DF95 Series 3 Event 5

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Tuesday 18 August 2020

10 enthusiastic skippers lined up for the resumption of official racing. With Uncle Derek kindly acting as race officer a course was set with the start set parallel to the clubhouse. The predictable jockeying for prime locations ensued. Finally the start gave the release and the long upwind beat into a fickle westerly breeze certainly tested seamanship. Rounding the lollipop marker to port it was a dead run to a gate at the east end of the lake. Once negotiated it was a testing upwind leg to the finish.

The score sheet does not entirely reflect the cut and thrust of the races. The fluctuating wind speed was indeed a challenge. One or two skippers eventually tickled their tackle to good effect with the two Chris’s drawing on their wealth of know how. It would be remiss of me not to mention the encouraging 1st race win by Richard Hocking. It bodes well for the future. Furthermore we welcome Olly, Malcolm and Alan into the fleet and hope that the big boat racer Andy Richies may soon swell the numbers. Finally, may I thank you all for your courtesy on the water.

Mike Benson

DF95 Fleet Captain

DF 65 Series 3 Event 4

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Thursday 13th Aug 2020

Following the MYA guidance for the resumption of competitive sailing, we were able to get back to some proper sailing at long last.

Fourteen skippers attended for what turned out to be a great nights sailing, and nine races were had in the time. Adhering to the guidelines set out of not more than thirteen boats on the water at any one time, we agreed that two skippers would sit out for each race, and that would become one of their discards. It worked well as each skipper sat out a race in the first seven races, and by then a couple of boats had pulled out of the event, so we were able to race full fleet the last couple of races, and the course made a little longer.

With a nice NE breeze to start, and all but one on A rig, we set out to tackle a longish sausage shape course set by RO Derek. A few races in and conditions eased a little and a few chose to move to A+. This was a good move for Steve as his results show, and pushed him up the leader board.

Recent new member Olly took the first race, having borrowed Derek`s boat for the evening, and followed that up with another three bullets and three seconds, finishing well on top of the pile with only ten points.

It`s been a long wait, but finally we are back to somewhere near what we are used to, some good, enjoyable competitive racing, plenty of banter, Race Officer annoyances very entertaining (only joking Derek), and best of all being with friends.

Bob Jolly

DF65 Capt.

Mustangs – Tuesday 11th Aug

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Fleetwood Mustangs were back on the lake, six skippers turned out for this regular gathering. Proceedings were a little delayed due to a ‘UFO’ in the water. A pleasant diversion then ensued to try to recover the article, skilfully manoeuvring the Mustangs round and pushing the item towards the bank. It turned out to be an old holdall which, due to the weight, took several boats and patience to achieve.

Sailing started about 20 mins later with a change from the customary course which left out markers on the far side of the lake and took in ones more to the centre.

Some close racing was had in the gentle breeze, it was a delightful sight to see these old timers in glorious formation cutting through the water. There were quite a number of visitors showing interest and quite a few casual conversations were heard.

Six races were had in all, John Plant of course in front but the remainder of the pack sharing the lead positions at some point.

A very pleasant afternoon, thanks to all concerned, see you next Tuesday.

Walter Audley

IOM social sailing 8th Aug 2020

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No report this time I’m afraid, only to say our second IOM outing post full lockdown was just as good as the first which was amazing. Full social distancing observed.
Please note this Wednesdays (12th Aug) IOM practice has been CANCELLED due to most skippers having other commitments. More IOM racing soon we hope, watch this space.

Gordon Bayliff

R/C Laser Friendly racing at Fleetwood Sunday 19th July.

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Extract from Derek’s report:

8 R/C Lasers raced at Fleetwood on Sunday in a beautiful sunny north westerly wind of approx 15 knots.

We started at 10am and at a leisurely pace, 8  x 2 lap half mile races were completed by 2pm having had a break of 30mins for lunch.

We walked along the top of the grass bank keeping clear of each other & the general public.

We shared the lake with some power boats, and about 40 families crabbing and picnicking,  all enjoying the summer sun. But there is plenty of room around Fleetwood lake and all appeared to be enjoying the day.

We plan to repeat the exercise next Sunday with IOM’s.

Stay safe

Derek Priestley

Laser Friendly 19-07-2020

Results by Peter Iles

Many thanks to all that took part and the contributions from Derek and Peter.

Trevor Bell Fleetwood Laser Fleet Captain

 

Social 36R Vane Free sailing 12 07 2020

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Sunday was a nice day for sailing and as we weren’t racing, we thought we’d just let the boats race themselves instead. Normally scheduled in the club’s calendar for the Vane steered ‘A’ boats, which had been cancelled, some thought it would be an ideal opportunity to test the latest design on the block from John Taylor, a 3D printed hull with help from Damian, using Bob J. as volunteer Skipper and proud new owner.
The ability to fully social distance with only a couple of boats racing at a time and a mate to pole off on the far bank to prevent them crashing, makes this look very acceptable. Four boats in total to sail in pairs at allotted times, gave us all three ups and three downs.
Remix, the prototype hull sailed by Bob, only dropped a beat all morning, proving a very worthy contender for future events.

Have a look on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_Qf-OCxUFU 


Tony Wilson.

Wyre Community Lottery

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UPDATE: We have now been in the draws for 3 weeks and 34 tickets have been bought by 11 supporters. We should achieve our initial target of 50 tickets in four weeks but surely we can do better. We have not had any winners yet but it is only a matter of time. In the meantime club funds have been boosted by £17 and the prediction is that this will increase to almost £500 for a full year at the current support level. It could so easily be £1000; so if you haven’t yet subscribed, think about it.

Wyre Council has started a community lottery. It takes place every Saturday and tickets cost £1. Of that, 50p goes to the community group selected when the ticket was purchased. There has been one lottery so far, prizes were nothing particularly exciting but the lottery is advertised with the slogan ‘your chance to win £25000’. It doesn’t say when or how frequently.

More information on the lottery can be found here https://www.wyrelottery.co.uk/home/howitworks

Fleetwood MYPBC has been accepted as a community group and if every member was to buy 1 ticket per week then the club would amass approximately £2500!! Any such monies received by the club will be ring fenced and used to improve the facilities of the club.

If you or your friends and family wish to partake in this lottery and raise extra funds for the club then buy your tickets using this link. https://www.wyrelottery.co.uk/support/fleetwood-model-yacht-club

To remain in this scheme we have to achieve 50 tickets in the first four weeks so forget the National Lottery, give this a try.

DF65 2019/20 Winter series 5

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14th March 2020

For the last event of our Winter Series, nine skippers turned out, on what was a mild fine day with a moderate wind, enabling us to adorn the A rig. What a change from recent weeks when we have been battling the storms.

A triangular shape course was set, with a long beat to the windward mark then a reach to a mid-point, then a run down to the leeward mark and beat to a finish, in very fluky conditions it must be said. Ten races were had in the time with four skippers taking bullets, Garry 4, Bob 4, Steve 1 and Chris 1. So it was Garry and Bob first and second, pushed hard by John who was a late starter and missed the first two races which he discarded, but with his six second places, he only finished up one point behind Bob and took third spot.

Many thanks to Ian Hawtin for being race officer for the day, allowing me to concentrate solely on my racing. It really is a big help

Garry’s win on the day confirmed his position at the top of the table for the series, by winning three events out of the five he couldn`t be caught. Johns third place pushed him up to runner up overall, with Steve in third respectively. Congratulations to them. 

We now look forward to the start of our Saturday Series which begins on the 4th April, 1pm start.

Bob Jolly

DF65 Capt.

IOM Winter Series No. 4

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Sunday, 8th March 2020

First and foremost, we are grateful to Bob Jolly for taking on the Race Officer duties, not to mention him gaining some good results when taking the helm in a couple of races.

On a personal level (and I am sure that amongst others) I am also grateful to Mike Parkington for his Britpop set-up expertise and to Derek for assisting us all with his input in getting various boats ship-shape and race worthy!

It seems that this winter is less than kind with the weather and although the sixteen races were not in rain and a storm, the direction and the gusts proved to be more than a challenge and the day ended with us all on a B rig.

As you will see from the results there were five different skippers taking a bullet and close racing throughout the fleet.

The final event of this series is this coming Sunday the 15th March – and don’t miss the IOM Mayoral Cup which is an Open event the following Sunday – both 10am starts.

Garry Benson

Yachting Section Secretary

Here are some piccies, on YouTube, supplied by (Flying) Tony Wilson