DF65’s
Chilly start to the Wednesday 2026 programme with a stiff breeze blowing straight down the lake from the far end for the six DF65 sailors today. The day turned out to be much nicer than the forecast had suggested, but was still really cold on the hands.
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.
Some excellent racing and a great start to the Wednesday DF65 programme for 2026. Thanks again to Malcolm for RO’ing plus taking photos and for doing the results, and to Dave for chasing things along. Full results as shown below:
DF95’s
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.
Summary
A great afternoons sailing, in almost perfect conditions (apart from the cold wind), unfortunately only 4 of us got to experience it.
Thanks to Malcolm for tabling the results and Clive for the photos.
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.
Bit grey to start with for the DF65 fleet, but enough breeze to make for a good days sailing. We had all expected much more pressure based on the various forecasts, but in the event the day was top end of A+ with some lulls and a few punchy gusts as the morning sailing progressed.
The start line at the far end was pretty good although it seemed to be better up at the clubhouse side rather than at the pin, Another excellent turnout of 10 skippers, although there was a bit of coming and going as James missed the first race due to transport problems, and Duncan Neale made it later on but after only two races got a call out and had to leave straight away. It was great to welcome IOM and 95 sailor Guy Cowper to the 65 fleet, and after a long absence it was also very nice to welcome Frans back. He had decided not to sail so very kindly offered to RO for the morning.
Start 1 was pretty much on time and was won by Clive. James just made race 2 but only due to a general recall after a very confused (omnishambles? / snafu?) start which was then won by Mike. James then put in a second and three straight wins on his way to win.
As always the conditions were tricky with a bit of easterly in the breeze, and got more so as the direction went slightly right during the morning. Starting the first beat with a long starboard tack looked right but then getting back across didn’t work reliably. At the same time taking some shifts to get closer to the windward side of the lake paid off well but wasn’t entirely consistent.
Behind James there was some very close racing with Clive, Mike and John all winning one or more races. There were also a number of boat to boat touches and some mistakes at mark roundings. James ended four points clear of Clive in second, with second to fourth all within four points. Guy and Richard also had a number of good results with Guy becoming very competitive with a bit of boat tweaking input from Clive.
The Southerly breeze was tricky enough to cause some place changes, mainly due to picking wrong shifts rather than holes. Racing was competitive from the start but in reality split into 2 groups, with Guy, Andy and Clive in the first group and Steve, Stuart and Malcolm in the second, although occasionally someone would jump up or slip down. Nine races were sailed in total before bad light and heavy storm clouds threatening an imminent rain storm forced a stop.
Race 1 saw close competition between the whole fleet with Guy taking the win, Andy who sailed extremely well and consistently throughout the afternoon taking 2nd which turned out to be the first of 6, and Malcolm filling the final podium spot.
Race 4 and Guy returned to the top spot followed by Stuart who sailed well to finish 2nd and Andy with the only blotch on his score sheet if you can call a 3rd blotch.
Race 6 and after another close race at the front Andy got his first well deserved win, with Guy 2nd and Clive 3rd. After sailing in the 65s in the morning and 6 races in the afternoon Malcolm decided it was time to put his feet up and call it a day.
This years IOM Xmas Open attracted a decent fleet of 18 sailors including 4 of the GBR Team for the 2026 IOM Worlds, so it was always going to be a difficult day to get a good result.
After a short briefing by Peter Baldwin standing in for the Sailing Sec, we got started on time at 10:15 and completed five races before a short drinls break. This first session was doominated by Brad Gibson (first in every race) and Graham Elliott, who took second in the first three and then a third in Race 5, with Darin Ballington picking up a couple of thirds, Josh King two seconds in races 4 and 5, with Peter Baldwin and John Brierley a third each. There was some close racing throughout the fleet, with errors in the middle bunch being penalised by plenty of lost places it was so tight.
John Tushingham had an unfortunate early bath after gear failure before the start of Race 3 and Robbie Mac lost three races in this early session with gear problems.
Lunch taken, we sailed an additional seven races, but with only 17 starting as John Brierley also had un-fixable gear failure ending his day. Starts were interesting as we could be fetching, reaching or running off the line. Surpisingly considering the conditions, very few General recalls were called and only an occasional single OCS by someone who was well proud and visible to the Start Line Judge.
Overall a decent days racing with some close competition and some tricky close finishes to call for our Line Judge in training. Not surpringly, Brad Gibson took the day, with Graham Elliott in second and Josh King in third.
Brad thanked the Race Team (Dave Williams, Steve Miller and Judith Baldwin) and Joss Watkinson who did a sterling job in the galley, keeping everyone supplied with hot drinks and tasty snacks. More photos to follow in the Gallery tomorrow. There will be an additional post to provide the link.
