DF65’s
Real Autumn day at Gautby road today with sunshine and a clear sky, but properly chilly for the first time this year with everyone looking for extra layers of insulation. The wind was Northerly as forecasted, blowing with some chunky gusts from the far corner of the lake, and leaving an obvious flat patch on the far side where the trees are. A rig was right for the conditions which ranged from flat calm to top end on some of the runs.
Less obvious – but became clear as soon as racing started – was that the breeze was all over the place all over the lake. Down at the start line it looked a no brainer to start on starboard at the outer end, but as always it wasn’t that way all the time as in practice the starboard tack “parking” area had intermittent flat spots causing boats to be late for the start despite being quite close to the line.
Racing was very keen right across the fleet with individual boats getting away up the beat only to be reeled in elsewhere on the track. The wind went very slightly right over the morning which made the approach to the top mark a real lottery. Clive and Mike swapped a one two in the first two races, Andrew won the third, James the fourth, and then Andrew did a complete horizon job in race five.
Boat glitches also affected the results for several skippers. Alan put in a third in race one, then lost the next three races due to a rigging failure and a delay warming his fingers up enough to retie everything. James missed the first race re-rigging his winch, and then after a clear win in race six and ROing race seven, Alan’s boat wouldn’t fire up again so he missed races eight and nine.
Clive did some boat whispering for Dave White who was immediately much faster, while Charles started off with a couple of good results but then had something in the rig slip so missed a number of races dealing with it.
Some very close racing with five different winners, and the usual thanks to Commodore Dave for keeping things moving and doing the results and taking photos which are as shown below.
- 35 Mike de St Paer 10pts 3 wins
- 194 Andrew Potter 14pts 2 wins
- 53 Clive Warren 15pts 1 win
- 73 James Douglas 16pts 2 wins
- 94 David White 28pts (ahead on countback)
- 33 Dave Williams 28pts
- 373 Alan Watkinson 34pts 1 win
- 39 Richard Walker 39pts
- 21 Charles Legg 49pts
DF95’s
6 skippers turned out in the afternoon for the 95 social sailing. The afternoon was much like the morning with what felt like a bitterly cold northerly blowing from the opposite corner of the lake from the clubhouse. A similar course to the morning was used with the usual windward mark, spreader and gate, and for 3 of the races an extended beat to the finish was used but this spread the field out too much and so was shortened back to finishing half way up the lake. With only 6 boats the starts were self monitored, and first to finish recorded the results. 8 races were sailed giving 2 discards.
From the start the skippers were almost split into 2 groups with Alan, Paul and Clive in the leading pack with Steve, Stuart and Andy in the second pack. Conditions were very tricky even by Gautby Rd standards, especially at the top end of the lake when trying to plan a route into the windward mark and many a position as won or lost at this point. For the luck ones getting round the first mark often meant a winning position especially if the leader picked up on one of the frequent gusts which would see them halfway down the lake whilst the boats behind were left wallowing still at the windward mark. Despite this there was some very tight racing within the 2 groups with so close finishes and private duals and the skippers couldn’t ease up as there were plenty of holes to drop into and false shifts to trick even the experienced helm leaving them in irons going nowhere fast.
In the leading group Paul made the best of the conditions, clocking up 4 wins and 2 seconds, with Clive a close second with 2 firsts and 5 seconds, with Alan a very close third also with 2 wins and 1 second. In the second group there also was close competition, with Andy having the family bragging rights over his brother this week with Steve slotting in between them.
All in all, a cold, frustrating (at times) afternoon but still enjoyable racing with very good individual battles.
Results
- Paul Plested 8pts 4 wins
- Clive Warren 10pts 2 wins
- Alan Watkinson 13pts 2 wins
- Andy Mearns 26pts
- Steve Miller 28pts
- Stuart Mearns 32pts
Commodore Dave chased everyone for a prompt – or even early – start on a standard course. The existing start mark positions offered a choice between a very starboard – or a very port – biased start line. It was so light and fluky that no one reckoned it was worth paddling to do a reset so the starboard biased line was chosen as the “least worst” option. This full course was used for race one, but as the race duration was close to 20 minutes overall it was then agreed to run a shortened Port hand course using the finish mark as the windward mark, and the leeward gate as a leeward mark and spreader. This worked well and enabled the fleet to get in six races until on the seventh, as noted below, the wind went to nothing although Alan had sailed a perfect race and was the only boat to get across the line although Richard got very close before all the other competitors were finished on the water
The wind was really very light and patchy, but it seemed initially to pay to get right down to the pin and then try and get away on starboard. This seemed to pay to start with but in later races it began to pay to start nearer the clubhouse side and then make a short port tack to stay in the middle of the course and keep the options open.
What breeze there was came – as forecast – from the South East, and stayed in until a bit of drizzle brought in a slow reduction in pressure until in race 7 it went absolutely flat, and it was agreed to finish the morning session by giving places on the water.
Various boats showed good speed at different times, including Andy Mearns who was suddenly right on the pace after some mid-session tweaking. There were four different race winners over the morning’s racing, and despite the conditions racing was very keen. With a couple of extra race wins Mike dsp was able to stay clear of the pack on a day where luck was definitely a factor.
Full results as shown below with the usual thanks to Commodore Dave for moving things along, and to Malcom who kindly ROd for us and did the results as well.
In both races one and two Derek Priestley got away sharply at the pin end and was able to tack on to port to lead the fleet up the lake to sail away and bag two bullets. Whilst this would suggest that starting at the port end was the way to go for the morning, as the racing progressed and with considerable shifts developing those getting away cleanly at the starboard end of the line, with potentially more breeze further out on the lake, also started to feature high on the scoreboard. In races three and four the local lads Graham Elliott and Martin Roberts, perhaps not happy about being shown the way around ‘their lake’ by Derek took a 1st each, although Derek was still in the mix scoring two thirds and then a first again in race five. Darin Ballington also featured highly in several races in this first session, with two seconds and a third.
Whilst getting a clean start was a priority, the challenge for the whole fleet was getting in and out of the leeward gate unscathed. With a 20 strong fleet it was always busy at this end of the lake. Tacking through the middle on the shifts rather than opting for a safer but potentially slower option to sail around the fleet wasn’t for the faint hearted, with several well placed skippers sadly finding this out the hard way.
After a short drinks break another five races got underway and it was the same three sailors in Derek, Graham and Martin hogging the top spots, but with other helms not far behind. Peter Baldwin, who was finally getting into gear, Darin Ballington and Robbie McIntosh all picked up some low counting scores. John Brierley also had a good albeit not consistent morning with several low scoring races, although his day would eventually be cut short due to technical issues with his boat. In race nine, Gary Parkin sailed a great race and was a shoe in for the win until he misjudged and hit a leeward gate mark on the last rounding. The chasing pack pounced and he dropped down to 7th.
At the break for lunch, with three hours before the cut-off time and ten races completed, all seemed good for sixteen plus races. However, as the afternoon session began the signs were there that it might be more of a challenge as the breeze was beginning to fade. In the lighter breeze both Graham continued as he’d left off scoring 1, 2, 1 in the first three races. Martin and Derek were also up there picking up podium positions, but others were coming to the fore. Peter took a 1st and 2nd in these three and Roger Crates picked up his second 3rd of the day.
By race fourteen, as the breeze leaked away, it was clear that getting to the extra discard at race sixteen was going to be difficult, but it could be done. In the fickle winds now seen, keeping the boat moving even if not in exactly the direction you wanted was key. Martin made the best of what wind there was scoring a 3, 1, 2 with Peter also taking another 1st and 2nd to add to his scorecard. Conversely Graham didn’t feature in the top three in these last races, which made it very tight for the overall. Roger picked up a 1st, Derek another 2nd and Paul Plested popped up to take take two thirds.
By 3:30pm the wind had gone completely, and with sixteen races done Graham Elliott came out on top with 30pts to take home the Strebor Trophy. Martin Roberts, in a closely fought competition, was just one point behind Graham in 2nd place on on 31 points. Derek Priestley finished 3rd overall and Peter Baldwin was 4th. Whilst others may not feature in the top spots overall, there was clearly some great racing throughout the fleet. Rod Radbourne put together a good series of races with all counting results being single digit scores and several others had some low scoring placings, if not the consistency they might have wanted. Great also to see the both Clive Warren and John Tideswell, both newcomers to the IOM class, getting involved and no doubt learning a lot from the experience.
To avoid loss of time the first three races were sailed in conditions which were really over the top for A rig, and a consensus was to stop again and go for B rig. The wind direction was South to South East as forecast which meant the top clubhouse corner was its usual tricky self, but the deciding factor as usual was the gust strength which made downwind sailing a complete lottery.
A quick change to B rig, and somewhat in the running order. Mikedsp had been on the pace on A rig, but successfully found the slow buttons on B rig, while PaulP, John C, James, Clive and PaulL all showed excellent boatspeed resulting in some very close racing. Unfortunately, this had eliminated Andy Mearns as he had only brought A+ but he very kindly agreed to stay and RO for the morning.
Earlier on it had seemed to pay to get the bow down and hit the corner opposite the Clubhouse then come back on a long port tack, but as the morning progressed this didn’t pay and working the shifts further towards the more windward clubhouse side of the lake seemed better.
Racing remained close with quite a few minor boat to boat brushes and some nosediving changing the order. Mikedsp just emerged the winner on countback from PaulP, with JohnC only two points behind, and then Clive and James a further three points back with Clive taking 4th on countback. Really close racing.
JohnC was very unlucky to be tagged while leading a race comfortably, and quite a few turns were made in the very gusty conditions changing positions.
The gusty nominally southerly breeze remained from the clubhouse end, which swung easterly at times meant the difficulties from the morning continued into the afternoon for the DF95 racing. Unfortunately, only 5 skippers showed up/remained, perhaps a hangover from the DF95 open held at the weekend. The choice of rig was B, and after a bit of re-rigging of Steves boat, first time the B rig had been used, we were ready to go, 5 minutes later than normal. The same standard course as the morning was used, and as normal with a small fleet the starts were self monitored and the first to finish recorded the race result.
Racing was generally dominated by Paul and Clive showing good boat speed from the outset, but having said that there were a couple of very close races with 4 boats rounding the gate mark together.
Further back Martin was best of the rest picking up a second place in race 7, in a tight finish, just getting the better of Paul. Steve showed he was picking up the skills to move him up the fleet and was only beaten by Malcolm on count back with Malcolms third place in the last race edging him ahead.
Towards the end of racing the wind dropped of slightly and we could have probably dropped to A rig, but there were still a few strong gusts that kept B as a safe option. All in all a great afternoons social sailing inpartial sun and warm temperatures for the time of year and a decent breeze. What better way to spend an afternoon with good friends
School half-term week attracted just 7 DF65 sailors …. which is strange since I can’t think of any regular sailors who are young enough to have school age children …. unless everybody was on grand parents duty instead … although nobody took the option to bring the grand children to Gautby Rd which might have provided some unplanned entertainment!
Those that did attend had an enjoyable morning with A+ rigs, 10 races and a (mostly) NW wind with regular puffs from a more westerly direction ensuring that the usual Gautby Rd jeopardy was in play in every race. The course comprised of a beat to the windward mark, around a spreader, back down the lake to a single leeward mark and up to the finish. There was no set pattern to the beats …. sometimes it paid to take a single port tack to the far bank while at other times it paid to take a hitch on starboard and hope to pick up one of the port lifting puffs. Downwind was just a case of being in the wind.
Charles lodged his complaint that racing was going to be dominated by James and Andrew while we were still rigging …. and then made himself look foolish by winning 2 out of the first 4 races. James decided to use his 2 discards when his main sheet came off the winch in race 2 but returned in time for race 4
After the first 4 races, Charles’s prophesy did come true with James and Andrew fighting for the top places while everybody else battled behind. James came out on top winning the last 4 races helped by Richard taking out Andrew in race 7, and some incompetent mark rounding by Andrew while leading in race 8.
Many thanks to Dave for being RO for most races and getting some photos in as well.