Birkenhead Radio Sailing & Power Club
The Commodore and the Club Commitee would like to wish all our members and sailing friends a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year.
We thank you for your support and participation over the past year and look forward to seeing existing and new friends at Birkenhead in 2025.
This last day of sailing in 2024 at the club, proved to be one to blow the cobwebs away. As we arrived, the tail end of a squall gave heavy rain and strong gusts such that a C rig looked to be on the cards, but soon after the wind abated and we started on B rigs after Peter had tweaked the marks a little to align with the Westerly breeze. It was nearly straight down the lake but had some strong gusts from over the houses. Big shifts and the potential for stalling the boat was very likely at any point during the afternoon and so the key task was to keep it moving at all times.
In the first session of six races before the break we had five different winners, in the form of Peter Baldwin, Paul Plested, John Brierley, Martin Roberts and visitor Paul Middleton, with only John racking up two wins. The wind abated at one point such that we really needed A rigs as we bobbed up and down waiting for the next gust. However, this was very short lived and by the start of the next race B rig was the right one to be using once more.
After the break, conditions were very similar for around three races, until the gusts started to increase in strength. The forecasts were suggesting at least double in the gusts and that looked to be the case with plenty of nose-diving and occasional loss of control. That is until the last race when the average picked up a notch during the race and we were into survival mode for the remainder, leading to some lost places for those who couldn’t tack away from the far bank. This session belonged to John as he notched up 4 wins, with Martin and Peter taking the other two. This gave John an easy win on 14 points with Martin second on 21 and Peter third on 25.
Thanks go to Neil for running the afternoon and to Dave for helping him out and scoring the day after some electrical problems during the afternoon led to few race finishes for him. Photos from Dave Williams and Paul Plested.
A really interesting day for the 65s with very varied conditions and some close racing. Those getting on the water early with C rigs decided fairly quickly that B rigs would be a better compromise, so before the start everyone went to B, but as usual no one had told the weather.
Dave went wading to sort out the course, with a beat the full length of the lake. The wind was North West approximately but perhaps a bit biased to the top left hand corner giving a slightly port tack biased beat. The starts were very competitive right from the first race with one or two OCS calls during the morning, but fairly soon the wind – forecast to moderate slightly – increased to the point where it was tricky to sail with B rig. Those who weren’t enjoying the conditions then changed to C rig, but others stayed with B. Clive stayed with the C for the rest of the racing to get some time on the water with the C rig, but the boat proved underpowered as the wind eased.
As soon as everyone rejoined the wind (of course) did slowly start to moderate, although still with some hefty gusts, but also with a number of flat spots which were difficult to see and left everyone somewhat underpowered.
Excellent racing with John B unquestionably the class of the field ending with seven wins, and discarding just a second and third. Other race winners were Mike with a couple of wins, and Frans with a win and some other good results particularly while the breeze was really up.
Final results as shown below, with thanks to Dave as always for sorting the course and the results. Thanks also to Sally who very kindly stayed to start a few races although she had to leave a bit early, and Alan who then took over as starter.
It was good (and unusual!) to arrive at the club with a WNW breeze already blowing straight down the lake even at 8:00, with a forecast that it would remain that way and potentially increase during the day. Race Officer Dave Williams (assisted by Clive Warren, Neil Westbrook, Judith Baldwin and yong Scarlett) set out a course and got the briefing underway promptly at 10:00 for the 19 sailors who attended.
Racing then started on time at 10:15 and a sequence of 4 races, break 4 races, break, which continued all day to achieve a total of 16 races, before the 15:00 final cutoff time. We even had two sailors who travelled the furthest all the way from Glasgow; great to see such dedication.
The wind was pretty well to forecast with some meaty gusts after lunch causing occasional loss of control downwind, but it was all very short lived and everyone stayed in A rig for the whole day.
Over the day, we had six different race winners; Brad Gibson had the lions share of 8 wins, with Graham Elliott, Martin Roberts and Darin Ballington all getting two wins each, then Peter Baldwin and Simon Fairman each gaining a single win. Next we had second and third podium places from none race winners John Brierley, Derek Priestley and Pete Walters. Best placed without a podium place and most consistent over the whole day was Rob Macintosh. There were some good performances at some point during the day for a good part of the fleet, but unfortunately most were often unable to capitalise on their initial position to gain a podium spot.
Overall, a great and very competitive days sailing with very little rain and a bit of sun earlier in the day. The overall win easily went to Brad Gibson on 18 points, 21 ahead of Graham Elliott in second with Martin Roberts just 3 points adrift in third.
At the prizegiving, Brad thanked Dave and his race team helpers for running the event and achieving 16 races in a short day and for the ladies in the galley keeping us all going with hot drinks, cakes and biscuits. Photos courtesy of Dave Williams and Clive Warren. These photos and a few more are available on our Flikr account here.
IOM Racing continues at the club with the second Winter Series event on Saturday 11th January – See the Upcoming Events links and visitors are always welcome for this open series.
Southerly breeze today – more or less as forecasted – from the clubhouse corner, which slowly filled in after looking very unpromising as DF65 racers were arriving. Although forecast to build significantly during the morning, this never quite happened and the breeze varied up and down quite a bit with some fairly significant shifts as well.
Mike dsp was quick out of the blocks to win the first three races but then slightly lost his way after a race RO duty when normal business was resumed with John B winning the next three before he had to leave to catch up with work. The next three races had three different winners with JohnC, Clive and Mike taking the last three.
Racing, and particularly the starts, was all very close, with a few OCS calls during the morning and once again, although the start looked somewhat starboard end biased, skippers were able to take different sides of the beat during the morning to get to the top mark in the leading group. The last beat up from the leeward gate also proved interesting with different gate marks paying off at different times for the beat back to the line.
Following JohnB’s departure Mike dsp was able to hold on to win, with very close racing reflected in the points across the fleet with 3rd, 4th and 5th covered by 5 points (and some less than one point differences when averages for RO were used), and then 7th to 10th by less than 5.
Overall results as shown below with the usual thanks to Dave for getting everything going and Malcolm for working out the results (with a bit of help from AFleet!).
Nine skippers were on the start line for the opening race of the 2024 winter season. A lightish breeze, under an overcast sky meant A rigs were the choice for the day. The wind was from the SSW which is always a tricky direction bringing the houses into play and providing plenty of shifts and holes to keep the skippers on their toes. Dave Williams donned the waders and tweaked the start. A standard course set utilising the full length of the lake, with a windward mark set at the clubhouse end, spreader mark, a leeward gate and back to the finish line which was set halfway down the lake for the first 3 races, and was subsequently moved to the clubhouse end of the lake to provide a slightly longer course and provide more overtaking opportunities. Racing got underway on time at 12,00.
John Brierley, started the day as he meant to go on taking the top spot but was pushed all the way by John Carlin and Clive Warren, until Clive hit the gate mark pushing him back after doing turns. Further down the fleet Dave Williams was struggling with a rudder imbalance and had to retire, and would miss the next race. Races 2 and 3 saw Clive making up for his first race error taking line honours with John B and John C picking up a second place each, and Ian Davies also in the mix collecting a third place. The start of Race 4 saw Martin Whittingham-Jones hooked on the start buoy, where he sat until David donned the waders to recover the boat after the race ended. David himself had further rudder problems and had to retire from the race. Meanwhile up at the front and it was Ian’s turn to cross the line first ahead of the very consistent Clive and equally consistent John B.
The wind was starting to drop so an early lunch break was taken. Even withe the break unfortunately the wind remained lighter than earlier.
Race 5 was another close encounter with John B crossing the line first, Clive second and Alan Watkinson third after tweaking his rig set-up during the break. Races 6 and 7 and Alan’s tweaking paid off, taking line honours with John B second and Clive third. Further down the fleet Daves rudder nightmare continued and he finally had to call it a day after race 6 when his servo packed in, also joining him on the casualty list was Martin W-J. when his battery failed him. Race 8 and the final race of the day and the overall standings were very interesting with Alan, Clive, and John B all on 2 wins each. John B finally crossing the line with John C second and Ian third.
Summary 
