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Vintage/Open Sailing Day – 26/8/23

A very enjoyable and successful Open Day, with an amazing variety of boats, many of which we managed to sail, some with radio control and others free sailing.

Apart from a single shower, the weather and wind was very fair, a westerly force 2 increasing to a steady 3-4 by late afternoon, giving great conditions for the free sailing boats.  Peter Schofield’s beautiful ‘twin’ 10 tonner Cutters looking and sailing magnificently.  Bill and David’s veteran R10 Raters and Andrew’s RA also made for an impressive sight on the water, and Peter’s A Class had more than one outing on the lake, and then a session in the measuring tank.

With such a variety of boats to view, rig, sail, discuss and measure, it made for a very hectic and extremely enjoyable days sailing.

A big thank you to Peter Schofield from the VMYG Vintage Group who travelled in convoy from Sawley with his extended family of 7, all of whom were required on duty to attend to his free sailing yachts. Graham Reeves grandchildren also added to the fun with two DF65’s on the water.

It was wonderful to see our lake being used for such a wide variety of sailing craft, especially the Free Sailing yachts, for which the lake was originally built.  Everyone who attended expressed their delight in such an enjoyable day, and some wanted to see more Open Days for ‘mixed fleet’ and maybe even ‘ handicap’ racing events. Let us not forget that BRSC lake and clubhouse do offer a great venue for freshwater Model Yacht Sailing
which few other venues can better.

The following boats were sailed during the day:

A Class – Peter Schofield – Free / Radio
A Class – Andrew Peter – Radio

10 Rater – Peter Schofield – Free sailing
10 Rater – Bill Culshaw – RC
10 Rater – Dave Williams – RC
10 Rater – Andrew Peter – display, for restoration

10 T Cutter – Peter Schofield – Free Sailing
10 T Cutter – Peter Schofield – Free Sailing

42” Sloop – One design – RC – Dave Williams
IOM Triple Crown – RC – Andrew Peter

24” Triang Tinplate Cutter – Free sailing – Peter Schofield & family
24” Keil Craft Clockwork Vintage Speedboat – Peter Schofield & fa mily – display only.

2x DF65 – RC – sailed by Graham Reeves & family

Peter Schofield took a number of photos during the day (some of them used above) and the full set are available on this following Flikr Album

DF65 Social Racing 2023 – 30/8/23

This week there was a good A suit breeze down the lake for the 10 sailors that started the first race.  Unfortunately Andrew Potter had to drop out of the first race with winch failure and with other problems abandoned his sailing for the morning.  The remaining 9 sailed 9 races in a breeze that went from hardly moving the boats through to full bow down nose dives on the run with some big shifts that could catch the unwary out.  Peter moved the marks around to give a good windward leeward course whilst Dave found him a spare rig – thanks Dave!.  In his rush to leave home he only had the A+ rig attached to his boat.  Racing got underway soon after 11:00.  Peter and Mike slugged it out for the top spot with 3 firsts each and good performances from Sally, Richard and Alan all taking a first place.  Mike took first place partly due to Peter’s rudder servo going at the end of race 8 and then missing race 9.  Peter held onto second with Sally a creditable third only a few weeks into sailing again after a long lay-off.

  1. Mike de St  Paer                            9pts 3 firsts
  2. Peter Baldwin                               10pts 3 firsts
  3. Sally Collings                                16pts 1 first
  4. Richard Walker                            19pts 1 first
  5. Dave Williams                              22pts
  6. Alan Watkinson                           23pts 1 first
  7. John Beech                                     27pts
  8. Martin Whittington Jones      39pts
  9. Dave Howard                                48pts

9 races held, Andrew Potter dropped out of first race due to winch failure.

RG65 Summer 2023 #7 – 19/8/23

Unfortunately it was more of the same as the last RG65 Saturday racing with the wind predominantly from the SW,  so over the houses, round the houses etc etc.  A strong gusty 2 to 15 knots tested the sailors in choosing the right rig and most opted for a low aspect A conventional, unless you only had swing rigs that is.

Peter setup a course starting from the far side in more breeze and with an easier sighting of the start line to a mark and spreader just past halfway across and back to a gate.  It was mostly a beat or fetch to the first mark, although may start as a broad reach and end up as a beat with no real indication on which tack you would finally take into the mark.

Martin and John shared the wins in the first session of 6 races, until Johns’ winch broke loose from its mount and he had to retire for the day.  This left Martin to take the remaining wins, with Alan, Bill and Peter chasing hard and occasionally in front, but never quite keeping the win from Martin.

So Martin won the day comfortably on only 7 points from the 10 races, with Bill second on countback from Peter in third.  The countback went all the way to their result in the last race, so a very close day for this pair, with Alan almost causing a 3 way tie just one point behind them.

  1. Martin Roberts            133  Pocket Rocket   7pts
  2. Bill Culshaw                    21  Ivy                         25pts
  3. Peter Baldwin                63  Uno                       25pts
  4. Alan Watkinson            23  Uno                        26pts
  5. John Brierley                 84  Uno                        32pts
  6. Dave Williams               33  Uno                        47pts
  7. Charles Legg                 26  Uno                         61pts

DF65 Social Racing 2023 – 16/8/23

A light wind from the top end of the lake greeted seven sailors when they arrived on Wednesday for the DF-65 Racing and it was agreed that an A+ sail was the choice for the morning.

However once racing began it became apparent that the breeze was alternating from light to nothing on a fairly frequent schedule and after 3 difficult races the skippers decided to abandon racing for the day.  Some however did remain to assist Andrew with lake clearing work.

DF95 Summer 2023 #3 – 12/8/23

A fine sunny day at Gautby Road, nine DF 95 sailors keen to race but a horrendous wind kept them guessing as to the best way to tackle the usual two lap course starting from the Clubhouse end. The wind varied from overpowering to moments of nothing. It was imperative to anticipate the wind, to gain the start advantage. John Brierley always pushing did fall foul of the start line judge but generally no recalls. Up to tea break it was John or Alan taking the wins between them although after the break it was John who dominated. Andrew was unable to come to grips with his 95 so after the mainsail collapsed he retired to the Clubhouse to sort it, then returned to put in four good races. Clive had consistent races to gain third place.

A good afternoon sailing with twelve races and very close scoring.  Photos courtesy of Dave Williams.

  1. John Brierley          11pts 7wins
  2. Alan Watkinson   15pts 5wins
  3. Clive Warren         32pts
  4. John Carlin             41pts
  5. Andrew Peter        42pts 2X 2nds
  6. Dave Williams      42pts
  7. Neil Westbrook    43pts
  8. Frans King             56pts 2 x 3rds
  9. John Beech           56pts

DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2023 – 9/8/23

There was a reduced number of sailors today for racing, starting with 9, one had to drop out as he was not feeling well and that left a select group of 8, who sailed a single lap windward leeward for 6 races and then two final races with two laps.

It was an A+ day of 2 to 5 or 6 knots from the West and generally better than the forecast looked.  Racing was in many cases close throughout the fleet with a missed shift or lack of pressure in your area of the lake leading to a few places quickly lost.

Clive started well, winning the first two races, before managed a win in race 3.  Peter then took wins in the next four, before Clive rounded off with a win in Race 8.  There were some good performances elsewhere in the fleet with seconds for John and Richard, leading to only 1 point between 4th and 6th.  Overall, Peter had the edge with Clive coming in second and Neil in third.

  1. Peter Baldwin           63  6pts
  2. Clive Warren             53  8pts
  3. Neil Westbrook        03  9pts
  4. Richard Walker        39 21pts  (1x2nd)
  5. Dave Williams          33  21pts
  6. John Beech                80  22pts
  7. Sally Colling           829  24pts
  8. Frans King                 85  27pts

Five Sailors stayed on for an afternoon of DF95 social sailing, slightly down on our normal numbers due mainly to holidays. The sailors continued to enjoy the bright sunshine and were ready to do battle with the light and shifty wind which continued from the morning racing. A rigs were the order of the day. The same course as the morning was used with a windward buoy taken to port, spreader buoy to port then downwind (most of the time) to the leeward gate. 2 laps per race.

6 Races were completed and generally were closely fought contests with the sailor picking the right wind shift to tack on or being in the right place at the right time benefitting most. Three different race winners indicates just how close the racing was. Neil mastered the conditions best of all and ended up with 3 wins, Clive with 2 and John C with 1 (despite main sheet trouble). Frans and John B enjoyed some good racing but despite showing glimpses of good boat speed didn’t quite have the consistency to trouble the front runners.

  1.   03  Neil Westbrook     7
  2.   93  Clive Warren        10
  3.   50  John Carlin            11
  4.   59  Frans King             20
  5. 288  John Beech           25