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DF65 & DF95 Social Racing – 2/7/25

DF65’s

A great start to the sailing day with a crisp N. Westerly blowing straight down the lake. Despite the sun the wind felt distinctly chilly sending a few skippers back for some extra layers. There was a bit of chop at the leeward end of the lake but the wind action seemed to have reduced the algae, and no boats appeared to suffer any effects from this during the morning’s racing.

The usual course format was agreed with two of the rather random selection of leeward end marks providing an almost perfect start line. As there were only eight skippers a single leeward mark was agreed to save resetting the gate and this worked OK.

Mike got away quickly with three wins in a row, but then John – who had suffered a coming together in race three – made a couple of tweaks and was immediately much faster winning four of the last five races. There were some significant shifts to play with, and then a tricky area approaching the top mark resulting in a few games of musical chairs in some of the races which materially altered the rounding positions.

The breeze stayed in at top end of B rig levels giving some great sailing and the odd downwind nose dive. There was also quite a bit of inadvertent minor contact and a couple of entanglements due to the rather gusty conditions but no damage. Alan missed race seven after discovering a leak in the battery hatch cover and Charles and Andrew missed some of the races for other reasons.

Mike held on to win from John with Clive third and only four points between these three boats. Clive didn’t score any wins but was a model of consistency recording second position in every race to count. Full results as shown below with thanks to Dave for getting us away on time, plus taking the photos whilst sailing and Malcolm for doing the results.

DF95’s

3 Men and their boats took to the water for a great afternoon of DF95 racing, tweaking and tuning. All very laid back with a fantastic breeze (probably the best I’ve experienced at Gautby Rd for a couple of years, a true rarity) almost straight down the lake with no holes and only little shifts, which was perfect for a top end B  rig, and was accompanied by a blue sky and sunshine.
A similar course to the morning was set and we used self monitoring starts and the finishes weren’t recorded, pure social sailing. I’ve no idea how many races we had, sufficient, is the best description. The racing was surprisingly competitive with all skippers winning at least 1 race, Clive taking most honours and John Beach showing great boat speed after a few tweaks. Malcolm also had a good afternoon and was challenging for the front spot on more than one occasion.
Summary
A great afternoons sailing, in almost perfect conditions, unfortunately only 3 of us got to experience it.
Results
Honourable draw between:
John Beech, Clive Warren & Malcolm Harvey

IOM Summer Series #5 – 28/6/25

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.

  1. Martin Roberts              168 (&127!)  BritPOP!         13pts
  2. Brad Gibson                      42                   Post PUNK    16pts
  3. Peter Baldwin                  63                    BritPOP!        31pts
  4. Rob Macintosh                64                    Venti              41pts
  5. Alan Watkinson              23                     Corbie 5        44pts
  6. Guy Cowper                      16                     Lintel MMX  55pts
  7. Noah Macintosh             66                    V9                     67pts
  8. Phyl Fanning                    37                     Lintel              72pts
  9. John Beech                       139                    Widget            90pts  (1x4th)
  10. Charles Legg                     40                    K2                     90pts

 

DF95 Sat Social Racing 2025 – 28/6/25

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.

Guy Cowper in only his second outing with the ’95, had a second and a couple of third places as he got to grips with the boat and the tricky breeze, but these were good enough to give him fourth overall.  Alan wanted a good final race having scored a second and two thirds, but tried a bit too hard as he hooked Peter solidly on the start line, and the pair then collected Dave H for a short while.  Dave H managed to extract himself and carry on whilst Alan and Peter drifted to the side and be separated.  Meanwhile Dave W had a rudder servo fail after the rudder locked up in Race 6 and he had to sit out the final two races acting as RO and photographer until we finished.

DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2025 – 18/6/25

DF65’s

A sunny day with a light breeze blowing down the lake towards the clubhouse greeted the 12 skippers who turned up for a spot of DF65 social racing.  Unfortunately what also greeted the sailors was a lake full of green algae.  After some debate, and as folks had made the effort to turn up, it was decided to give it a go.  As is the norm the course was to be a windward mark followed by a spreader mark, and then a run down to the leeward gate with a short beat to finish.  It was clear even before the starting sequence began that the algae was going to make it challenging as it quickly adhered to the leading edge of the fin, making the boats very sluggish with significant weather helm.
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.
Far from ideal conditions for racing 65s, but better than most of the skippers could have expected after what greeted them first thing.

DF95’s

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.
Paul Plested donned the waders before the afternoon session to re set the rather biased start line and to make the gate a bit narrower. A different course from the morning was set utilising the full length of the lake, with windward mark and spreader, run down to a gate and finish halfway back up the lake. Self monitored starts and first across the line to record the finishing order. Eight races were sailed providing 2 discards
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
After the frustrations  of the morning with the algae playing a big part it was to everyone’s surprise that the algae had only limited detriment to the handling of the 95 which allowed for a very good afternoons sailing in lovely sunshine with a reasonable but tricky wind.