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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

Winter Events Calendar Published

I have updated the Calendar and the Events system to add in the Winter Events for all classes  which starts on Saturday 9th November with DF/RG65 Winter 2024 #1.

As in previous years, racing in the Winter starts at 12:00 with no race to start after 15:30.

Although I haven’t listed them within the Calendar, Social Racing for both the DF65 and DF95 will continue on a Wednesday as normal.  The best way to keep in touch with these days is to join the DFRacing WhatsApp group, via Malcolm Harvey, Clive Warren or myself.

Peter Baldwin

Sailing Sec

DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2024 – 2/10/24

DF65

North East wind at Gautby road to greet the excellent turnout of 14 DF65 sailors today. Initially the wind seemed very light, and A+ rigs were an obvious choice, but a succession of small fronts coming over – happily without any rain – also bought some punchy gusts and big shifts to add to the general disturbance caused by the trees. However, the wind stayed in, with enough force to cause the occasional nosedive later, and also some flat spots which caught nearly everyone out at some stage.

The usual course was used, with the windward and spreader mark in a very shifty area right up at the top in the corner opposite the clubhouse, and in fact the spreader was in the flat area under the trees meaning that getting clear on the run needed a touch of luck.

The line was surprisingly good, and good starts were made from just about anywhere during the morning’s racing. It initially looked better to start at the outer end either on port, or getting onto port a.s.a.p. and then trying to hold the port lifts as far as possible, but later it seemed to pay to keep over to the starboard side of the course perhaps in slightly cleaner air and more pressure.

Overall the racing was very close across the fleet, with much place changing and a few turns for various things. Mike, Clive, John and Paul all finished within six points, with other fleet positions also very close.

It was also a pleasure to welcome Phil, a Half Rater sailor from Wallasea YC who had come to take a look and tried both a 65 and 95 during the day.

Overall results as shown below with thanks as always to Dave for sorting them out.

  1.  Mike de St Paer            16pts  4wins
  2.  Clive Warren.                18pts. 2wins
  3.  John Carlin                    21pts
  4.  Paul Plested                  22pts. 3wins
  5.  Neil Westbrook           33pts
  6.  Don MacKinnon         36pts.  1win
  7.  Frans King                    49pts
  8.  Simon Bates                53pts   1x2nd
  9.  Dave Williams            53pts
  10. Sally Collings               58pts
  11. Richard Walker           59pts
  12. John Beech                    81pts
  13. John Lee                         89pts
  14. David White                  92pts

DF95

7 skippers took to the water for the start of the afternoons entertainment, which was a good turnout considering regulars Paul Little and Alan Watkinson were otherwise indisposed. It was good to see John Carlin with 95 in hand after a long absence from the afternoon sailing.

The same course as the morning 65’s was used, The wind being mainly easterly, (partially from the industrial estate) with some Northerly and Southerly thrown in for good measure depending where you were on the lake. This provided plenty of opportunity for losing places or if you were lucky, gaining a few. The breeze was reasonably steady with a few strong gusts to keep us on our toes but the 95s with A Rigs handled them with ease.
Mike very sportingly offered to share his boat with a potential new member Phil, and also had to leave before racing finished so his overall finishing result was not a true reflection. As there were only 7 boats, the normal self monitored start and first over the finishing line recording the race results. Single lap races and 7 races sailed in total after which the wind dropped off and we decided to call it a day.
Racing was very competitive with 6 of the 7 skippers finishing either first or second in at least one race, considering we only sailed 7 races, it shows how competitive the afternoon was!! In the end it was Clive who was most consistent in the tricky conditions, notching up a consistent set of results including 3 wins. He was pushed hard by Paul with 2 wins and Frans who had his best afternoon for some time finishing with 1 win and 2 seconds
In summary – A tricky afternoon with the sun shining, but very enjoyable as ever. Competitive fleet with an array of helms filling the podium places in each race.
Final Results
  1. Clive Warren         10pts         3 wins
  2. Paul Plested          14pts         2 wins
  3. Frans King             16pts         1 win
  4. John Carlin            22pts
  5. Richard Walker   28pts
  6. John Beech            31pts
  7. Mike DSP / Phil   34pts           1 win