A turnout of 5 skippers arrived at the lake for round three  of the DF 95’s.

On exiting the car it became apparent that setting up the A rig the night before was, as feared, a little shortsighted. With a gusty wind, consistency was going to be key and although A rig did look a possibility in the lulls the fleet erred on the conservative side and all started on B Rig.

Roger B stood in as an excellent OD and arrived early to get everything set up and ready for the 10am start.

R1 and Sam Parker left the blocks at breakneck pace, showing good speed and negotiating through the tacks with ease. Winning the race, followed by Roger and Mick Cooper. Sam came in and tweaked his rig, much to his consternation during R2.

R2 and Roger B was getting used to the conditions, taking the win from Paul K and Mick C in 3rd. Sam blamed his tweeking (not twerking) for his 5th place, Colin T was close to the leaders in 4th.

R3 and Sam had another tweek (still no twerking) and rediscovered his pace to take the race. Paul K got over enthusiastic when adjusting his rig, resulting in the loss of adjustment of the Cunningham. A quick (permanent) fix resulted in ugly creases in the main and a poor set up. It was time to think about swapping to A rig for me (perhaps wait until the tea break). 

R4 and it was Mick C’s turn to win ahead of Paul K and Sam P.

R5 was to be the last race before the tea break. Paul K (having now decided change to A rig) won meaning that after 5 races we had had 4 different winners, with Sam showing the best form with 2 wins.

During the break Sam, Colin and Paul all opted to change to A rig, whilst Roger and  Mick enjoyed a coffee and stuck with B.

The next few races showed how the well and equally the DF95’s handle the different rig sizes. B rig was quicker than A upwind, but A had an advantage off wind. Roger was the only skipper that stuck with B for the whole session, and was usually the first boat to the Windward mark, only for the A rigs hoping to avoid any nose diving, and chip away at him offwind.

Paul K started to find some consistency with the A rig winning 5 of the 8 remaining races. Colin T was well in the mix and was extremely close to the podium positions.

Thanks to Roger for filling in the OD role, keeping us on time and for completing 13 races all in good spirits with lots learnt…

Report by Paul Kelly .