DF65
North East wind at Gautby road to greet the excellent turnout of 14 DF65 sailors today. Initially the wind seemed very light, and A+ rigs were an obvious choice, but a succession of small fronts coming over – happily without any rain – also bought some punchy gusts and big shifts to add to the general disturbance caused by the trees. However, the wind stayed in, with enough force to cause the occasional nosedive later, and also some flat spots which caught nearly everyone out at some stage.
The usual course was used, with the windward and spreader mark in a very shifty area right up at the top in the corner opposite the clubhouse, and in fact the spreader was in the flat area under the trees meaning that getting clear on the run needed a touch of luck.
The line was surprisingly good, and good starts were made from just about anywhere during the morning’s racing. It initially looked better to start at the outer end either on port, or getting onto port a.s.a.p. and then trying to hold the port lifts as far as possible, but later it seemed to pay to keep over to the starboard side of the course perhaps in slightly cleaner air and more pressure.
Overall the racing was very close across the fleet, with much place changing and a few turns for various things. Mike, Clive, John and Paul all finished within six points, with other fleet positions also very close.
It was also a pleasure to welcome Phil, a Half Rater sailor from Wallasea YC who had come to take a look and tried both a 65 and 95 during the day.
Overall results as shown below with thanks as always to Dave for sorting them out.
- Mike de St Paer 16pts 4wins
- Clive Warren. 18pts. 2wins
- John Carlin 21pts
- Paul Plested 22pts. 3wins
- Neil Westbrook 33pts
- Don MacKinnon 36pts. 1win
- Frans King 49pts
- Simon Bates 53pts 1x2nd
- Dave Williams 53pts
- Sally Collings 58pts
- Richard Walker 59pts
- John Beech 81pts
- John Lee 89pts
- David White 92pts
DF95
7 skippers took to the water for the start of the afternoons entertainment, which was a good turnout considering regulars Paul Little and Alan Watkinson were otherwise indisposed. It was good to see John Carlin with 95 in hand after a long absence from the afternoon sailing.
The same course as the morning 65’s was used, The wind being mainly easterly, (partially from the industrial estate) with some Northerly and Southerly thrown in for good measure depending where you were on the lake. This provided plenty of opportunity for losing places or if you were lucky, gaining a few. The breeze was reasonably steady with a few strong gusts to keep us on our toes but the 95s with A Rigs handled them with ease.
Mike very sportingly offered to share his boat with a potential new member Phil, and also had to leave before racing finished so his overall finishing result was not a true reflection. As there were only 7 boats, the normal self monitored start and first over the finishing line recording the race results. Single lap races and 7 races sailed in total after which the wind dropped off and we decided to call it a day.
Racing was very competitive with 6 of the 7 skippers finishing either first or second in at least one race, considering we only sailed 7 races, it shows how competitive the afternoon was!! In the end it was Clive who was most consistent in the tricky conditions, notching up a consistent set of results including 3 wins. He was pushed hard by Paul with 2 wins and Frans who had his best afternoon for some time finishing with 1 win and 2 seconds
In summary – A tricky afternoon with the sun shining, but very enjoyable as ever. Competitive fleet with an array of helms filling the podium places in each race.
Final Results
- Clive Warren 10pts 3 wins
- Paul Plested 14pts 2 wins
- Frans King 16pts 1 win
- John Carlin 22pts
- Richard Walker 28pts
- John Beech 31pts
- Mike DSP / Phil 34pts 1 win
Tobi Laux stamped his mark from the start with two early wins, before Peter Baldwin managed to catch the right shifts and take the win in Race 3. Martin Roberts then was the winner in Race 4 before a break was taken in racing.
After the break, another 3 races were sailed before lunch, with wins for John Brierley, Graham Elliott and another for Martin. Lunch was earlier than expected at this point as the breeze seemed to be swinging more towards the West but had also dropped.
As is often the case, the breeze confounded us and after lunch we had another three races using the original course before another drinks break and allow for the course to be reset. Winners in this session were Graham, followed by Dorian Crease and then Tobi with his third win.
We were then into the final session, with a revised course starting at the clubhouse end. The wind was primarily from the SW, but could easily come from the West or South at any time along with big lulls. The winners in this final session were Martin (twice) and John Tushingham.
