Fourteen skippers turned out for the first round of the DF95 winter series, unfortunately one skipper had to return home before racing commenced to deal with domestic issues….we all wish Alan Newman and his family well, ( mick has since heard that Alans wife had a fall but she is OK )

The moderate wind forecast did not materialise and fortunately neither did the light rain. Kevin E and Dave C, the race officers, were able to set a course on the East Bank to suit the light south westerly wind. The racing throughout the fleet was competitive and close.

Racing started promptly with Rob W 97 taking the first bullet closely followed by Pete W 678 and Tim H 44 The morning tea break was taken early as Mick C 39 managed to get hooked up to a mark and needed the rescue boat, however he did get two seconds during the morning great work . The winner of the DF summer series, Mick C 46, managed 3 wins during the morning while Rob W97 and Pete W 678 took two and Martyn A 877 and Tim H 44 shared 1 win.

The first five skippers all had wins on the day but consistency proved to be the decisive factor with Pete W 678 taking the honours ……well done Pete. Thanks to everyone for helping to put all the gear away.

A great start to the Winter series and as Kevin says consistency was key as was getting a good start. Oh I almost forgot , getting the right shifts up the beat so you are in the top 3 at the weather mark !!!!!

7 skippers turned out for this the final round of the summer series, The forecast wind did not really materialise, but it was tremendously fluky with some big gusts. Sam and Richard got things underway, nice and early and all in all we had some great races, but you needed to be on your toes to keep on track.

Pete , with his 4 wins was always going to be top of the pops, But Jen with her three wins was not to far behind, Martyn got a couple of bullits , and Mike Williams pulled one out of the hat, Consistency was going to be key, even in the fluky stuff you had to keep the boat going and not stray to far outside the lay lines. Rules , Hate to say it but the rules do need to be followed, and a few breaches were evident today, up to us all to sail clean.

Well done to Pete for the Win, always a pleasure to race against, Well done Sam and stand in Richard for sorting it all out and many thanks to all who helped get the stuff put away. So that,s it for the Winter, the attendance in this class has to say the least been sketchy and when the accumulative gets published you will see what I mean. As I understand it we have a winner in the series , so very well done to Richard Jutsum, for that your name will go on a nice trophy that will be presented at the AGM in November.

Great racing as always for the last round of the series, Pete Cogill and Mick Chamberlain with the help of others got the course sorted and racing commenced on the South bank just a few minutes late, 13 Skippers at the line, one or two regulars absent doing another class Nationals, but a good fleet none the less . The racing started with two good beat and runs and a final short beat to the finish, this changed to three beat and runs after the second race , but Mick C 46 was on fire as his Venti tore away up the first beat and once round the weather mark was not going to be caught, Pete W 65 another Venti came in second , and the V 10 of Tim H 44 took the third spot, After moving the finishing buoy that had drifted somewhat, race two got underway with skippers sharing the start line duties, Nice , this time it was reverse of race one with Pete 65 followed by Mick C 46 and a superb third place by Mike W 76 with his newly repaired Brit Pop . The racing was keen I can tell you , all up and down the fleet private battles were going on, Dave R 57 fairly fresh and from Major surgery and feeling a little fragile was doing well with some very consistent results. Chris V 85 is getting the hang of the Widget and we can expect more from him in the future Winter series, Martyn A 95 is searching for a competitive boat but does well with the Shiraz ,, Kevin E 20 is in the same boat and waiting for a rocket ship to propel him up with the leaders, Great to see Greg stick it out and improve on his racing, and Sam P 34 was a little hindered by having to race with his B rig, Peter C the race officer had an OK sort of day, and Mick Cooperman is will to pay a kings ransom to get his hands on the settings of the two Venti’s up ahead. The day belonged to Mick C 46 fresh from doing OK aty the Nationals last month he has adjusted his settings and trust me the boat is going very well, with four wins from 9 races and a worst position 3rd he was always in control. So well done Micky boy.

We now look forward to the Winter series in this class early in October.

Many thanks to all who helped make the morning so enjoyable. “great racing it certainly was”

Forecast was for light winds, bit of an exaggeration, but what’s new since the Michael Fish Fiasco way back when, a whisper of wind more like, but enough to worry some skippers, or should I say lightweights who may have got blown into the lake. We welcomed Jon Lee to our sailing today and hopefully he will become a full time member, it was his first time sailing a DF 95 but showed enough that he will soon get the hang of it. Tim took over duties from Cooperman who managed to pick up Covid man on his recent trip to Italy, all chipped in and helped out and a course was laid , while some of us cleared the remnants of green stuff from the edges, Mick C 46 got of to a great start and drifted to the weather mark first and was not caught, The race was really on Colin H 301 and Kevin E 02 who were virtually equal top in the series, Tim H then put a string of good results together with I may add his new DF 95, he will be a force to be reckoned with in the upcoming Winter series, Richard J 699 was having a decent day, which taught most of us a thing or two about light airs sailing, at the end of the morning Tim H 10 took the top spot, and Micky Boy took second, the pressure, told on Kevin and Colin, and they will need to up their game, to be a threat in the Winter series , there could well be some tuning tips and advice some Wednesdays, who knows . A good morning with pleasant banter on the bank as always.

Well Done Tim , and also well done to all for the help in getting it all sorted.