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DF65 Social Racing – 23/10/24

There was only the merest hint of a breeze arriving at 10am, but by 10:30 it was shaping up to be a decent breeze down the length of the lake from the clubhouse end.  Peter donned the waders and shifted a few marks to provide a decent windward leg for the first couple of races.

The fleet of 12 boats started in a light A+ rig breeze with the usual Gautby Rd holes and shifts to catch people out and pose the usual “shall I tack or not” question.  Andrew Potter started well and led for most of the first race, until Peter covered him on the run and overtook at the gate to take the win.  Race 2 and Peter made some new friends at the back of the fleet with a jib sheeting problem, leaving Paul Plested and Mike De St Paer to battle out for line honours, which went to Paul in this instance.

Race 3 was won by Peter after a battle with Clive and Richard Robinson who made a welcome return to Wednesday mornings.  Clive made a great start in Race 4 and led for a good part of the race and through the final gate.  However, Gautby Road decided not to favour him with the win and allowed both Peter and Paul to creep up the bank leaving him stranded in the middle of the lake with or no wind and a resultant third.

By now the wind was definitely across the lake, with starts being sometimes a beat and at other times a broad reach.  The main requirement was to keep your boat moving both off the line and continue to the windward mark.  Peter, Andrew and Clive were all vying for top spot all the way to the finish of Race 5, with a nail biting win for Peter as the other pair got a gust from behind.  In the final race Clive finally managed the win that he had been so close to achieving all morning.

A slightly early finish was called with tidying work to do in readiness for the RG65 TT weekend, although nobody complained with the wind being less than perfect.  Thanks must go to Liz Potter and Sharon Plested for acting as our Race Committee this morning and Paul Plested for the quick photo whilst we were temporarily parked up.

  1. Peter Baldwin           63   6pts  4 wins
  2. Clive Warren             53  12pts  1 win
  3. Paul Plested             154  15pts 1 win
  4. Mike De St Paer        35  19pts
  5. Andrew Potter         194  20pts
  6. Richard Robinson  901  24pts
  7. Richard Walker        39  31pts
  8. Dave Williams          33  36pts
  9. David White              94  42pts
  10. Sally Collings         829  49pts
  11. Charles Legg              21  50pts
  12. Malcolm Harvey  1019  59pts

DF95 Summer Series #7 – 19/10/24

The weather gods were kind to us today, with blue sky, sunshine and a gentle westerly breeze, which in real terms means the wind was from the top end of the lake with a bit of housing estate bias to keep things  interesting, providing enough shifts for overtaking opportunities. No arguments about the choice of rigs, ‘ A rigs’ all round. The standard course of, weather mark, spreader, gate,  with the finish line halfway up the lake was set.  Single lap races were planned to maximise the number of races. 12 races were completed with Neil Westbrook acting as RO for the day keeping the schedule moving and keeping us in check on the start line.
Racing started on time with 10 skippers making it to the start line for the first race including a guest Phil Shepherd from West Kirby. Paul P. posted his intentions early taking the first race, from John Beech who had one of his best days and showed very good boat speed especially in the morning session.
Clive took the second race, with Paul P second, Paul had an extremely consistent day posting 11 top 3 finishes, the only blotch on his record being a DNS when after lunch when he forgot to switch his boat on.  John B then took a well deserved win in race 3, with Paul P second and the Alan third who was improving his position with each race, unfortunately we lost Frans after this race, when he was not feeling well enough to continue.
Race 4 and Alans improvement continued, taking line honours pushed all the way by Paul P and John B.  Race 5 and Paul P interrupted his run of second places by adding another win, Andrew Peters notching up a second and Clive third Clive ended a consistent morning session in race 6 with a second win, Paul again second and Alan third.  Lunch was then taken.
The afternoon session started with no change to the conditions.  Race 7 saw a very popular winner in Malcom, he lead early on and held off Clive and Paul L to take line honours.  The remaining races were all closely contested and followed similar results to the morning session with Paul P, Clive, Alan. and Andrew taking the lions share of the podium places.
In summary:  A really enjoyable afternoons racing, in good conditions with enough shifts to make it interesting. A very competitive fleet with 8 of the 9 skippers recording a top 3 finish and 5 different race winners (not including Frans who retired early)
  1. Paul Plested                                   16pts      5 wins
  2. Clive Warren                                 24pts     3 wins
  3. Alan Watkinson                           31pts      2 wins
  4. Andrew Peter                               36pts
  5. John Beech                                    47pts      1 win
  6. Paul Little                                      59pts
  7. Malcolm Harvey                          60pts      1 win
  8. Martin Whittingham-Jones   67pts
  9. Phil Shepherd                               75pts
  10. Frans King    (Retired)

IOM Summer 2024 #8 – 12/10/24

9 skippers entered for the clubs final IOM Summer Series race, a decent entry considering there was quite a few regulars away at Fleetwood.
The wind was light and patchy for the first 3 races but we all knew there was a storm brewing that could mean a change in wind direction and strength at any time, the wind did straighten a little for races 4 to 6 and finally by race 7 it arrived and we all changed down to B rig.
Up another notch and all change again for race 8, down to C rig but the time we came out we found ourselves in the eye of the storm and bobbed around for 5 minutes in hardly anything, then finally it happened, claps of thunder, lightening and biblical hail, run for the clubhouse.
The racing was closely fought in all quarters with George deserving special mention, sailing his Father’s old BritPOP! to a commendable 6th position overall.
Race wins went to Brad and Graham with 4 apiece which would of been 5 to Brad if we had completed the final windward leg of the doomed race 9.
  1. Graham Elliott         Britpop!       8pts  (4 wins)
  2. Brad Gibson              Post Punk    8pts (4 wins)
  3. Martin Roberts        Britpop!       15pts
  4. Alan Bennett            Britpop!        23pts
  5. Bill Culshaw             Britpop!        29pts
  6. George Bennett       Britpop!        33pts
  7. John Berry                 Viper              36pts
  8. Guy Cowper              Lintel MMX 45pts
  9. Stan Metcalfe           Widget          49pts

Thanks to Dave Williams for these photos of the lst race and the ground conditions after the hail storm.

DF65 Social Racing 2024 – 9/10/24

Flying towards the finish

With a Northerly forecast for today, the racing was never going to be great, but we did manage to complete eight races befiore stopping ready for the pre-AGM scheduled for 13:00.

Peter donned the waders to tweak the course, moving the start line and gate to the near bank and we used the outer start line mark as the windward mark and we ready to start at 11:00 in some light rain and a light breeze from a generally Northerly direction with plenty of shifts back and forth such that keeping the boat moving was the key skill today.

Peter had a good lead in race one, but had misunderstood the course as set out by Dave, missed out the spreader and thus scored an NSC instead of a win.  This gifted Paul Plested the win, although for a long while it looked very much like Alan’s race.  Andrew Potter then aced races two and three, before Peter won four of the next 5 races, with Andrew picking up another win whilst Peter was RO.  Although not picking up wins, there were good performances across the fleet with some very close finishes, with Paul P, Alan, Paul L, John and Dave all being well placed in at least one race.

The day was characterised by some very wierd wind conditions with boats occasionally seeing the wind going around in circles, before steadying again 5 seconds later to its original direction.  The wind was also cruel to some leaders as the fleet caught up or even overtook them downwind.  We had more than one race with 5 or 6 boats all trying to fit through the gate at the same time; no contacts were made but it was a close run thing.

Thanks go to Dave Williams and Paul Plested for the photos.

  1. Peter Baldwin              63  7pts  4 wins
  2. Andrew Potter           194  8pts  3 wins
  3. Paul Plested                154 15pts  1 win
  4. Alan Watkinson        373  15pts
  5. Paul Little                      45  25pts
  6. Dave Williams              33  31pts
  7. John Carlin                     11  32pts
  8. Frans King                     95  36pts
  9. Richard Walker            39  37pts
  10. Simon Bates                  69  43pts
  11. David White                   94  48pts