Sadly, we only managed to turn out 5 boats for the first RG65 Winter Series event this week. However, anyone who wasn’t there missed a great afternoon of sailing with a decent 5 to 8 knot breeze nearly straight down the lake from the clubhouse end with a few holes and punchy gusts just on the edge of too much – fortunately nobody lost control going downwind.
Alan started the afternoon in command of the fleet winning the first race and although Peter got close to him, was never really challenged for the lead. This was the pattern for the next four races until we took an early break. Meanwhile, Dave and Alan W(sailing a 3D printed Orion for the first time) were having a tussle for who might take third or fourth place behind Peter and Alan B, until Alan W had a minor issue and dropped out of Race 4, so we called an early break to allow him to fix his boat. Charles missed the first 3 races after an (under deck) sheeting pulley failed at switch on and needed changing.
After the break we completed a further seven races, this time under the watchful eye of Neil who kindly acted as RO for the rest of the afternoon. Initially Neil remarked that he was getting bored with the scoreline being so consistent as for three races the score sequence was identical. Alan B continued his winning form, with Peter second, Charles third , Dave fourth and Alan fifth. A few adjustments on the rig of Alan W from Alan B and he then picked up a couple of thirds, before Dave took the third place in the final two races.
Peter got lucky with his approach to the finish in Race 10 and just caught up with Alan B on the finish line, picking up his first of two wins. The second one came in the last race when an electrical problem led to Alan B completing tight circles at the gate allowing Peter through, with Charles in second and Dave third. However, it didn’t change the overall result, with Alan B taking the overall win by counting 9 wins, Peter second on 16 points and Dave third on 32, closely followed by Charles and Alan W
Thanks go to Dave for sorting the results, taking a few photos whilst Neil sailed his boat and making drinks for everyone. Finally a big shout out to Neil for acting as RO for the second half and allowing Dave to concentrate on his sailing.
DF65 and DF95 social racing is back up and running after an extended late summer of disruption from low water, followed by water quality issues.
Today saw a fleet of 10 DF65’s on the water who were greeted with a 5-8kt breeze on arrival which was clearly A+ rig conditions. The forecast was for wind from the SW which is technically straight through the houses and across the lake …… i.e. horrible. In reality it was more westerly which was considerably better than SW and provided some good racing with plenty of the usual Gautby Rd jeopardy that could help or hinder. Dave kindly did RO duties rather than sailing and set the usual course apart from extending the beat to the far orange buoys.
Starts just about favoured a port tack start at the port end of the line …. a trick that Clive pulled off in a couple of early races before he bottled out and joined the rest of the fleet on starboard at that end of the line. The first beat was a case of not getting suckered into sailing across to the far side of the lake on port on what was clearly a permanent wind bend. It always felt good until you had to tack at which point it was a disaster. The best option was to take some starboard tack pain halfway up the beat to get on the inside of the bend and therefore sail the shortest distance to the mark. Those that got the tacking points right invariably ended up leading at the windward mark. Downwind was puffs and lulls with gains or losses to be made depending on whether you got a puff or sat in a lull. Nothing was over at the leeward gate with plenty of overtaking opportunities for those that got it right or disaster for those that got it wrong
Clive carried on his previous weeks performance in race 1 winning it in style and the omens looked bad for everybody else ….. until he confirmed that he had failed to buy a lottery ticket after last weeks efforts at which point he lost his mojo a bit and despite winning 2 further races had to count some mid table results to come third overall
Andrew was the most consistent on the day and never out of the top 5 with 2 race wins to come second overall but with 2 discards allowed John was able to nick the day with his 4 wins counteracting some other mid table results
With the lake is now full of water and the water condition very good, for the first time in 3 months we were back to our standard racing programme with DF65s in the morning and DF95s after lunch. A good quality field of 10 skippers lined up on the start line for the first race including 2 new members John Mackie and Rod Darling.
The breeze had freshened a little from the morning and was perfect for A Rig. With the gusts well within the A Rig range. The same standard course as the morning was used utilising the full length of the lake, windward mark with spreader, leeward gate and beat the finish. We were honoured to have Trunkys’ partner Alison “volunteer” to be our RO for the afternoon, Commodore Dave reminded us to watch our Ps and Qs with Alison in charge and we were ready to start and just about on time.
The wind direction was generally westerly which could swing to northerly as you approached the windward mark, in laymans terms it was generally blowing down the lake from the far end with a slight bias from the houses but as you approached the windward mark the bias would swing to the industrial estate. This gave plenty of alternatives for the skippers to choose, although with the wind direction westerly, the start line was perfectly aligned and with 10 boats a port end flyer was never an option. Right from the get go, the racing was very competitive and it continued the same throughout the afternoon.
After 10 races sailed there were 5 different winners, and 7 skippers posting a 3rd or better. Special mentions for our 2 newbies, John Mackie, who was very quick in the first half of the session but faded in the second and Rod Darling, who sailed his 95 for the first time posted 3 fourths and 3 fifths and I’m sure he will soon be near the front of the fleet sometime soon. Congratulations to Clive for his victory and Alan for his second place.
Thanks go to Alison for keeping us in check and Dave W for the photos and tabled results
An elite group of 5 sailors turned up at Gautby Rd today to be greeted by a full lake, no weed, no algae (the bottom of the lake was actually visible), no rain and no wind. Maybe it was the forecast of heavy showers and gale force winds arriving mid-morning that put most people off, but as it turned out we had a good sailing session which stayed dry until we finished and with a breeze that filled in as we launched. A+ rigs were obviously selected with the anticipation that we might need to change down if the predicted wind did arrive, but this didn’t happen and apart from the odd gust that flattened us, it was the right rig choice all morning
The usual course was sailed but with no windward spreader mark. The beat was certainly shifty and gusty and the run was full of holes … but that is pretty normal for Gautby Rd.
The racing was notable for 3 particular reasons:
I can confirm that the lake is now fully sailable so hopefully this encourages everybody back onto the water in the coming weeks. Thanks as usual to Dave Williams for taking the photos and creating the score sheet.
Unfortunately, the wind was having other ideas about providing any decent racing. A forecast of 6mph NNE was not in evidence as we arrived with a glassy lake covered in a green/brown “scum” which had not been present on Wednesday. Dave opted out of racing to act as RO, assisted by Neil who arrived during Race 1.
There was a light breeze at times, but insufficient to ever provide any ripples on the water. It also couldn’t really decide whether to blow from the clubhouse or the far end (and plenty of directions between them). Dave opted for a start at the far end for Race 1 with a single windward/leeward (sort of) and a finishing leg. Peter picked up a light breeze off the start and slowly pulled out a decent lead at the windward mark, keeping some breeze down the “run” and through to the finish. Clive ended up with his first of 5 second places to make him “Mr Consistency” for the day, with John Brierley rounding out the podium.
Race 2 resulted in the same podium places, before John had a run of three firsts. Dave did look at moving the start to the clubhouse end, but once there the breeze flicked back and so we returned to the original course and stayed there for the rest of the afternoon. Race 3 was won by John with Peter second and John Carlin third. An early break for a drink then followed as the wind was taxing everyone by this stage and having had a slightly faster second race, the third taking longer than the first!
We restarted with conditions much the same, although perhaps there was more breeze from the West. However, it was never consistent and your boat could easily tack itself with no input from the helm, before promptly tacking back again. Fortunately we were not moving fast enough for any incidents to occur when this happened. Race 4 and another win for John, with Clive next followed by Peter. At this point, John Carlin and Andy joined Martin W-J in the clubhouse and retired for the day, leaving six boats to “battle it out” for the points. John took race 5 and the podium as per Race 4. The final race became very much a mentally taxing drifter and our longest race of the day. Peter narrowly won this one, although it could have been anybody’s race up until the last mark. Clive had another 2nd and John third.
Dave then asked those remaining if we wished to sail another two for the second discard, but there was little enthusiasm for two more drifters and so we called it a day. Half an hour later as we were leaving, a steady 5 or 6mph was blowing down the lake from the far end, but that’s sailing for you!
Weed – still bits of weed floating and sub-surface but not causing a major problem ….. you had to be unlucky to pick up any during racing. Thanks to all the personnel who have been netting and removing most of the weed. What weed is left is clearly dying off as the water temp drops and will hopefully sink to the bottom and rot away soon.
However, Although we didn’t experience our traditional summer algae bloom largely due to Clive’s efforts with the dye, but it has now returned with a vengeance. It’s certainly possible to sail in it, as everybody is pretty much affected equally, but it is still a nuisance as it collects onto the keel and rudder, slowing you down and making the boat harder to sail and manoeuvre. I think we are past peak algae and as with the weed, the colder weather should speed up its death and decline so we are hopeful that algal conditions will only improve from here on in.
Sailing conditions today: Difficult/Awful! …. possibly the worst i have experienced at Gautby Rd which is saying something when we all know what a “normal” bad can can be.
With a NW 15-22kts at Hilbre today, I was expecting a B rig day with wind straight down the lake. In reality it was A+ rigs with the wind from any direction usually all at the same time. I can’t comment too much on the actual racing as i suffered from a winch problem early on and then got frustrated with conditions and went home early. In the races I did complete, it was quite possible to go from first to last and back to first, all in the space of sailing 30m. Clive certainly seemed to ‘master’ the conditions better than most closely followed by Dave then Alan and James. For everybody else it was a total lottery unfortunately. Thanks as always to Dave for the results and photos.
To quote Tony Blair and New Labour In 1997 ‘Things can only get better” – and hopefully they will do soon.
It was a sunny morning as ten sailors with their DF65’s turn up for some social sailing.. Conditions made for some very tricky sailing. The wind was light and variable blowing down the lake from the club house in a southerly direction. The wind strength could be described as being light and very variable. There were plenty of shifts and headers to be had with all sailors benefiting and losing. A standard course was set utilising the full length of the lake with starting from the top end of the lake.
Racing commenced promptly at 11:00. The first race one was keenly contested between all skippers, as they managed the ever changing conditions which was eventually won by Richard (39, )who seemed to manage the conditions the best. Clive (53) second and Stuart (805) third. Alan (373) finished last. Oh how things would change for Alan.
The racing continued in the same vein, Now Alan found his groove managing the conditions the best and started to put a run of results together. All other skippers had mixed results battling with the ever changing wind direction and strength. Some skipper found the condition to be to testing and decided to call it a day.
The three remaining skippers braved the ever changing wind battling shifts and headers. All in all a very pleasant if not challenging mornings sailing if not frustrating at times.
A big thank to Neil (as RO) who kept us all on our toes and we managed to get 8 races in in total and to Dave W for the photos and results table.
