DF65’s
With folks away over the Summer, and perhaps because of recent problems with algae in the lake, only five skippers turned up to race their DF65’s. As it turned out it was a good morning of racing with the wind blowing straight down the lake, with boats running with A+ rigs, although smaller rigs would have been beneficial towards the end of the session. A typical one lap windward/leeward course was used throughout the morning.
In the first five races Paul Plested was fastest out of the blocks on four occasions. In race three Dave Williams got the shifts right and led until the leeward gate when he sailed into rather than around the right-hand buoy. This gifted 1st place to Paul making it five bullets out of five races with Charles Legg also getting promoted to 2nd. James Douglas was close throughout the opening five races scoring four 2nds and Phyl Fanning picked up a 3rd in race five.
In both races six and seven Dave got great starts and led to the finish. Paul, having been OCS is race six, pulled back up to 2nd on the last beat to the line and James picked up another 2nd in race seven.
By race eight the wind had picked up considerably and the fleet would have been much better on A or even B rigs, but as the session was close to ending the skippers agreed to carry on. With hindsight, they might have been better calling it a day then as all were getting wiped out on the run. Towards the leeward gate all five boats were broached and virtually uncontrollable. James was the first to zig-zag through the gate and then beat back up to finish, followed by Paul and then Dave.
Despite the breeze, the skippers decided to try one more race as the wind had abated slightly, for the start at least. Again, possibly not the best decision, as the race became a struggle against the conditions. James again won this battle and posted his second 1st of the day.
In summary, it was a very enjoyable morning of racing helped by negligible impact from the algae, which looks to be dissipating. Thanks go to Dave and Malcolm for the few DF65 photo’s
1. Paul Plested 9pts 5 x 1sts
2. James Douglas 12pts 2 x 1sts, 5 x 2nds
3. Dave Williams 20pts 2 x 1sts
4. Charles Legg 20pts 2 x 2nds
5. Phyl Fanning 33pts 1 x 3rd
DF95’s
Two skippers stayed on from the morning’s DF65 racing and were joined at various stages by three others. Unfortunately with B rigs the order of the day, Steve Miller was unable to take part as he currently only has an A rig. The benefit for the other four was that Steve stayed on to run the racing.
Martin Whittingham-Jones turned up with about ten minutes to the start, but he’d rigged A rig, so he missed the first race whilst changing to B rig. As with the morning racing, a standard one lap windward/leeward course was used, with the beat being up the lake away from the clubhouse.
Despite there only being four boats, the starts were as competitive as they could be with all four vying for a clean fast start on starboard in most instances, with the odd shot at a port end cross the fleet job now and again. Although having to work his way through the fleet on several occasions, Paul ended up hogging most, but not all of the 1sts in the ten races sailed. Phyl Fanning scored a well earned bullet in race five and Martin crossed the finish line 1st in race seven. John Beech, despite not picking up a top spot was quick all afternoon and there was only one point between him and Martin at the end of the day.
In race nine Phyl’s battery died and his boat needed rescuing, and in race ten Paul’s rudder servo started to play up, so all agreed it was time to call it a day.
1. Paul Plested 8pts
2. Martin Whittingham-Jones 19pts 1 x 1st
3. John Beech 20pts
4. Phyl Fanning 27pts 1 x 1st
Lovely sunshine and a decent mid to top end of ‘A’ rig wind straight down the middle from the top end of the lake.
With 7 skippers sailing 4 different designs it promised to be a good afternoons sailing and it was.
The first race was won by Graham sailing his BritPOP! but it was tight up the first beat with all the usual Birkenhead shifts to contend with, unfortunately Paul hadn’t listened carefully to what was the first windward mark was and this put him out of contention for this race.
Six races sailed before a break with some close races, Simon sailing his Alioth got a deserved 2nd in race 4, Alan in race 1 with a decent 2nd place and Ian banging in 4 3rd places but it was Peter and Graham out in front most of the time. Unfortunately we lost Paul at the break due to wiring problems on his battery connections.
The wind stayed pretty much the same for the remaining 6 races, Charles featured in a few of these races which was great to see, often picking out a great shift from both banks.
The water is still occupied by blotches of green algae that did effect boat speed in the lighter stuff, the art was to keep the momentum and stay away from the far bank.
It finished with race wins going to Peter with 2, should of been 3 and Graham with 10. Neil and David watched us all afternoon and weren’t afraid to recall any premature starters, thank you Dave and Neil. Photos courtesy of Dave and Paul.
The DF95 open scheduled for today had been cancelled due to algae in the lake. However, club sailing was still on the cards and 8 skippers turned up from noon for a 1pm start and some DF95 racing, albeit with the added challenge of the sailing through green gloop for the afternoon.
The wind was A rig from the top of the lake for the duration of the 12 races sailed, with some reasonably regular shifts and the odd gust and softer patches to keep everyone on their toes. The standard windward mark, spreader and leeward gate with 2 laps was used throughout. As for RO, Neil Westbrook was on hand to run the show assisted by others during the afternoon such as Dave Williams, Steve Miller and Alan Watkinson.
Given the algae the trick, if you could pull it off, was to keep your boat powered up and driving, even if it meant sailing through some headers. Trying to point and looking to tack on every shift just slowed you down too much. It was clear from the 6 races before the tea-break that Paul Plested and Peter Baldwin had sussed out how to sail in the conditions, both scoring 3 firsts each. Phyl Fanning also had his boat going well with three 3rds in the first session. Martin Whittingham-Jones was also quick off the start line in several races and managed two 3rds before the break. Dave Williams scored a 2nd in race two only to have rudder servo problems again, which put paid to his day, although he did get to race later as a few skippers lent their boats out for a race or two. In race five Steve Miller kept a cool head with a cracking start hitting the line on port, crossing the whole fleet approaching on starboard. Great to see the improvement in his sailing given how new it is to him and to have him back sailing after a time away due to injury.
After a short stop for refreshments and a natter, it was more of the same with Paul and Peter hogging most of the top two spots. However, Paul had clearly had some Red Bull at the break as he bagged five of the six firsts on offer, with Peter scoring one 1st and four 2nds. Alan Watkinson, who had been mixing it at the front of the fleet in most races, scored two 3rds in this session. Phyl continued where he left off and scored another three 3rds in the post tea break slot, which gave him a very worthy 3rd overall on the day. Both Dave and Neil had a sail of Steve’s boat for a race each, both managing to finish 2nd.
Never the less, the course was set, windward mark to port straight back down to a gate and then to the finish half way back up the beat. It was decided to have a dedicated RO for each race with the skippers taking it in turn. Dave W took first duty and got us off on time.
Race 2 and James took the RO role, but it was Clive again who got a port end flyer crossing the fleet, and would remain ahead until the finish with Charles holding off Dave W to finish second. At this stage Alan who had struggled with boat setup decided enough was enough as the frustration got the better of him. As the number of skippers was diminishing it was decided to ditch the dedicated RO and the starts would be self monitored and first to finish would record the results. To make things fairer the 2 helms who had RO’d (Dave W and James) would have an average score used to complete the missing scores
Race 4 and this time James who had a bit of advice from Clive on his set up, joined Clive in crossing, what was left of the fleet. on port tack from the start. The pair had a good battle to the finish with James taking line honours. There was also a good battle going on behind with Charles getting his revenge over Dave W for third
It was decided that enough really did mean enough and we decided to retreat to the clubhouse, although the sun did start to come through the clouds. Thanks to Dave for a few photos from Race 1.
A warm sunny day, reasonably consistent wind and a colourful lake. What more could we want? Answer – More Sailors: possibly due to confusion with the DF95 open being postponed many thinking the lake unsailable combined with holidays and a few being unavoidably detained on other things.
The three that were up for it had a very enjoyable time, eight races were held. Although the algae was present the boat speed was little affected. The usual course was sailed using the whole lake. Starts were consistently good with very close racing throughout the course with each achieving at least one win.
There were just 8 brave souls who participated in the DF65 racing this morning. One additional sailor turned up and after a quick practice decided he would return home and get on with other things.
There was a light A+ breeze straight down the lake, but unfortunately it was a tough morning and your result was usually based on how you managed the build up of algae on the keel and rudder. The favoured way was to keep to the near bank and “dunk” your boat several times upwind and down to shed the algae. Deciding how often and where to “dunk” could determine the outcome as you needed to catch the shifts right, otherwise you might lose out to someone else who did get it right (by good planning or a bit of luck).
Paul and Peter were vying for top spot with Paul just gaining the most wins, although the last race was very tight and only a boat length separated them at the finish, with a sychronised tack off the bank 2m out from the finish. Unfortunately, Peter hadn’t capitalised on Paul’s RO duty earlier on when Neil took the win, but the overall result would still have gone to Paul who won the last race.
Although it was frustrating at times (Malcolm couldn’t stand the pressure and ended up a spectator after two races), racing was still close and the result could quite easily have gone a different way.
Post racing we celebrateda big “0” birthday for Clive with a Birthday cake very kindly provided by Clives’ sister Gill. Thanks go to Dave W and Peter for the photos and Paul for producing the results.
Before racing started we did take the time to embarrass Clive by singing happy birthday to him as well as enjoying some birthday cake that his sister, Gill, had brought over to celebrate with. He had also been busy on his birthday adding some wider”feet” to the clubhouse benches, so hopefully they will not topple over as easily.
As for the racing, with the wind virtually straight down the lake the usual windward mark, spreader and leeward gate was used. Normally with only a small fleet we would have self marshalled the start with first boat to finish scoring. However, as Gill had stayed the watch the racing she was quickly enrolled as PRO for the afternoon.
With only four boats the racing was very relaxed. In the first two races Phyl definitely had good boat speed off the line and was tough to catch. In race one Paul was slow in comparison, but after some tweaking to his new A rig, he did get his boat going well in the following races. Neil had some good starts and was in the mix throughout the afternoon, as was Clive who got the better of Paul going into the leeward mark holding on to the finish in race three. In the end, Paul counting three 1sts and a 2nd came out on top. With Clive and Neil tied on points, Neil took 2nd overall based on their results in the last race.
