most found out at some point, wind bends to both port and startboard could leave helms having to take an unfavourable shift to get to the windward mark, which almost always proved costly. The only helm who really cracked it was Peter who dominated with both top results and consistency scoring three 2nd and two 1st, winning race five by a country mile. The only blot on his scorecard was in the last race of the day when a coming together and a terminal entanglement with a running boat led to a retirement. Olly continued to add podium positions including a 1st and a 2nd, as did Martin who also added a 1st and a string of 3rds to his tally. John Brierley, whilst lacking a little consistency over the day, did have a better afternoon and capped his day off with a big lead win in the final race. Bill also added a 2nd to his tally.
Whilst there were a few helms hogging the top spots, further down the fleet there were battles being fought and some notable performances in individual races. Guy Cowper scored a 4th in race one and might have had a better overall tally but for a few misjudged mark roundings and being OCS in the penultimate race. Dave Williams, had several good races with two 5th places on the day. Good also to see Steve Miller’s progression since the start of the year, with an 8th in one race and a 6th in the last and usually staying in touch with the fleet.
As the overall result table shows it was Peter’s day with a nine point lead over Martin, who nudged Olly down to third by a single point, With John 4th and Bill a very creditable 5th on his first club outing with the ’95. Thanks to Sharon and Neil for acting as RO and scorer’s and Chris in the galley. Post racing we had a Xmas themed buffet lunch (thanks Paul & Sharon) and a good natter before heading home.
