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 .

Wow, what an intense and enjoyable morning’s racing, June 1^st, at Scotland farm was, for the 14 skippers who opted to race.

Thank you first, to Pete Walters, our OOD for setting a windward /leeward course on the east bank and to Roger Bowtle, our assistant OOD who very kindly volunteered to take control of the starts, which on a windy, gusty, shifty day was a challenge in itself.

The forecast 12 to14 Knots gusting into the 20’s arrived by 10am and all skippers opted for the B rig.

We are very happy to welcome a new IOM skipper to the fleet, Brian Reeves, welcome Brian. He had a very commendable 6^th place finish in race 10 and 7^th place finish in race 6, very good for a first time out.

Well done Brian.

Race 1 was convincingly won by Rob Wilson, who unfortunately developed winch issues and had to retire after race 4, with Tim Hand in 2^nd and Mick Chamberlin in 3^{rd  place w}ith RogerC finishing in 8^th place.

RogerC was seen rapidly retuning his Venti and it must have paid off, because he went on to win race2 from Pete Walters 2^nd with a consistent MickC in 3^rd.

MickC showed real form in race 3, winning the race ahead of RogerC 2^nd and Darin Ballington in 3^rd.

The wind continued to be a gusty South Westerly with significant left, right shifts catching out a lot of skippers and making getting off the start line a challenge.

Race 4 saw RogerC find some pace and he went on to win the next 4 races.

With the strong wind and the speed of the boats, racing was frenetic with 11 races sailed, including having a coffee break after race 5.

Not bad for a morning’s fun.

MickC went on to win again in race 8 but overall his consistency was not there, going on to finish the day 4th on 39 points.

The final overall results being RogerC on 12 points with 6 wins and 3 seconds followed by TimH on 32 points and PeteW on 34.

Well done to everybody who competed, on a day that challenged your strong wind boat handling skills.

Write up from the Winner on the day Roger Crates

Only five sailors for a stunning ‘C’ rig day at Lincoln! It was a rare treat to experience this
much wind with a DF65. The wind was whistling down the South bank providing a near
perfect beat and run on a short course. Eleven races were completed at two-and-a-half laps
per race. No course changes were required.
Martyn set the pace with two back-to-back wins closely pursued by Mick, with most of the
rest of the fleet close behind. The next two races were Mick followed by Martyn. Then a
short break whilst Mick restrung his boat and Martyn helped Roger to tune his DF65.
After the break Jen came out to play and took firsts and seconds for most of the remaining
races, showing good speed and boat handling in quite demanding conditions. Failed tacks
and failing to take advantage of the wind shifts was disastrous in the close racing. The top
windward mark was also in a wind shadow from the bank and caused some problems.
Roger and Sam both had their time at or near the front but tended to drop back. Sam
suffered a gooseneck failure and had to deploy his B rig which was far too much sail area for
most of the time, making the downwind leg a big problem.
Mick showed the most consistency and won with thirteen points. Jen tied with Martyn on
seventeen points but took second due to her four race wins against Martyn’s three. Sam
narrowly beat Roger by one point on this great well-contested sailing day. We all went away
with a smile on our faces and a bit of wind-burn!
Thanks to everyone (particularly Roger) for the set-up and clear-down assistance and to
Roger again for his valuable rescue boat skills in helping Martyn to set out the course buoys.

Report by Martyn Aspinall

Not a lot of sun, but a breeze from the North Eastish was going to make this a fluky day, and so it was.

Tim the OOD and Roger B were at the lake early, and waited patiently for the breeze to settle, a course was set on the East bank and racing started early for the 12 skippers, a few missing, but we were ready to go, Some big holes in the beat made this a bit tricky but not for Roger C 30 who simple romped away. Tim H 134 got a good second and Martyn A 91 with his new Alioth got third spot and showed good speed for the first time at the club. Pete W , 65 with another brand new Venti took control in the second race and just held off Tim H 134 to secure the win Roger B 58 took third spot with his Britpop. The tea break was called early due to one of the boats having fixable winch line problems, Race three and Tim got the win with Micky boy C 46 getting the first of his two second spots, unfortunately his brain was in the wrong gear resulting in a lack of consistency during the morning, I have to say conditions were tricky, but having said that Roger C 30 made it all look too easy with yet another of his four wins on the day, Tim notched up three wins , Pete two wins, and Micky Boy one win, Battles all thru the fleet great to watch, racing was close and conditions tricky, we lost Adrian C 80 early on with winch problems but I am sure most went home happy, and will be looking thru the results to see maybe where they could have done a touch better. Well done to Roger Crates for the win , and thanks to all for helping put all the gear away.