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DF/RG65 Winter 2024 #4 – 25/1/25

After the recent spell of cold weather and strong winds, today was just the opposite, a pleasant sunny afternoon but unfortunately with a light wind blowing from the top of the lake. One of the start marks had to be moved before the start at 12.00, with the usual course of windward, then spreader and down through the gate and finish half way for the RG’s, with a shorter course for the DFs.

Unfortunately only two 65’s entered so this was a very useful training session for Phyl who has recently joined us radio sailing after many years of big boat sailing. Five RG’s had entered, numbers down due in part to the IOM Northern District Winter series race at Ripon.

Today was always going to be between the two Ivys of John and Bill and so it was with John taking 5 wins to Bill’s four. Alan, Charles and Dave sailing UNO’s were having their own very close racing up to the lunch break with very little between them. During the break Alan decided to change his rig for one he had not used even though it was several years old.

Also, during the break the light wind had started to disappear so we only managed three more races. This was when Alan shocked every one with taking a win a second and third. Thanks to Clive for his tuning tips to Phyl, John Carlin for officiating after lunch break and to Dave Williams for donning the waders, being line judge, scoring and managing to take a few photos. A pleasant afternoons sailing only spoilt by the dying wind, but 10 races held.

RG65’s

  1. John Brierley        11pts 5wins Ivy
  2. Bill Culshaw          14pts 4wins Ivy
  3. Alan Watkinson  23pts 1win Uno
  4. Dave Williams     28pts Uno
  5. Charles Legg        33pts Uno

DF65’s

  1. Clive Warren         8pts
  2. Phyl Fanning      16pts

Change of Event be IOM Winter #2 on Saturday 8/2/25

It was decided at the recent committee meeting to change the event on Saturday 8th  February from DF95 Winter #4 to be IOM Winter #2 which was lost due to a frozen lake.

When the club’s Winter Calendar was produced, the DF TT series dates were not available and so a DF95 Winter series event was planned on the weekend of the West Lancs DF TT.  As this is one of our more local clubs, a number of DF95 sailors will be attending and so DF95 turnout was expected to be rather low.

Therefore, IOM Winter #2 will be run in its place in an attempt to produce a 6 race series, but also to provide additional racing opportunities for those planning on campaigning for a place as a GBR representative at the IOM 2026 Worlds being held in the UK.

Any previous entries for this event have been cleared down and so new entries will need to be made.

DF65 Social Racing 2025 – 22/1/25

The forecast didn’t look to promising for wind once again this week and combined with thick fog early on, it seems to have kept a few at home with only 7 takers for racing.  As it turned out, we had a light ENE to SE breeze (and a bit of mist) which built slightly around 12:00 befor dropping back by the end of sailing.  A total of 8 races were completed with about five of these using a shortened course using only half the lake with the remainder using the whole lake when the breeze picked up.

With the low turnout we self policed the start line and finishing, although Dave did keep a watch on the start line to ensure no major premature pre-starters.  We did have two general recalls, but that was simply because twice (the same!) two boats forgot which pair of marks we were using for the start line as there had been a few changes during the morning. At least this way nobody got caught out by the premature starters returning to start correctly.

We had four different race winners during the morning, although Peter did pick up the bulk of four wins such that one bright spark quipped “will you be getting writers cramp soon?” when writing down the fourth set of results.  All good fun with some close racing on a day when picking the right way to go was not always obvious.  Dave Williams had a great first leg in race 8 having tacked early off the line, picking up a line of breeze and although Peter was catching up by the finish he held onto his lead through to the end.  The time was getting on by the end of Race 8 and as it was raining steadily by now, we decided to call it a day. Full results below, with thanks to Malcolm for plugging them in after finishing.

DF95 Winter Series 2024 #3 – 18/1/25

A gentle A rig breeze from the Clubhouse end greeted todays fleet of DF95 sailors.  We had hoped for 12 boats on the start line, but unfortunately some last minute technical issues precluded two sailors from starting and so they very kindly ran the racing and scoring instead.  In addition, a dropped turn on the boat of Dave Williams led to both himself and his helper Alan missing the first race with RO Neil Westbrook starting on time at 12:00.

Race 1 and 2 had the first three boats in the same finishing positions with Peter taking two wins and John Brierley second place.  John B then won Race 3 after Peter was called OCS, although he did recover to third behind John Carlin in second.  John C then went one better to win Race 4 swapping places with John B (Peter picked up another OCS call and had to return once again losing vital time!).  Martin, meanwhile had a technical issue and missed these two races.  He made up for it in Race 5 with a second to Peters win and then John B won Race 6, this being the last race before a break for an early lunch as Neil had decided to run races as just a single lap as the fleet was often well separated even after one lap.

At the break, the top 3 was Peter first on countback from John Brierley and John Carlin in third.

The second session after lunch saw the breeze drop for a few races, before picking up again for the final couple of races.  There were however some big wind shifts and holes that could easily  catch you out and result in a lead change before the windward mark.

The afternoon session belonged to Martin and Peter, who shared the wins between them. with John B seemingly off the pace with both his discards in this second session.  The results probably don’t show it, but the fleet was often closely contested up the first beat with at least half the fleet often rounding in close contention, with Alan and John C well in the mix. Also, after some boat adjustments from Martin earlier in the afternoon amd from Peter at the break, saw Phyl keeping up with the fleet and picking up a good result in Race 11.

When Malcom had worked out the final scores, Peter ran out the clear winner, with Martin powering through into second place after the second session results, with John B having to settle for third.  Many thanks to Neil and Malcom for running the racing and getting the scores ready soon after we finished.

DF65 Social Racing 2025 – 15/1/25

A lovely day at Gautby road for the first DF65 social racing day of 2025 – blue sky and sun but alas almost no wind – and an excellent turnout of twelve racers. All the ice from last week had disappeared leaving a large armchair in the lake just below the start area.

Armchair? Why was it there we might ask…..armchair ice curling practice? / it seemed a good idea at the time? / why?  – answers on a postcard please.

Having decided not to sail all the races John Carlin very kindly went paddling and retrieved it, assisted by Paul Little (who very sensibly stayed on the bank to supervise) but John reported that there is more debris in that area which will need to be removed as soon as practicable.

Back to the sailing which looked unlikely when we all arrived as there was hardly a breath of wind. A very, very light S.Easterly breeze did come in, but all of the mornings sailing was a real dead slow and stop drifting match.

Dave set a short course using the start line which was good for the wind direction, the finish buoy as a windward mark, the outer start mark as a leeward mark and then back to the usual finish line. Races were taking more than 15 minutes on this course giving an indication of just how light conditions were.

Having said all this the racing was really very good with four different winners for the four races completed, with the first three boats covered by one point as shown below. Neil sailed very well having missed the first race and his 1,2,2 results were good enough to win from Paul P who in turn beat Mikedsp on countback.

After four races the general consensus was that enough was enough, and a finish was called. Thanks to Dave for ROing (and being chief photographer) and, as always, for doing the results, and finally thanks again to John and Paul L for removing the lake debris.

  1. Neil Westbrook                5 pts       1 win
  2. Paul Plested                      6 pts       1 win   (ahead on countback)
  3. Mike de St Paer               6 pts        1 win
  4. Clive Warren                  10 pts        1 win
  5. Charles Legg                  14 pts
  6. Alan Watkinson            16 pts
  7. Richard Walker             16  pts                   (ahead on countback)
  8. Frans King                     21 pts
  9. David White                  23 pts
  10. Malcolm Harvey         30 pts                  (ahead on countback)
  11. John Carlin                    30 pts                  (rtd after R1)
  12. Paul Little                      39 pts

IOM Winter 2024 #2 Cancelled – 11/1/25

Unfortunately with the snow earlier in the week followed by very low overnight temperatures this week, the lake is well frozen and the walkways are still icy and dangerous to walk on.  IOM Winter series #2 has therefore been cancelled and all existing entries have been emailed.  It’s a pity as there were 14 entries and so it could have been a good afternoon.