16^TH March 2019

The final event in the Winter Series, turned out to be a real challenge for the five skippers who turned out, in what was almost impossible conditions as Storm Hannah blew through, but the little Dragons did us proud and managed to cope with the huge chop and very strong wind and gusts.

We managed to get in five races before the conditions worsened, and it became too dangerous to sail, so we had to call it a day around 3pm.

All that said there was some very close racing, especially between Garry and John, who even tied one race, and both finished on the same points, but Garry took the honours on count back, and with John missing the first race this maybe cost him in the end.

So this brings to an end our Winter Series with the final result as follows:-

3^rd place: Walter Audley 200 pts.

2^nd place: John Plant 254 pts.

1^st place: Garry Benson 300 pts.

We now move on to our next event, and the start of the Saturday Series, which is on 6^th April start 1pm.

Bob Jolly

DF 65 Capt.

Saturday 16th February

We had 9 skippers for event 4 in the Winter series DF95.

The course was set on a bias and starting from under the bridge. One lap, just to see how it went, had us beating up to the half way mark on the near side. Across the pond to the far side and then a reach across and another back to the pump house and concluding in an ‘M’ shaped course.

Derek nominated himself as score master being the first one home. He repeated his success up until race 6 when he decided to leave out a race for a friendly chat. Tony lent out his boat for a couple of races, where it’s been decided as, similarly to the Lasers, when you lend out a boat to a guest skipper you get an average of your score or their score if better. You can’t lose, so this is encouraged to do, but you cannot win the first couple of races and then leave them to it.

After race six we had a coffee break and, apart from the first race, the rest were all two laps. Derek continued where he left off and really only had Gordon on his heels. The first wins were by nearly half a lap, but by the end of the racing as Derek tired we were all coming in just after  him and we had learnt most of his route. Race nine had another lent out boat, but for just the one race.

The scores in the end after race 12 had Derek and Gordon on the same score of 25 points, but then as you take off the discards, Derek wins. Eric Austwick was in third place.

We had some good racing and we did it all in ‘A’ rig.

Tony. W

9^th Feb 2019

Gale-force wind greeted the five skippers who turned up for this the fourth event in our Winter Series, with everyone on C rig we were away a little after 12 noon.

A simple triangular course was set to begin with to see how we coped with the challenging conditions, and to be fair all managed well, and we soon learnt the art of gybing and used it when needed. As we progressed through the races the wind was dropping all the time, and soon we were able to alter the course to a more interesting figure eight type with more chance of tacking both ways.

After a short break for a brew and a bite to eat, we were back out.

Late on in the day, as it calmed a bit more although it was still gusting occasionally, for the last three races, Garry and Bob decided to change to B rig, the others staying on C, It turned out to be a good choice especially for Garry who took the last three.

All in all, we had a great days sailing, with all of the skippers taking at least one bullet, from the thirteen races we got in, but it was Garry who finished top of the pile followed by Ken and Eric.

Our next outing for the 65 is on Saturday 16^th March at 12 noon.

Bob Jolly

DF 65 Capt.