A windless morning that caused a bit of frustration for the OOD and skippers, the wind direction was unable to make its mind up for more than two minutes at a time and the strength, well there was no strength, hence only 6 races. but in any case 7 skippers showed up on this otherwise warm sunny day and had some decent racing, which is what it is all about, Micky boy got off to a good start winning the first with Dave R 180 not too far behind and Jen H 69 taking third spot, Dave took the next with Martyn in second spot, both overtaking Micky boy with 10 yards to go to the line when micky boy hit a large green carp of which there were plenty today just basking on the surface and Micky boy just stopped dead in the water. As I said we started with 7 skippers but before we started Mike W 76 realised he was not going to be able to continue and called it a day. Richard J 699 was not having the best of days and as he said himself he was making far to many mistakes, Sam P 59 got better as the morning wore on, but Martyn A 66 just pipped him on countback, but on the day Dave R 180 kept his cool and with a great series of races never being worse than second, took the day. The series seems to be suffering at the moment with lack of numbers but I am sure this will pick up soon. Many thanks to everybody who mucked in and got stuff put away, and for the manor it was sailed in perfect. Well done Dave .

Great turnout for this, round 6 of the series, 15 skippers rocked up for close on perfect conditions for some top quality racing, It was a quality fleet and some superb racing was on the cards, wind direction was not quite the best but the OOD’s gave it there best shot along with Darin who as usual was at the lake early getting the buoys sorted, great to see the two “Eastenders” Roger B and Stuart J ( from down Boston way ) in attendance .

Racing commenced on the South bank, and with a short dog leg it proved to be just perfect, Darin B was out of the blocks fast and took the first race from Mick C ,closely followed by Rob W, it was the first of four straight wins by Darin with Tim H and Rob W picking up the crumbs, in race two Pete W must have had some kind of disaster that I am afraid I did not see, same thing for Mick C in race three but this was a coming together, The Brit Pops looked, and were strong , Darin fresh back from his Nationals experience, a first in another class, and he looked sharp as a knife, The racing was as I said first class with battles fought throughout the fleet, Jen H and Chris G separated by a very small margin, as was Roger Crates and Martyn A . Kevin E was not having the best of days, and as others will ,they are sure to analyse the score board when they see the results . Race 5 and Darin seemed to have a problem which stopped him having a clean sweep , however he went on to win the three remaining races with Tim H doing much better in the last three races along with Pete W keeping Darin honest. Eight races on the day, quality races I may add, the rain held off and the breeze stayed firm, we started on A suit and finished on A suit , I am fairly confident everyone went home with a smile on their face , none broader than Darin who took the win by a country mile, 2nd 3rd and 4th only a single point separating them and 3rd and 4th on countback.

Hey till next time .

Micky Boy

Standings after round 6 below

Not a great forecast , eight skippers showed and Dave Rigby was busy sorting out a course and moving buoys around in the dingy, It was trying to rain but was not cold, Nice to see Alan Newman return after a bit of an absence, One of our number was brave enough to don shorts. Racing was to be undertaken on the South bank and at least we had a couple of usable jetty’s. Briefing was called and to try and get a decent beat the start line and the leeward buoys were a bit of an eyesight test but we coped . Everybody took a turn sighting the start line and off we went , Dave R 180 won the first and Peter C 110 took the second , Mick C 46 got the third, and then Pete W 65 finally kicked in and took the remaining 5 races in a solid performance the rest of us were fighting for scraps in a shifty strengthening breeze. A + rig was used throughout, MIke W 76 had his winch elastic break but only missed one race after having to restring his winch, After Coffee the course was moved a little closer to the bank making it a little easier for the old eyes . Many thanks to all skippers for turning up and helping out with the gear and putting it all away, the bank banter was good, and it was a pleasure racing with you all. Pete W is the hot shot of the moment, so very well done to you Pete for the win, racing was close on the water that is for sure.

Cumulative summer series results below .

DF 65’s racing hard

Somebody mentioned champagne sailing , did not see much champagne but what I did see was some of the best racing and conditions that I have seen for a while ( well actually last week ) It really was fantastic but including our visitor Ben Harper and his wife on route to Scotland, but just popped in to race with us, we only had ten of our own skippers, well it certainly was not our loss, Micky boy Colin and Helped by Darin set up the race course with a view that the expected veer in the wind would kick in around ten am , it was shifty make no mistake but with two and a half beats you had the chance to make amends for earlier folly, 1st race up and Darin B 98 was on it , young Martin A 91 pulled a 2nd and Roger C 30 took third spot. race two and Rob W 97 took the bullet, Roger 2nd and Micky boy 3rd , Roger C was getting better each race with his little wing Wooden design and in race three took the bullet, Racing was tight throughout the fleet and it got particularly tricky when around 20 yards to the weather mark , and a large wind shadow ( these two buoys eventually moved 10 yards South By Darin ) Just before coffee break Darin took a first and then after coffee continued with two more, with Rob Wilson in hot pursuit the brit Pops putting on a show of superiority, Race seven saw Micky boy get away at the start and was not caught to take the win. Many faces missing from this round but credit to those who showed up, Martin was having some fine battles with Kevin who is handling his Venti better and better every week, Tracy just , and only just got the better by 1 point of the ladies challenge, Colin H 20 feels he could have done a little better and I am sure Ben Harper will be chatting to wife Olive all the way to Scotland about his visit to Scotland Farm,

Just one final mention Mick Cooper is suffering at the moment as most of you know, but today he turned up and raced, and in the first race went out wide saw a bit shift and went for it , he tacked onto port and put everybody to shame getting to the weather mark well ahead of the fleet, well done mate , just shows how good the Venti is when your on it , I realise as do others that you run out of steam during the morning , but that is to be expected , you will be back at it before you know it , and I am proud to call you my mate.

Thanks to all for the help thoroughly enjoyable day , Congratulations to Darin for the win , and everybody for the competition .

Results in the series so far Below