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Category: results

DF65 Social Racing 2023 (22/2/23)

A 15-20kt north-westerly breeze blowing straight down the lake encouraged a good turnout of 15 boats to put their A rigs to the test today. By Birkenhead standards the wind was reasonably stable in direction, but with enough bends and shifts to allow the lucky/clever to pick up places or the unlucky to lose them quickly. At the start, the A rig choice appeared a bit optimistic but once racing started the wind moderated slightly and there were only a couple of significant gusts that caused minor mayhem on the downwind legs

The standard course of beat followed by port rounding of the windward and spreader marks, downwind through the gate and back to the finishing line, was used for all races

John C got off to a flyer winning the first 3 races and then fatally fiddled with something for the next 2. He won 2 more races which gave him an overall win on countback despite a bit of inconsistency due to further fiddling

John B showed greater consistency never being out of the top 4 after discards but placed 2nd overall with 3 wins

Mike also showed great consistency to come 3rd with all top 4 finishes after discards, only a point behind the first 2 and with 1 race win

  1. John Carlin            19pts (5 wins)
  2. John Brierley        19pts (3 wins)
  3. Mike St Paer.        20pts ((1 win)
  4. Neil Westbrook   28pts (1 win)
  5. Andrew Peter       35pts
  6. Alan Watkinson   41pts
  7. James Douglas     51pts
  8. Paul Little              59pts
  9. Malcolm Harvey 61pts
  10. Richard Walker   62pts
  11. Dave Williams     75pts
  12. Charles Legg        80pts
  13. Stan Metcalf       101pts
  14. John Beech          111pts

DF/RG65 Winter 2022/3 #6 (18/2/23)

A great wind, straight down the middle from the top of the lake for today’s RG65 club race.
All 6 skippers started in there 3rd rig, reduced area and conventional but after just one race the vicious gusts had disappeared so we all dived back in the club to move up a rig, for most this was a full area rig.
Martin unfortunately had to retire his Pocket Rocket after race 5 due to intermittent radio problems but took the helm of Daves Uno for the remaining races. Alan and Charles both enjoyed good boat speed, coupled with good sailing, this gave them quite a few decent positions throughout the day.
The RG is a great class to sail in these conditions but just one small mistake in the tack or at the start can lose you 10 boat lengths.  In the end it was Graham sailing his Brad Gibson designed Electronica who took the day, winning all 11 races.
Thanks go to Bernie for starting and finishing us and Dave for the few photos.
  1. Graham Elliott         electronica                    9pts     11 wins
  2. Alan Watkinson       Uno                                26pts
  3. Martin Roberts        PocketRocket/Uno  29pts
  4. Charles Legg             Uno                                36pts
  5. Neil Westbrook        Uno                                39pts
  6. Dave Williams           Uno                               44pts

DF65 Social Racing 2023 (15/2/23)

DF65 sailors were met with a very light south east(ish) breeze on arrival, which gradually picked up to make a pleasant A+ breeze.

Starting from the far end Mike De St Paer set the usual windward leeward course with top spreader and leeward gate. Three different winners in the first three races gave a taste of the conditions, but then a 180 deg windshift arrived as a front went over followed by a thin persistent drizzle, although the wind remained.

Now starting from the clubhouse end, Andrew Potter started to make the best of the conditions with some consistent sailing, chased hard by Clive Warren, Neil Westbrook and John Carlin.

Tricky conditions with gusts and flat patches resulted in close racing all through the fleet, but after eight races – the last one being a drifter – all agreed that enough was enough.

Andrew ran out a clear winner with three firsts followed closely by Clive, Neil and John with detail results as below:

  1. Andrew Potter      10 pts           3 wins
  2. Clive Warren          14 pts           2 wins
  3. Neil Westbrook    16 pts           2 wins
  4. John Carlin             17 pts
  5. Alan Watkinson   20 pts           1 win
  6. Don MacKinnon  32 pts
  7. Dave Williams      37 pts
  8. Charles Legg         46 pts
  9. Stan Metcalfe       47 pts
  10. Malcolm Harvey 52 pts
  11. John Beech            61 pts
  12. Frans King             64 pts

DF95 Social Racing 2023 #1

There was a healthy turnout of nine boats for this first Saturday Social Racing day for the DF95.  A light Westerly breeze blew down the lake and racing got underway shortly after 12:00 with the course marks tweaked slightly for the prevailing conditions.

There were four different winners from the eleven races, with a number of other helms also figuring at the front of the fleet.  Getting a decent result was all about finding the best pressure and staying in it, both upwind and down as the best lanes could quite narrow and never predictable or regular.

Peter Baldwin managed to win five of the races, with John Brierley taking three, John Carlin two and Andrew Peter one.  This left Peter on top with 14points and 3points ahead of John Brierley, with Andrew and John Carlin only 1 point apart in third and forth.  Clive Warren, Neil Westbrook and Alan Watkinson also had spells at the front, but were unfortunately unable to capitalise on their positions to take a win by the end of the race.

Thanks go to Bernie for running this afternoons racing and making a brew at “half -time”.

  1. Peter Baldwin             172  14pts  (5 wins)
  2. John Brierley                84  17pts  (3 wins)
  3. Andrew Peter             179  28pts (1 win)
  4. John Carlin                   50  29pts  (2 wins)
  5. Neil Westbrook          03  45pts  (1x3rd)
  6. Clive Warren               93  45pts
  7. Alan Watkinson         23  54pts
  8. Dave Williams            33  64pts
  9. John Beech                288  78pts

DF65 Social Racing 2023 – 8/2/23

A good A+ wind from the Clubhouse greeted the 12 sailors, a long course was set using the full lake with the start at the top end, down to the Clubhouse windward mark to port spreader to port then a long run to the gate at the top end of the lake with the finish halfway between mark and finish post.

Simon started well with a 3rd and 5th then unfortunately electrical problems took over and he had to retire. A welcome return by Stan showed he still is a force to be reckoned with taking two 2nd places. As usual the top places were contested by John, Alan and Neil with John taking overall honours. Relatively new member Clive again showed he is one to watch taking 2 wins and always finishing in the top half.

With each sailor as RO in turn, and with Simon retiring, 11 races were held.

  1. John Carlin             14 pts 4 wins
  2. Alan Watkinson   19 pts 3 wins
  3. Neil Westbrook    22 pts 2 wins
  4. Clive Warren         27 pts 2 wins
  5. Richard Walker    37 pts
  6. Paul Little               38 pts
  7. Stan Metcalf          42 pts 2 x 2nd
  8. Charles Legg          42 pts  0 x 2nd
  9. Malcolm Harvey  55 pts
  10. John Beech             76 pts
  11. Frans King             78 pts
  12. Simon Bates          99 pts

IOM Winter Series 2022/3 #5 (4/2/23)

There was only a very light breeze from over the houses today, with some occasional pressure, but also some holes.  A course was setup starting from the far end with a windward mark and spreader at the clubhouse end and a gate on the far side below the start.  Boats usually had to tack to make the Windward mark, but it was never too clear cut which was the favoured way there.

Graham Elliott set the initial pace with a win in Race 1, before Brad Gibson took races 2 and 3.  Martin Roberts then got the measure of the conditions and picked up races 4 and 5 before Neil Westbrook had a storming first leg, and along with Brad pulling out a big lead on the fleet. This culminated in a final leg tackle with Brad with Neil’s Widget getting the win over the TS2.

After a tea break (thanks Bernie), there seemed to be a little more pressure when we resumed, but hopes of a better breeze were dashed, with little more for the remaining races after that initial burst.  In the final four races Brad took races 7 and 10 with Martin picking up the wins in races 8 and 9.  There was some close competition through the fleet and some place changes possible if the wind filled in from the rear, although it usually seemed to favour those who were in front from the start.

The final podium places were Brad first with 13 pts, then Martin and Graham tied on 16 pts, with Martin picking up second on account of his four wins relative to Graham having only one.  Thanks once again go to Dave Williams for running the racing this week and taking a few photos of the, err action??

  1. Brad Gibson            17  TS2                    13pts
  2. Martin Roberts      55  Widget            16pts (4 wins)
  3. Graham Elliott       70  Fractel             16pts (1 win)
  4. Bill Culshaw            21   Britpop!          30pts
  5. Peter Baldwin        63  Britpop!           37 pts
  6. Neil Westbrook      03  Widget            42 pts
  7. John Berry               123  Lintel MMX 52 pts
  8. Alan Watkinson      23  Britpop!         56 pts