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Category: news

DragonForce Summer Series #7 14/8/19

After a short delay (and a hot drink) due to a heavy shower passing through, sailing got underway by 11:15 with the majority of the fleet opting to sail in A+ rigs.  There were a few strong gusts that caused the boats with A+ rigs to nose dive, but most survived unscathed.  The day was setting up to be a close battle between John and Peter, but John had to retire from racing during race 6, leaving  Peter with a clutch of 4 wins and the overall win. Neil picked up 2 in his A rig, with Dave W, Alan and Andrew all getting single race wins.  The final placings after 10 races were:

  1. Peter Baldwin               63         15pts
  2. Alan Watkinson          373        22pts
  3. Neil Westbrook             03        27pts
  4. Andrew Peter               919        28 pts
  5. John Brierley                  84        36 pts      (1x1st and 4x2nd)
  6. Dave Williams               233       36pts       (1x1st and 1x2nd)
  7. Derek Matthews            57       40pts
  8. Dave Pickup                    86       49pts

Thanks once again to Ernie and Sally for running the races and the scoring for the day.

DragonForce Summer Series #6 7/8/19

With winds forecast to be in the mid teens and gusting strongly as the skippers arrived, everyone opted to sail in their A rig, only to find that for most of the morning, it was more like A+ wind.  A heavy shower at the halfway point in racing led to a tea break whilst the weather cleared.  Unfortunately the wind went with the weather and when racing re-started, there was a very light breeze, which fortunately increased after this enforced break.

John once again took the day with eight wins out of the ten sailed, with only Peter managing to take two from him, although some of the finishes were very close.

  1. John Brierley           84             8pts
  2. Peter Baldwin          63            15pts
  3. Andrew Peter          919           24pts
  4. Dave Williams         233          29pts
  5. Alan Watkinson      373          32pts
  6. Dave Pickup               86           44pts
  7. David Halstead        855          56pts

DragonForce Summer Series #5 31/7/19

There was a decent A rig Westerly breeze down the lake this week for the 7 sailors, which made a change from the norm of A+.  Racing was very close in nearly every race with place changes on the final beat into the finish often affecting the race outcome.  If a tack was not completed cleanly (usually due to a wind shift as the tack was made), a number of places could easily be lost.  John ended up as the clear winner with 7 wins from the 10 races sailed, with Peter second with 2 wins and Dave Williams a consistent 3rd.

Thanks once again to Ernie and Sally for running the races and scoring.

  1. John Brierley             84        9pts
  2. Peter Baldwin            63       18pts
  3. Dave Williams          233       25pts
  4. Andrew Peter            919       26pts
  5. Neil Westbrook          03        33pts
  6. Alan Watkinson        233       37pts
  7. Colin Deakin                93        50pts

IOM Club Racing #8 27/7/19

Eight hardy souls ventured out in the rain for this weeks IOM club series, with those travelling from the Manchester area spending 20 minutes longer than usual in their cars due to holiday traffic.  Racing got underway after a short delay to set out course marks in the light (4 to 8 knot) WNW breeze.

Alan set the early pace and had a good clear win by the end of race 1.  John then took Race 2, with Steve taking Race 3 having led from the start.  Being in the right place on the start line was critical to be in the breeze, as it could be patchy across the course area.  Peter found the right place in Race 4 and led this race from start to finish, with Neil doing much the same in Race 5.  John then found his form (and the wind) to win 4 out of the last 5 races, with Alan taking another win in Race 9.

John in a Britpop took the day easily, having finished in the top 3 in each of the 10 races, Neil was pleased to get his Widget going to finish 2nd, four points ahead of Peter sailing a Lintel MMX in 3rd.  Thanks go to Bernie and Dave for running the 10 races today on a wet (very wet at times) Saturday afternoon and Joyce for making the welcome warm drinks during the break from racing.

  1. John Brierley            84        11 pts
  2. Neil Westbrook        03       27 pts
  3. Peter Baldwin           63        31 pts
  4. Andrew Peter            66        32 pts
  5. Alan Watkinson       23        34 pts
  6. John Berry                  12         35 pts
  7. Steve Toulson           86        37 pts
  8. Lawrence Drennan 57        43 pts

Next IOM racing is on Saturday 24th August

DragonForce Summer Series #4 24/7/19

Another tricky day with the wind not doing the same as the forecast and switching direction several times during this mornings session.  There were 14 boats this week with most of the regulars (one of the highest turnouts recently) and another potential new member Dave who had travelled over an hour to sail with us and gain some guidance.  Peter took some of the early wins, but then had some difficult races including getting caught up on on mark for over a minute.  This left an opening for John who had the best of the later races from the 8 that were sailed.  In all there were 5 different race winners and John took the day by one point from Peter, who only beat Neil  to second on countback due to his higher number of firsts.

  1. John Brierley                84       14 pts
  2. Peter Baldwin              63        15 pts    3x1st
  3. Neil Westbrook            03        15 pts    1x1st
  4. Kris Morrow                 94        21 pts
  5. Derek Matthews         57         25 pts
  6. Dave Williams            233        26 pts
  7. Alan Watkinson         373        35 pts
  8. Colin Deakin                  93       36 pts
  9. Andrew Peter               919       41 pts
  10. Richard Walker              39       44 pts
  11. Dave Pickup                    86       49 pts
  12. Chris Morrow                194      62 pts
  13. Bob Davies                       72       76 pts
  14. David Halstead             855      81 pts