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DF65 Social Racing #30 (27/7/22)

The forecasts were about right for wind today – generally from the NW but with some big swings to the W or even N and averaging about 3 knots so A+ was the order of the day for the eight sailors.  As the gusts (6 knots max!) came through there was often a false shift as it hit and if you tacked on that it often resulted in lost distance or even places.  Neil took the first race, followed by Peter in the second and John C the third. Peter took the next three and the final race, with John C having another win in Race 7.

With eight sailors each taking a turn we completed eight races of one lap plus a beat to the finish in just under two hours.  With the strength of the wind and the planned DF95 session to follow, the last race was also a single lapper.  There were no general recalls but that was in part due to the light winds we often had at the start leading to many boats being a good boat length behind the line.  Peter Baldwin took the day, with John Carlin second and Neil Westbrook third.

  1. Peter Baldwin            63       7pts  (5 wins)
  2. John Carlin                  11       12pts (2 wins)
  3. Neil Westbrook         03      16pts (1 win)
  4. Andrew Peter             19      20pts
  5. Alan Watkinson      373      22pts
  6. Richard Walker         39      27pts
  7. Charles Legg              21       36pts
  8. John Beech                 80       40pts

IOM Summer 2022 #6 (23/7/22)

This week we had 10 sailors for IOM racing including our American visitor Chuck Millican and also anew to Birkenhead visitor from Etherow – Alan Bennett.  There was a good top suit breeze from the Clubhouse end which had some decent shifts (and short flicks) which tested the patience of most sailors.  Martin Roberts (Vanilla 2) started well, picking up wins in 4 of the first 6 races before the break for a late lunch, with Peter Baldwin (Britpop!) taking the other 2.  There was some close racing though throughout the fleet with good results from newcomer Alan Bennett (Viper), Bill Culshaw (Britpop!) and Chuck Millican (Britpop!).

After the break, Martin resumed with a win in Race 7, Chuck then picked up Race 8, Peter took Race 9, Martin Races 10 and 12 and Bill Race 11.  Alan Bennett was once again on the podium in a few races, John Berry also stepped up a gear in this second session and had two seconds in the later races (had Jack added something to his tea?)

Overall a great afternoons close racing for the whole fleet with 12 races completed.  Thanks must go to Dave Williams for running the racing and keeping us all under control and taking a few photos at the same time.  There were a number of OCS calls and general recalls leading to the RO suggesting that we wait until the go before pulling the trigger rather than at 1 second.  In addition, thanks to Jack for making the drinks once again.

Finally, it was good to say hello to Bernie at the Lake today, having not seen him for a while.  Hopefully we will see more of him on future Saturday afternoons.

  1. Martin Roberts         Vanilla 2          22    19pts (7 wins)
  2. Peter Baldwin           Britpop     !      63    22pts (3 wins)
  3. Bill Culshaw               Britpop!           21    26pts (1 win)
  4. Alan Bennett              Viper                 33    36pts
  5. Chuck Millican          Britpop!  BER 21    44pts
  6. Andrew Peter             V9                       66   60pts
  7. John Berry                  Viper                  12     62pts
  8. Alan Watkinson       Britpop!             23    68pts (1×4)
  9. Neil Westbrook        Widget               03    68pts
  10. Charles Legg              Kantun 2           25   85pts

DF65 Social Racing #29 (20/7/22)

After the last few days of intense heat, today was a complete contrast. Sweaters and coats were worn to combat the chilly B rig wind. We welcomed Chuck again to our Wednesday races with him using B rig for the first time. All the starts were very good with no recalls. Alan, reading the wind shifts, dominated the day with 5 wins. Overall the racing was very close with the final decision of which course to take through the final gate could gain you a few places or lose them. Surprisingly with no gear failures everyone completed the 10 races.

  1. Alan Watkinson       12 pts 5 wins
  2. Andrew Potter          17 pts 2 wins
  3. Neil Westbrook        19 pts 2 wins
  4. Dave Williams          23 pts
  5. Andrew Peter            24 pts 1 win
  6. Chuck Millican         27 pts
  7. Charles Legg             31 pts
  8. Richard Walker         42 pts
  9. Malcolm Harvey       52 pts
  10. John Beech                  54 pts

DF95 Social Race Afternoon

The club plans to run an afternoon of DF95 racing on the afternoon of Wednesday 27th July to allow some warm up practice before the DF95 Nationals due to take place at Two Islands on the following weekend (30/31st July).  Start time will be approximately 13:30 and continue until approximately 16:30.

An additional event has been created and all are welcome to enter and join in the fun.

DF65 Social Racing #28 (13/7/22)

You couldn’t get a much better morning to race than today with “champagne sailing” conditions for the twelve DF65 sailors that turned out.  There was a good breeze straight down the lake that was towards the top end of the chosen A+ rig, with some gusts that were close to overpowering boats on the run and some lulls where the boats almost stopped.  Shifts were there and allowed places to be gained if you picked the right way to go in those shifts.

We were joined once again by visiting AMYA President Chuck Millican, and racing was at times very close and this occasionally proved difficult for the RO watching the line and record the sail numbers, without some external assistance.  We opted to run a race each and so with 12 races sailed (using the whole lake) each sailor had nine races to count (with 2 discards) , which were completed soon after 1pm with a final two lap race.

Peter Baldwin put in a rare Wednesday appearance and had the lions share of the wins (7), with Mike De St Paer gaining two, Dave Williams, Andrew Peter and Alan Watkinson one each.  So, the overall win went to Peter, with John Carlin relishing the opportunity to sail once again taking second after a very consistent day of podium finishes and Mike third, 4 points behind him.

  1. Peter Baldwin            63      11 pts
  2. John Carlin                  11       23 pts
  3. Mike De St Paer        35       27 pts
  4. Alan Watkinson      373      34 pts
  5. Andrew Peter           919      41 pts
  6. Dave Williams            33      49 pts (1 win)
  7. Simon Bates                69     49 pts (no win)
  8. James Douglas            73     52 pts
  9. Richard Walker          39     64 pts
  10. Chuck Millican           21      68 pts
  11. Malcolm Harvey    1019     75 pts
  12. John Beech                   80     77 pts

DF/RG65 Summer 2022 #5 (9/7/22)

Once again we were fortunate to have both sun and a decent breeze between a top suit swing and full size (lower aspect) conventional for the RG65’s and one that was sailable in a DF65 A+, but more controllable in an A rig.

Seven RG65’s and six DF65’s started the day and their helms took it in turns to run one race each until a break at Race 7.  There were some early dropouts in the DF65 fleet leading to only 4 boats completing most races.

Graham Elliott sailing the Electronica took four of the first six races he sailed, with Peter Baldwin’s Uno the remaining two.  After the break, we were fortunate to have three volunteers from the DF65 fleet who ran the remaining five races for us, giving a total of 12 races for the day.  Graham took 4 out of the 5 after the break using his Argon, with Peter only managing a single race win, mostly underpowered with the conventional A versus Graham’s Swing rig.  Although Peter and Graham shared the wins, there were some strong performances through the fleet , with Dave Williams (Uno), Alan Watkinson (Uno), Charles Legg and Bill Culshaw (Pocket Rocket) all vying for the lead at various times.

In the DF65 fleet, it was our visitor Chuck Millican (AMYA) who had the Lions share of 8 wins from 12 races, with Andrew Peter and John Carlin each taking two.  This left Chuck the clear winner with Andrew narrowly second one point ahead of John.

Thanks must go to everyone who helped out in running the races especially those DF65 sailors (and support crew) who helped run the last 5 races.

RG65’s

  1. Graham Elliott           09/29  Electronia/Argon    10 pts (8 wins)
  2. Peter Baldwin             63         Uno                               15 pts (4 wins)
  3. Alan Watkinson         23          Uno                              28 pts
  4. Bill Culshaw               163         Pocket Rocket          33 pts
  5. Dave Williams            33          Uno                               38 pts
  6. Charles Legg               26         Uno                                43 pts
  7. John Brierley               84         Uno                                51 pts (gear failure race 5)

DF65’s

  1. Chuck Millican              21        12 pts (8 wins)
  2. Andrew Peter                919      21 pts (2 wins)
  3. John Carlin                      11        22 pts (2 wins)
  4. Graham Reeves            614      40 pts

Photo by Alan Watkinson.