After the inaugural DF95 Social Racing, some (such as your author) were hoping that the warm temperatures might lead to a sea breeze swinging the gradient more to the West. However, this was not to be and the afternoon continued with the same gusty SW/WSW breeze that became more Southerly as the afternoon progressed. We sailed with the same course as the 95’s in the morning under the watchful eyes of Neil Westbrook and Dave Williams as our RO team.
Most of the ten sailors opted for their A rig in the first session of five races, with Brad sporting a B rig to get some time on the water with it as most of our racing has recently been in A rigs, including all the Ranking events completed to date.
Peter took the first race after getting off the line on Port in a gust and staying in front of Brad and Martin who were chasing hard. Martin then took wins in races two and three with Brad second and Robbie Mac and Peter taking thirds. Then Brad’s decision to go for the B rig paid off as some strong gusts led to big knockdowns for everyone else and he picked up two wins with Peter, Alan and Martin taking the podium positions, with Robbie Mac missing three races due to a boat problem. There were some good performances from Guy Cowper and John Beech, with young Noah plugging away and getting some decent results, including rounding the first mark in second in one race after a great start.
We then had an early break and most opted to change down to B with just Martin and Phyl sticking with A on the restart (Phyl didn’t have a B for his borrowed boat unfortunately).
After the break, results continued to be dominated by the same names as before with Brad taking two of the last seven races and Martin five. However, Martin did also quickly change down to B as the gusts picked up in intensity. Although short lived, they were difficult to survive and usually left you pointing in the wrong direction and 20 – 30m lost on the other boats if you did succomb. These wins gave Martin the overall win, with Brad second and Peter third.
Podium spots (other than the two racee winners mentioned) were taken by Robbie and Peter with Alan not far behind (tricky for Dave with photo finishes between Peter and Alan in a few races). Phyl coped well in his A rig picking up a sixth in race 9. Thanks must go to Neil and Dave for running the racing once again and dave for taking the photos for illustrating this report.
- Martin Roberts 168 (&127!) BritPOP! 13pts
- Brad Gibson 42 Post PUNK 16pts
- Peter Baldwin 63 BritPOP! 31pts
- Rob Macintosh 64 Venti 41pts
- Alan Watkinson 23 Corbie 5 44pts
- Guy Cowper 16 Lintel MMX 55pts
- Noah Macintosh 66 V9 67pts
- Phyl Fanning 37 Lintel 72pts
- John Beech 139 Widget 90pts (1x4th)
- Charles Legg 40 K2 90pts
After a request by owners for some additional DF95 racing on a Saturday, six Saturday mornings have been added during the Summer Series to provide social racing between 10:15 and 12:00, prior to racing for other classes in the afternoon. This was the first Saturday in the programme, with the others listed in the main Calendar.
This week 9 sailors turned out to be met with a gusty SW/WSW breeze rather over the houses. Peter set out a starboard hand windward/leeward course diagonally across the lake and racing got underway soon after 10:15 with a fleet member monitoring the line and the winner writing the finish places down. Two laps were initially sailed, which we then reduced to one as the fleet became widely spread after two laps and we wanted to complete eight races by the finish.
The first leg was a mix of a reach or fetch and occasional big shifts requiring a short tack or even making it a run as we approached the windward mark. This was not an easy mornings sail, but most of the fleet had their moment of glory and a podium finish at some point during the morning.
Peter took the lions share of six wins from the 8 races completed, with Paul Plested and John Carlin having a win each. Paul took second overall with a more consistent set of results than John who placed third. Although Paul is listed as 154, he sailed with Peters spare rig (sporting 172 as well) after a boom failure earlier in the week.
The tactic, in the early races at least, was to sail on starboard tack from the line and clean the algae off the fins when the boats reached the bank. Likewise on the run, sailing close to the shore to give the boats a quick clean before sending them back out. Paul Plested seemed to have this down to a fine art and was able to score three bullets on the trot, with Charles Legg also showing great boat speed, scoring two 2nds in the first three races. James Douglas and Clive Warren also made into the top three in the early races. Paul Little managed a 3rd in the first race, but decided racing in the algae wasn’t for him and he decided to call it a day. John Carlin also didn’t fancy competing with the weed rather than other skippers and also packed up before finishing the first race.
For the second half of the morning, whilst the wind continued to swing, it did increase marginally with bigger lifts on starboard. This meant that trying to remove algae of the fins was tricker as it was a bigger detour both upwind and down and, as Paul found out, not necessarily worth the detour. James, after being close to the front in the first three races, managed to score three firsts on the bounce. Dave Williams managed a second in the fourth race, with Clive also taking 2nd in the final race. Paul P, whilst always being in the top 3, couldn’t match his scores of the earlier races.
On the day, with equal points and tied on countback, the outcome was decided on the last race, which James had won. Paul was 2nd overall and a well deserved third place went to Charles.
Thanks go to Neil Westbrook who ran the racing for the morning and to Dave W for skipping a race to take piccies.
It was good to see seven DF95s on the water for the afternoon session, particularly after the frustrations of the morning with the algae affecting the 65s. But we shouldnt have worried, the 95s handled the problem with only a slight drop in performance. The wind freshened a little from the morning but the direction remained the same, providing the typical shifts associated with Gautby Rd. It was also good to welcome Guy Cowper to the 95 fleet with his first outing in the 95 class.
Racing was super competitive from the start with 5 of the 7 skippers recording a top two finish, but it was Paul Plested who sailed consistently well and triumphed in the end with 6 wins, but behind him the real battle ensued between Alan, Clive and Neil with Guy showing good speed for a first outing but lacking a bit of consistency, which will surely come. Unfortunately Alan had to leave after race 4 otherwise the final positions would probably have been different. In the end it was Clives’ consistency that paid dividends over Neil.
It was also great to see Dave Howard at the club for the first time in months and kept his eye in by sailing a race with John Beeches boat, finishing a credible 5th and then took over RO duties for the last 3 races. Thanks Dave
Summary
Sadly, the weather gods were against us this week with a wind from the SW pretty well straight across the lake. Peter replaced the mising gate mark at the clubhouse end and setup for a course starting at the clubhouse end as it was forecast to swing around to be from the W sometime after 14:00. Most people opted for an A swing rig, with Alan on a conventional A.
The first race got started soon after 13:00 (with a leg that was anything from a run to a fetch) to a first mark near the bank with a starboard rounding and back down to the gate. Unfortunately the lake was rather like a pea soup and most boats were getting fin and rudder coated up after a single leg, which could be difficult to shake off. Boat handling was tricky and if the breeze dropped, tacking was not at all easy catching a few out. Alan Bennett led the first race, but decided to take his boat out after one lap as his battery was being quickly depleted and ended his day there. Alan W took the first race after a very close finish with George just second.
In race two it was Dave’s turn for a win with George second once again after leading for a good part of the race. Peter then took wins in the next two races, with George second in both with Alan and Dave sharing the third places. We then an early break and re-fuelled hoping that the wind might improve in the second half.
The direction had gone more westerly (to WSW) and at times the gusts would knock the boats over on the run, but they were short-lived and we would often be waiting for the next gust to get moving again. Charles had to finish at this point due to mobility problems leaving just four sailors to see out the afternoon.
This second session belonged to George though with three wins from the four races, with Peter picking up an additional win. Racing was very close most of the time though with the final result not clear until five metres from the finish line.
After eight races, everyone agreed to save their sanity and call a halt. George (one of our youngest skipper by a long way) ended up the well deserved winner this afternoon, with Peter second and Alan third. Thanks go to our finishers, Martin Whittingham Jones (first half) and Alan Bennett and chief photographer Dave Williams.
Seven Df65 sailors were greeted with a gentle breeze down the lake from the clubhouse in what seemed tropical conditions compared to recent days.
The wind was a reasonable direction with all the usual shifts and flat patches to ensure it was never boring, resulting in places won and lost around the course.
Mike won the first and last race followed by John, Neil & Dave all taking it in turn to win. Paul & Richard also had good results with seconds & thirds.
The beats were challenging with holes and huge shifts near the windward mark so a good position was easily lost and last could easily come through the fleet. In other words Birkenhead at its best!!😄
The last beat from the leeward gate was not a procession with the far side often paying if you caught the shifts right. As the morning continued the winds increased with some spectacular nose drives near the gate resulting in further place changes that all added to the fun. Mike prevailed to win the mroning over John, who finished narrowly ahead of Neil in third. Thanks to Dave W for the photos once again and Malcolm for doing the results using A Fleet.
There were insufficient takers for a DF95 session after lunch once again.