DF65’s
An early 10.30 start to allow time for some lake clean-up work between the DF65 and DF95 racing didn’t catch anybody out this week and all 10 sailors were ready for the first race. A+ rigs proved the right choice in a NW breeze blowing down the lake towards the clubhouse that averaged around 7knts with up to 12knt gusts. Last weeks lake cleanup had done a good job with the weed which didn’t appear to cause any problems this week. The standard course was used with a windward mark to port followed by the spreader mark, down through a leeward gate and back up to the finish
Pre-race impressions of the course suggested racing would be quite straight forward and it would be largely a boat speed day but the first beat of the first race gave a taste of the rest of the session with 20 degree wind shifts mixed in with puffs of wind that were quite localised …. so typical Gautby Rd. Nothing on the race course proved consistent …. sometimes it paid to tack on the shifts, at other times it was best to ignore them and hit a corner ….. sometimes the left side paid, sometimes the middle and sometimes the right …. starting at the starboard end of the line sometimes paid, but so did starting in the middle or port end of the line. Surprisingly, based on the puffy conditions, the downwind leg proved the most consistent part of the course with relatively few place changes taking place. What the conditions did mean, was that, particularly on the first beat, you were never out of the race, but that you could also lose a bunch of places by just being slightly in the wrong part of the lake.
Over the 10 races, Peter proved the most consistent to come 1st, winning 5 of them and never being out of the top 3 despite looking dead and buried halfway up the first beat in several races. John was reasonably consistent with 3 wins and able to discard 2 x 6th places to come second while James plodded around with a bunch of 2nds and only 1 result out of the top 5 to come third. Andrew was shockingly inconsistent winning 2 races but also having a load of mid fleet results to come 4th beating Alan into 5th on race win countback. Thanks to Dave Williams once again for remembering to take a few photos.
- Peter Baldwin 63 9pts 5 wins
- John Carlin 11 13pts 3 wins
- James Douglas 73 22pts
- Andrew Potter 194 24pts 2 wins
- Alan Watkinson 373 24pts
- Dave Williams 33 33pts
- Neil Westbrook 03 37pts
- David White 94 45pts
- Clive Warren 53 49pts
- Richard walker 39 57pts
DF95’s
After another minor lake clear up ahead of the Jack Turner Trophy race on Saturday, there should have been 4 sailors out with their 95’s this afternoon. Unfortunately Martin had a faulty winch when he switched on having checked it was working yesterday evening. That took us down to just three for a great afternoon of close to champagne sailing, with a mid to top A suit breeze straight down the lake with plenty of sunshine.
Alan went well in the first race and took the first win of the afternoon (beginners luck according to Alan!). Race 2 was deemed a tie between Peter and Clive by impartial observer Martin standing on the line. Peter then put together a strings of 5 wins, before Clive took the final race 8. A great afternoon for sailing – where was everyone?
- Peter Baldwin 172 6pts
- Clive Warren 93 11pts
- Alan Watkinson 23 14pts