Positives – Water level is absolutely fine with no grounding issues for DF65s and close to being full.
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.
After a long layoff due to low water level and more recently some weed, it was decided to test the water with some social racing with DF65’s. This followed attempts to clear the lake over the last week. The problem we then faced was that the wind had changed direction 3 times over the last 3 days, resulting in any floating weed not settling at one end.
A standard windward mark, spreader, gate and finish line were set outwith a good WNW breeze blowing from the far end of the lake. A+ rig was the choice for all, which was sometimes over powered on the run, causing broaching and nose diving. Neil Westbrook volunteered for RO duties and kept us in check on the start line, calling back any early starters.
Well done to Clive who was reasonably consistent in avoiding the weed, especially in the later races. Also, well done to John Mackie with a race win and pipping Alan who finished 3rd also with a race win. Finally a big welcome and well done to Sam McDougall, potential new member, finishing in a well deserved 4th place.
Just seven DF65’s out today in a light and variable mostly Easterly, which at times disappeared and usually reappear once again from the East, but occasionally could be from the North, South or West. Testing times therefore with the wind and unfortunately a few pieces of floating debris, which caught out most of us during the session and some more often than others. At least the sun was out and it was not too hot.
James came out on top with some great starts and picked up four of the wins, just edging out Peter for top slot who only managed three wins (an OCS never helps get a good place!) with Richard taking the final win. Unfortunately that win was not good enough to keep Alan away from third place, who had a consistent set of results and his fair share of the floating debris to mess up his challenge for one of the two top spots.
Dave Worron also struggled with consistency although he had some good races once Peter had made a few adjustments to rig setup. Stuart was going well at times and did manage a third in Race 4 and another third may have bumped him up a place.
So, James took top spot this week, followed by Peter in second and Alan third. Thanks must go to Dave Williams acting as RO and also loaning his boat to a sailor but Radio sailing novice to try out. Dave also captured a few photos for the report and produced the final results.
7 helms assembled for the latest round of the clubs’ IOM Summer series, the wind was predominantly from the club house but due to the extreme heat we are enduring at the moment in the UK, it was moving around with some quite large shifts for everyone to deal with.
Due to the level of the water being low we decided not to use a leeward gate at the end of the lake, but instead just one leeward mark that worked well.
Dave as RO, brought a prompt start at 1pm and it was Clive that showed us the way taking his only win on the day in the first race. Race 2 was closely fought and saw our visitor, Harry, taking a deserved 4th.
6 races before tea with Brad and Graham on 2 wins apiece, Peter with 1 win and Clive with the other, all quite tight and everything to play for after the hydration break.
The wind did increase in strength after the break to a nice top suit at times but still predictably unpredictable shifts. Another 6 races were completed with Brad being the dominant force finishing with 3 wins on the bounce.
A most enjoyable afternoons sailing sailed in a good manner and impeccable starting, finishing, image taker and scoring by Dave, so thank you once again Dave.
Nine DF65 skippers today – still an excellent turnout, and a lovely summers day with a bit of wind (well in some places) and a comfortable mid 20s temperature.
The wind was approximately N.West, so blowing down the lake from the far end and it was possible to use marks in their existing position for the usual course format. The line was once again somewhat pin end biased, although with a slightly smaller fleet than last week this didn’t prove to be too much of a problem. Neil had again very kindly agreed to RO, and he had to call a number of individual recalls although we avoided any generals this week.
The beat – as ever – proved tricky, with a flat spot around half way up which caught everyone out at some stage. It paid to get away on Starboard from the pin and usually then paid to stay on Starboard as far as possible before tacking, but this didn’t always work as expected.
The top end of the beat was again very tricky with some major shifts and flat spots making for an interesting days racing. This was a day where starting well and boat speed, while necessary of course, were not the deciding factors overall, but positioning on the course and patience in dealing with the windless areas were key.
John Brierley aced the day with 5 race wins from 9 races, other winners being James, Clive, Stuart and Commodore Dave with one apiece – very good racing with only a few infringements and 2nd, 3rd and 4th covered by 3 points and then 5th, 6th and 7th covered by three points and quite a few positions decided by a few centimetres at the line .
Full results shown below with thanks again to Neil for ROing and to Dave for keeping it all running and doing the results.
The wind was interesting, a starboard biased start line meant a starboard start was preferred but and generally a long starboard beat paid off, if you could put a hitch in on a wind shift even better but generally three quarters of the way up the lake there was a shift to port to take you into the weather mark. The run as also tricky with the clubhouse side and middle favoured but it was pot luck which paid off. Finally the beat back from the gate to the finish was no certainty either, with both gate marks paying off in different races.
The pre-start problems didn’t seem to affect Guy and he was fast out of the blocks taking the first race with Martin 2nd and Clive finishing up the podium positions.
The fourth race saw Clive and Martin a long way clear, and duelling for the top honours until Martin hooked the gate buoy which moved him to the back of the field, Guy and Stuart profiting from Martins’ mistake.
At this stage after 6 races with 1 discard, Guy was leading the way with his consistency with 8pts, Clive was second with 10pts and Martin third with 13pts, so all to play for through to the finish. Race 7 to 11 and Clive had a dream end to the session posting five straight bullets, leaving Guy and Martin to fight for the remaining podium positions.
