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

Bit of a grey day welcomed 12 skippers at the Farm today for this the final round of the series, the race team got set up on the East bank many thanks for that but it was always, going to be between both banks , and so we got started bang on time, and like a shot out of a gun Tim H 44 set off like lightening with Martyn A 877 and Mick C 46 wallowing in Tim’s Wake, the breeze I suppose was 70 % of top rig and it did increase all through the morning , but hey Back to Tim H, and for the first three races it was the same three in the same order. Peter C 110 was having a pretty good morning and pushed himself into the top three in the 4th race but was unable to sustain it Jen H 69 was also having a decent day, and after coffee when cake was offered due to one of our skippers ( Martyn ) hitting 65,,, he doesn’t look a day over 50 , ok most of the skippers do wear glasses, But I have to say his sail trim is spot on and he chased Tim all the way but never quite managed to beat him. As I said coffee went down well and we changed to the South bank which gave us a much better slant, by this time the breeze was up, but the fleet were in fact very close, which tells me everybody is improving , Young Colin H 301 mentioned he was having a job to get a good start, and I have to say the start was a major part of getting a decent result Sam P 159 got better after the cake break and had a morning he will be pleased with, Richard J 699 however was having a morning he may want to forget, Kevin E 02 was also struggling. The morning wore on with Tim H 44 showing what a great racer he is , and I may add was aiming to be unbeaten, with a perfect 10 races , however a Port and starboard just after the start spoiled his chance, but even so a pretty impressive performance from the youngster, Obviously he took the top step so very well done Tim and also well done to Mr 65 Martyn and they do say a good wine matures with age ,, say not more .

Well done to everybody who helped out especially to Roger Bowtle who gave up his racing to do a Stirling job as race officer, apart from the rain, the sailing conditions were perfect and gave us some great races, we now look forward to the Summer series that will start in April and before that the DF TT that is being held at the club on the 23rd and 24th March ,,, just two weeks time and we shall see the best skippers in the UK descend on Lincoln.

A Misty mirky day dawned with not a breath of wind at Lincoln, Race officers with help went out looking for some buoys, from different parts of the lake and as Darin emerged from the mist a shout went up ” hang on is this an illegal in a small boat” and it was only when he was fifty foot away we realised it was Darin with a boat full of Boys ,, sorry Buoys, many thanks Darin for all your help Mate

And so we had a very good turnout 14 skippers for round 9 of this series, we had a nearly new Venti in the hands of Richard J 12 going in for the first time, we also welcomed back to racing a couple of long term absentee’s in Gravesy and Adrian , who was race officer for the day, and even more importantly we welcomed back my old mate Mick Cooper, or Cooperman as we like to call him, great stuff Mick you look amazing. We had 8 different designs on the water and a fine blend of skills, The conditions we had were Mist , very little wind but in spite of all that we had a great attitude, one thing for sure was how well Roger Crates Wooden hull Little Wing ? design went in the majority of the races and most of the time leaving the fleet for dead , so very well done Roger. Race one was wone by Roger C 30 followed home by Tim 44 and Dave 57 taking up third spot, Race two Darin got into his stride, but all eyes were on Mick 39 with his Venti who led for a good two thirds of the race before Darin broke through, third spot was mister consistency on the day Tim 44 races three and four Roger 30 took the wins, racing was slow but at least you were moving and although being in the wrong place could be frustrating if you get up front it seemed to be more pleasing, ” well it would wouldn’t it ” Apart from Roger 30 Tim was showing good consistency as was Dave R 57, and these were races where you could go up and down like a yo yo, Richard j 12 with his new Venti will get better trust me, it will take a few weeks to get the set up correct , a much better performance from Kevin E which did include a second place, I do know that Colin H 20 with his Pikanto has been working hard off the water to get the right set up and I am sure it will come good. Tracy B 49 was top lady and top Brit Pop , and you will see from the scores there was pretty tight racing in Mid fleet , it was also great to see two past members Ed W and Geoff at lake side enjoying the racing . At the end of the day an emphatic win for Roger and the ” little Wing ” wooden boat who put some of the very latest designs to shame with 5 wins in 8 races, Tim did brilliantly , and Riggers Rigby sailed better than he has sailed for some time , well done , Just like to thank everybody for helping out especially at the end for packing it all away , very well done.