A game of two halves today as the lake had to be recommissioned ready for Saturday’s DF65 Open event. This involved replacing the marks and also doing a litter pick of the whole site.
Since algae stopped racing some 4 weeks ago, the marks had been removed and today recovered from the undergrowth around the lake. They were then re-roped with a new set of weights kindly obtained by Dave W.
Dave W collected the marks early on and then Peter, Dave White and PaulP sortied the ground tackle, PaulP then went wading to replace the marks and the usual accumulation of over 4 weeks of litter was picked up by another squad.
PaulP had to leave before sailing, which left 6 skippers ready to go, although Phyl couldn’t get his transmitter to talk to the boat so had to miss the racing, otherwise we would have been 7. The wind was SE “ish”, top of A+, with some hefty gusts and corresponding lulls. Since the day was really about seeing if the algae had dispersed sufficiently to enable meaningful racing, it was agreed to go ahead with A+ although A might possibly have been a better fit.
Peter was a dominant first overall with 3 wins in 5 races, the other wins being Andrew Potter and Mike. Mike led the first race but then appeared to hit something after rounding the gate, but subsequent investigation by Peter indicated that this was probably the mudbank at the far end (with the low water level) so after racing the gate was moved upwind a bit.
Andrew missed the last race due to winch line pulley failure, and as the rain was starting it was agreed that enough was enough after 5 races.
Not a day of champagne sailing, but very pleasant to be back racing, with final results as shown below. Hopefully numbers will increase again soon after the holiday period.
- Peter Baldwin 63 5pts 3 wins
- Mike de St Paer 35 9pts 1 win
- Andrew Potter 194 11pts 1 win
- John Carlin 11 12pts
- Dave Williams 33 17pts
- Dave White 94 21pts
Five RG65’s turned out for Round 6 of the Summer Series, with two brave souls carrying on from the DF95 Social Racing in the morning. Conditions were not dissimilar to the morning session and the forecsat Westerly breeze never materialised in either strength or direction. Combined with the ever present algae it was a tricky afternoon trying to cope with the shifting wind and significant impact of the algae. Three sported Swing Rigs and two in full size conventional, with not a lot to choose between them in performance terms.
Our initial course was a single beat and run over the whole length of the lake, but as the race took so long, from race two onwards our RO of the day Neil Westbrook shortened it down to two laps using the finish mark halfway up the lake.
Garry Benson took the lions share of wins with five from the eight races. Peter managed a win in race two and Alan Watkinson took the win in Race 4, with Dave Williams picking up the win in the final Race after Garry suffered a rudder servo failure towards the end of the race. Many of the races were very close and finishes could go to anyone in the fleet, with the fickle wind suddenly bringing a back marker up to the front on a run whilst the leaders sat stationary close to the line.
Charles had a great day with four 2nds, narrowly missing out on a win in one race and ended up only one point behind Peter at the end and place a very satisfying third overall. Alan was unable to build on his win in Race 4 and even though he asissted Garry to the shore in Race 8, still picked up a third place as Peter had an intermittent electrical problem and so sat out Race 8.
Seven DF95 skippers turned up for the second extra Saturday morning social racing sessions that had been added to the sailing calendar and it would be fair to say, that most if not all, probably wished they’d found something else to do with their time. The forecast was for a stiff breeze from the SW moving to the West with boats on B rigs. Martin Wittingham-Jones even came ready to sail with his B rig with 10 minutes to the start, only to have to quickly swap up to A rig just in time to race in what was a very shifting lightish breeze coming from over the houses. This combined with the ever present algae, made it a challenge for all.
Races one and two saw Paul Plested and Peter Baldwin pull away from the pack early on, and both took the option of de-weeding on the run/reach from the the starboard rounded windward mark and spreader mark. Paul managed to hang on for two firsts, with Peter close behind in 2nd. Steve Miller, who had a good day, managed a 3rd in the first race and a 4th in the second.
As with earlier races, both Paul and Peter got away with Paul taking the win. Steve Miller bagged another 3rd just pipping Alan to the line. In race five both Phyl Fanning, who had finally got his boat going in the conditions, and Martin, who suffered with electrical problems all morning, had a good first beat and were both in contention as they approached the leeward mark, with Peter just ahead and Paul just behind. Peter took the win and Paul managed to get through to 2nd, with Martin taking 3rd.
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.
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
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.