A very cold morning and strong winds with plenty of gusts thrown in greeted the seven sailors. B rig was chosen but a few wished for C rig before the end of racing.
The usual course was sailed with the start line at the top end of the lake. Most of the eight starts were clean with the exception of John who managed three call backs!!
Racing for the line honours was always between John and James with James eventually wearing John down to take the final race. Six points separated the rest of the fleet with places won or lost on the downwind leg depending if you were lucky enough to dodge the gusts. Unfortunately we lost Andrew after four races due to electrical problems. Thanks to Dave for acting as RO.
- John Carlin 6pts 7 wins
- James Douglas 11pts 1 win
- Clive Warren 23pts
- Richard Walker 25pts
- Malcolm Harvey 28pts
- Frans King 29pts
- Andrew Potter 32pts
A bright and warm Spring day with a shifty breeze from the Clubhouse greeted the large turnout of 9 boats for this first in the Summer Series for the RG65. Bill Culshaw put his new Ivy hull on the water for the first time adding to the regular RG65 fleet at Birkenhead and even with Martin away, Chris Elliott joined us to help boost the turnout.
With National Champion Graham Elliott sailing the electronica, it was always going to be hard to gain a race win and so it proved. In the first session, Graham took six out of seven wins, with only Peter Baldwin snatching one win after a fortunate leeward gate split. John Brierley was usually in the podium group, but didn’t get any luck to pick up a win with Bill also getting some good results for a first time on the water.
After a break, the wind was also having a rest and switched to being more over the houses at times along with some long term holes. Chris had a great second session with three wins, although the Ivy in the hands of Brad was well up there for a potential (non-counting) win in 4 of the races. John continued his consistent form, still no wins and Peter fell out of contention after his rudder servo failed soon after the start of race 9. There was also close racing through the rest of the fleet with Alan and Neil tied for 5th and 6th place, split only on the basis of Neil’s two third places. The final result was no surprise with Graham in first, followed by the consistent John in second and Chris taking third spot.
A great day on the water thanks to the combined efforts of Bernie, Bill and Brad for running the racing, Bill and Brad for the photos and Bernie for manning the galley at “half-time”.
