12 Competitors came to the line for the last race of 2015 , round 3 of the D/F & RG 65 winter series , It would have been 14 but for two skippers having problems before the start of proceedings. The morning started in brilliant sunshine and a brisk South westerly just took the edge off temperatures which remained around 10 degrees, so very warm for the time of the year , John Tushingham was our guest and certainly showed everybody how a Dragon should be sailed , He also brought a new design that will be launched around March next year the Dragon Flite 95 that caused a lot of interest and most members had a go and were suitably impressed by the speed and balance of the boat, On to the racing which was hard-fought and exciting ,  most skippers had B rig but one or two only had A rig available and suffered in the strong winds. Three new members came down with their Dragons  and I believe learnt quite a lot as the morning wore on. There were some notable results well worth mentioning, Gordon Bennett ( 23 ) sailed exceptionally well to gain a third place, just one point behind Dave Burke,  Chris Corrin sailing a borrowed boat was consistently good, and Bert Whitehead in only his first full season of sailing just got better and better, and gained a second place in race 5. The fleet/class gets stronger at Scotland Farm and we all look forward to 2016 , many thanks go to Phil who did the scoring for us. At tea break Mulled wine and mince pies plus other delicacies were the order of the day, with smiles all round .

Merry Xmas to all our friends and foe’s this Xmas , and great sailing for you all in 2016

Well well after all th horrible gales and rain we have been having,  Scotland Farm comes up trumps again, If a little showery to start an almost perfect weight of wind for the fleet to start on B suits , A perfect beat along the east bank made for some very exciting racing. 11 competitors started Racing and it was nice to see that 10 actually finished Ivan unfortunately having radio problems early on , A new member Ed came down to watch proceedings and kindly took over the scoring , so many thanks for that. With Dave Burke missing due to Woodhead pass being closed because of high winds it was going to be the battle of the V9’s and Jen’s Britpop, in fact there were two AB4’s also racing and both showed some magical turns of speed. Around noon the wind had abated and Chaz was first to put on the top suit and would have won the race had it not been for the superb covering of Mick C , the next race everybody changed rigs to A suit and I suppose the wind was around  80% for the rig , Another new member racing for the first time Mick Cooper .who has not sailed before in his life, showed a lot of promise with his Lintel, and said afterwards he thoroughly enjoyed himself, all in  all a great days racing , just marred by the very last race when the heavens opened up and everybody got very wet . Results below .

Well the forecast did not look great ,,,,,,  but if you don’t go and have a look see you will never know, Fantastic racing for those who showed up B suit from the start superb south Westerly breeze had us racing up and down the East bank , 9 races completed, great atmosphere, we even had the sun out , ,, only down side was the starter tripod blew over twice, but relax it still works. We had two long beats but because of the waves you needed to keep tacks to a minimum. One or two breakages and in the end for the last three races most changed to C suit Chris and Ivan did hang on to B suit , tight racing, great racing, results below and series will be posted later in the week .

The forecast looked good for racing and that is exactly what the 15 competitors got , the sun was shining, the westerly wind whilst not being the best direction was around 8 to 12 knots, Racing took place predominantly on the South Bank with a couple of course changes to try and get the best possible beat. Darin 98 showed his class winning the first 4 races with a variety of pretenders coming in second spot. Somebody took the master out in race five Giving Mick C’s under performing V9 an opportunity, Dave Burke came in a close second before going on to win race 6. I got the feeling that quite a few people were pleased with their performance on the day notably Bert W 34 and Phil H 43 , I also think a few skippers learned quite a bit from the more experienced skippers, The starts were quite tricky today and it is one of the main things to learn , Once you have mastered where to start and are able to control your boat on the start line , when you do get away and have clear air , your task to the first  mark is so much easier. The Rules , they may seem a pain but we do need to learn maybe 6 basic rules that will hold us in good stead for most of the time . There is a rules section that is a bit of fun on this website , have a few goes at it, start with elementary and work your way through it , once you have a grasp of the rules your racing will be so much more enjoyable.

Thanks everybody for a great mornings racing. results below .

Mick

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