Easter and do we need to learn from this , There was a time we did not race on the Easter weekend, I can now see why. Hey ho, 5 skippers showed on what looked like a foggy morning at the lake , but this all changed very quickly and by the time we started racing blue skies and sunshine came thru and with a breeze that continued to strengthen it was to be a great day for racing, we started on the East bank and did the first four races, all racing was with the A + rig and Alan who was our OOD struggled with maybe an intermittent radio fault which he struggle with until after the break and then called it a day. Mick C 46 sporting his 5 year old Icarex sails , looked as if he was going to be hard to beat and won the first two races, the third was won by Dave R 180 with Mick C in second and young Martyn getting another of his many thirds, in a close fought battle with Jen H 69. After the break we moved to the South Bank and the breeze had upped its game a little and from that moment Mick C 46 just appeared to have so much extra speed it was at time’ slightly embarrassing, and the only boat to beat Mick was 34 Kevin E , but wait a minute he was sailing a I.O.M , sorry forgot he brought the wrong boat , not I may say for the first time. But Kevin stayed and enjoyed trying different settings to try and get in trim for the first of the summer series next week, But in truth the old bugger Mick C was far too powerful on the day , There was a little secret if you believe in superstition, some do some don’t But whenever Micky boy goes racing he always wears the same Underpants ( blue and yellow in case your interested ) but last week the missu,s’ threw them out saying they were disgusting, so for todays racing he had a brand new pair not going to divulge the colour ( it may be bad luck ) but let me tell you they will soon get well worn . Another little snippet, Is that mick is digging a bit of a hole for a new Patio and it is hard work , so he asked all the racers today that he would give a roast lamb sandwich to any body who could come and help him plus copious amounts of red wine, but sadly no takers , Well done Mick C and well done to all who turned up to race on Easter Sunday .

Saturday 23rd March DF 65’s

First of all a huge thank you to the Lincoln team

Colin Helliwell Scoring

Tracey Ballington Scoring

Jen Hand Organiser

Judith Baldwin scoring

Darin Ballington RO

Tim hand ARO

Mick Chamberlain. Kitchen. You make the best bacon roles.

Without your time and dedication, this day would never happen. Thank you.

Onto the racing.

After a detailed briefing from Darin, the fleet was split into 2 heats.

Nearly all the competitors started with the B rig although the gusts were top end B Rig through the morning. At the end of the day the anemometer said average wind was 13 mph with gusts up to 31mph

The seeding races were held down the South bank. Craig Richard’s and John Tushingham appeared to be tied together with piece of string for the whole race with John just getting the win on the line. In the other race, Pete Baldwin and Nigel Barrow snuck through on the last beat to take the top spots.

Racing continued through the morning with the strength of gusts increasing so that one or two C rigs appeared. Consistency was the order of the day by staying in phase with the significant shifts and after three races at lunch Nigel Barrow and Peter Baldwin headed the pack.

After lunch the gusts were more frequent and stronger and by race 5 we were all down to C rigs

John Brierley dominated the afternoon with John Tushingham doing just enough to snatch second. Barrow faded to third overall and Peter Baldwin to 4th having suffered some winch issues in 2 races. David Donin completed the top 5.

I have to say it was my first DF 65 meeting and I found the boats fun, easy to sail but hard to set up well and the one design nature provides a true test of sailing. Everyone abided by the rules with the help of some sharp eyed observers.

Another great day out in the world of radio sailing.

Sunday 24th March it was the turn of the DF 95’s

First of all a big shout out to the helpers on Sunday who endured a slightly better day than Saturday as the weather improved and temperatures warmed as the wind eased during the day. Our thanks go to:

Dave Rigby – RO

Rob Wilson – ARO

Colin Helliwell – Fleetboard and scoring

Judith Baldwin – Finish line and Fleetboard

Colin Toll – Finish

Mick Chamberlain – Galley and provider of the best bacon rolls

Jen Hand – Organiser

Onto the racing. The day dawned with a good breeze from the west ensuring all the competitors started with their B rigs. Racing was extremely close with the main challenge avoiding the fluffed tack which could send you from a strong position to the back of the fleet.

After the Briefing from Dave Rigby we got into the seeding races for the two heats. In the morning we all sailed on B rigs and there was a reasonably consistent wind down the lake with enough shifts to make life interesting. Despite the port bias line it paid to start towards the windward end of the line so you avoided the melee as boats tried to tack off the bank. The 13 to 23mph wind was forecast to drop after 4pm which would have worked out well, however the wind decided to switch off early in the A heat for race 5 and become extremely shifty. Get it right and you were a winner, get it wrong and the you were destined for the back of the fleet as the author can testify. The one bonus of the wind dropping was it allowed us all to warm up a bit. Standing in a constant cool wind is tiring and chilly however we enjoyed broken cloud and sunshine.

Craig Richards and John Tushingham were tied together for the lead again like yesterday in their seeding race with Craig winning on the finish line, and Peter Baldwin and Dave Adams took out the other. Through the day John Tushingham proved to be the most consistent sailor and beat Craig Richards by one point with Nigel Barrow third having faded again in the last two races with Derek Priestley and Peter Baldwin completing the top 5.

At the prize giving John Tushingham thanked all the organisers

All in all a great weekends racing enjoyed with great spirit and everyone appreciated the support and efforts of Lincoln Sailing Club.

Very many thanks to Nigel Barrow for race reports , and some pictures and also Alan Edgar for more pictures

12 skippers rocked up to the farm for the last round of this great series , rain may have put a few off but in truth it was not that bad Roger C and Jen H were your officials and with a load of help from Darin we had a course set on the East bank.

Hot off the start line in the first race was Darin B 98 with his Pikanto followed by Mick C 46 and this was the form for the next 3 races before Tim H 44 got his act together. There were 4 Venti’s on the water this week and only two Brit Pop’s there were 7 different design’s including a V8, but hold on ,, this one was a wooden one , capably sailed and probably built by Roger C 30,, the second wooden design he has in his locker, and he tells me he has another in the making , But I have to say he sails extremely well managing to keep up and beat on occasions, much later designs and what you might call state of the art designs . Mick Cooper 39 had some great results a couple of third’s and a second in race 9 he will be very pleased with the result as he beat his arch rival ( Jen ) in the Brit Pop ok ok only on countback with three other boats , but they all count, Kevin E 34 is getting to grips with his new Venti and will only get better, Sam P 134 had a great day since he redistributed a bit of weight to get the bow out , and just managed to pip Mike W 76 , Colin H 20 will I am sure be a little disappointed, but needs to keep tweaking to get the best from the Pikanto , Richard J 12 what can I say , we altered the boom angle’s by a couple of mm and it did seem to make a difference. Stuart sailing his Lintel was hoping for a stronger breeze which did not materialise, Back up to the sharp end Darin as per usual showed his skill and did enough in the early races to keep the marauding Tim in check as his second half results were fantastic, and he really had the V 10 motoring with fours 1st and a third, very well done Darin for the win and I do believe the series.

Many thanks to all who helped out clearing away etc and also for the great racing Thanks also to Colin H for sorting out our scoring during the series and also to Alan Edgar for giving us a few pictures