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DF65 Social Racing 2025 – 14/5/25

A real Gautby road day today for the ten 65’s. Lovely sunshine, and a bit of breeze blowing gently from wherever you thought it wouldn’t be, but sort of from the top corner opposite the clubhouse. The usual course format was used starting from the far end with a line which, as so often, looked pin end biased but starters on a number of races from that end either found a flat spot or got headed as they came back out on port– but not all the time.

Peter proved master of the conditions despite being becalmed on at least one occasion, albeit in the right place, and ran out a clear winner with five firsts over ten races. Alan sailed consistently well counting three wins to finish second, three points clear of Paul with one win.

These front three were comfortably clear of the pack, although there was close racing further down the order as well. The course was slightly shortened after race seven to squeeze in the last three races in time but this didn’t seem to affect the front three as shown in the full results below.

Thanks to Dave for getting us away on time (and the photos showing conditions early on), and PaulP for doing the results as shown below.

 

IOM Summer 2025 #3 – 10/5/25

Another great day for IOM racing at Gautby Road with a light to moderate A rig breeze from the clubhouse end that was for most of the afternoon straight down the lake combined with warm sunshine.  We had 14 boats out  consisting of 12 home boats and two visitors, but this made for a very strong fleet made up of several past National and World/European champions.

The first session of seven races belonged to Brad, who took four of those races with the other winners being Rob Walsh and Robbie Mac. These three also figured highly in the other podium positions, with Peter Baldwin gaining a second and Martin Roberts and Paul Plested also picking up a third place.  Special mention must go to our youngest sailor (by a long way today) George Bennett, who held onto a well deserved fourth place in race 6 and then going one better for a third in race 7.

After the break, there were a number of new race winners, with Peter picking up two and one each for Paul, Graham Elliott, Alan Bennett and Martin Roberts.  The podium positions were also spread around a little more as well, with the race winners also joined by Brad, Rob W and Bill Culshaw with George also picked up a fifth in this session to add to his earler third and fourth.

At the end with 13 races sailed at a good pace, Brad took the afternoon with Rob Walsh second and Peter Baldwin third after a better second session.  In this fleet (and wind) it was hard to be consistent.  Getting off the start in clear wind was usually the key, but having a bit of luck with the shifts also came into it.

Many thanks to our RO’s for the afternoon, Dave Williams and Neil Westbrook.  A number of OCS calls (one number figuring several times!) and sevaral general recalls with everyone trying to get the extra edge at the start.  Photos courtesy Dave Williams.

Our next IOM racing is on Saturday 31st May which is the Jack Turner Trophy day combined with Summer series #4.  Club member Jack “you’re all good skippers” Turner who helped run our racing for a good number of years sadly passed away late last year.  This annual event is being held in his memory.  Entries and more information via the link below – racing start time is 10:00.

https://birkenheadrspc.co.uk/iom-open-summer-2025-4-2/

DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2025 – 7/5/25

DF95

Skippers arriving at Gautby road today could be forgiven for thinking not just that they were in the wrong location, but possibly the wrong country. Blue sky, blue water, and a reasonable breeze blowing straight down the lake – it doesn’t get any better than that.

The usual course was used with the full length of the lake available. There was a bit of bias on the line but not enough to spoil the starts, but more importantly the leeward gate was definitely biased making for some very busy roundings and in Mdsp’s case a boat well and truly caught on the mark rope after cutting it too fine. After the first couple of races, Dave moved the finish up to the top of the course to give a second full beat which worked very well.

Clive aced the day with seven wins out of ten races, finishing comfortable ahead of Ian Davies who sailed consistently quickly, won two races and was unlucky not to win another when he was overtaken on the final beat. Martin also sailed very consistently to finish third ahead of Mikedsp who gradually got up to speed during the morning but also managed to hit most of the marks at one stage or another.

Richard was fifth, one point ahead of Dave and John who were tied on points with John finishing ahead on countback despite having to leave his boat caught on the windward mark in the last race.

A lovely day to race model yachts – full results as below.

  1. Clive Warren                                    9 pts           7 wins
  2. Ian Davies                                        21 pts           2 wins
  3. Martin Whittingham-Jones    28 pts
  4. Mike de St Paer                             29 pts           1 win
  5. Richard Walker                             36 pts
  6. John Beech                                      37 Pts           1x 2nd
  7. Dave Williams                               37 pts
  8. Malcolm Harvey                           59 pts

DF65

A disappointing turnout of only 4 skippers took to the water for some “extreme social sailing”  despite the blue sky and reasonable breeze. A+ rigs  were the order of the day.  We didn’t bother with a starter box, we didn’t even have a finishing post, just an imaginary line at 90 degrees to the finishing buoy.  The course was set, which was the same as the morning but with the finish halfway up the lake. Clive (our countdown clock for the afternoon) got the sailing underway with a countdown from 20secs.
After sailing 2 races we decided to swap boats and transmitters, the only exception being Charles who has his transmitter set up ‘left handed’ so it was decided this would be too much of a change for both Charles and the ‘swapee’. This proved to be an interesting exercise to see how different the boats were set up by different skippers. Two races were sailed in this format so the rotation went full circle.  A further 3 races with our own boats were sailed before we decided to call it a day.
Results
An Honourable draw all round, well what did you expect with extreme social sailing,
Thanks to David White, Andrew Potter, Charles Legg and Clive Warren for an enjoyable afternoon

DF/RG65 Summer 2025 #2

A poor turn out of only four RG65 sailors although it was an almost perfect sailing day. The wind was straight down the lake with very few shifts sunny but a chilling wind. B rig conventional seemed to be the suit of choice with Charles opting for B swing. Starting on time with self umpiring in force most starts went as planned although Dave was caught out twice in succession.

From the start Bill set out to show us how well his Ivy sailed and dominated the afternoon’s twelve races. Alan sailing his UNO was the only person to put up a challenge but faded by the start of the second lap on a few races. An early break was called for with Bill stepping in to sort out Charles and Dave’s boats. Returning to sailing and the same formation continued with only Dave and Charles having a race, while Bill and Alan disappeared way ahead. Although the finishing order had been predicted it was still a very pleasant race afternoon with twelve races completed. Three of the sailors did agree to pose for a photo before they could depart.

  1. Bill Culshaw         10pts 10wins
  2. Alan Watkinson 20pts
  3. Dave Williams    32 pts
  4. Charles Legg       36pts

DF65 Social Racing 2025 – 30/4/25

A bright sunny day welcomed the skippers to Gautby Rd, the wind was a light breeze coming generally from the East but with a few twists and turns to keep the skippers on their toes. Eight boats turned up, however only 7 made it to the start line with Dave Williams having ongoing transmitter problems forcing him to drop out. His loss was our gain, as he volunteered to be our RO for the morning.
No discussion required as A+ rigs were the order for the day. Dave set the course, start at the far end of the lake, windward mark at the clubhouse end  (the first one, as the the top of the lake was in wind shadow), back to a gate and a beat to the finish half way back up the lake. Racing started  on time at 11:00 and 8 races sailed
Race 1, – Paul and Clive  had a close battle at the front, Clive led at the first mark and dropped into a hole on the run and Paul passed him.  These 2 were clear of the rest of the field which was headed by Alan and Richard in hot pursuit. Paul took line honours with Clive 2nd and Alan 3rd.
Race 2, – This time Paul was called back for an early start providing the rest of the field with a head start. Alan took advantage at the front of the race, Paul had other ideas and a close battle until the finish with Paul taking his second win, with Alan just losing out in the last few metres finishing 2nd and Clive 3rd with the minor places being hotly contested with Malcolm sneaking in ahead of Don.  Race 3 and a slight change to  the course, the finishing line was moved further up the lake to provide a longer second beat. The same 3 broke away from the pack, with Alan leading round the first mark, from Paul followed by Clive. At the gate Paul took the port one while the other 2 took the starboard one.  Paul soon realised that he had a senior moment and forgotten the new finish line, allowing Alan to cross the line first followed by Clive. The race for the minor places was a tight as ever with Don coming out on top.
Race 4,  Clive got a great start and split from the rest of the pack staying on starboard tack whilst the others tacked onto port, this paid off with a good lead at the first mark, behind him the usual suspects of Alan and Paul were joined by Richard in a battle for the minor places. The positions didn’t change until halfway up the final beat as Clive snagged some debris which stopped him in his tracks and alllowed the majority of the fleet to pass him. Line honours agin going to Paul, Alan 2nd, Richard 3rd and Clive finishing in 5th.  Race 5 and 6, – followed a similar pattern to the previous races, with Paul, taking two more wins, Alan two 2nd and Clive two 3rds. Don had found some consistency and added 2 more 4th places to make it 4 in a row.
Race 7 – This time Paul, Clive and Alan were joined by Richard to battle for line honours, whilst behind the overall minor placings only separated by a couple of placings so there were private battles throughout the fleet. Clive notched up his first win with Paul 2nd and the inconsistent Richard 3rd  It was Davids turn to take the honours in the minor places.  Finally to Race 8, Richard was first at the windward mark followed closely by Clive, Paul and Alan, at the gate there was nothing in it and anybody’s race. Richard and Clive opted for the port gate whist Paul took the Starboard mark and sailed into an unfavourable windshift. Clive managed to pass Richard on the beat back up the lake to take his second win, Richard holding on to 2nd with Alan also passing Paul for 3rd. Further down the oeder David took his second 5th place on the trot.
Summary
Good  mornings sailing with a steadyish breeze, a few windshifts and a couple of holes to catch the unawary out. Close racing at the front with Paul the clear winner but not having it all his own  way. The lower order also highly competitive with very close racing.  A big thank you to Dave  Williams for standing in for RO allowing maximum sailing time for all the others, and also for the photos.
  1. Paul Plested            7pts        5 wins
  2. Clive Warren         12pts        2 wins
  3. Alan Watkinson   13pts        1 win
  4. Richard Walker    24pts
  5. Don McKinnon     27pts
  6. David White           33pts
  7. Malcolm Harvey  35pts