With a gaggle of Lincoln boats competing at the Datchet Nationals we had a reduced fleet today of 8 happy skippers.

It was windy, so B rig was the call for the day. In fact by the last race at 1pm C rig may have been the best option, with many boats being over powered down wind and putting their rudders in the air!

As always, the orientation of Lincoln’s lake came into its own, with a 150m windward leeward course being set along the length of the west bank, parallel to it.

The good news was, the marks were never far away, the bad news was, there was an awful lot of walking involved (almost running at times today).

Congratulations go to Rob Wilson and his Brit Pop, our winner today, closely followed by Roger Crates and his Venti with equal points but a final race worse discard.

On occasions Sam Parker found very good speed as did Mike Holmes, Colin Helliwell and Kevin Evison with only 2 points separating the 3 of them.

It just goes to show, every place counts.

Although bringing up the rear, Ron and Mark both commented on how much fun they had had, and how much they had learnt by sailing in such strong conditions.

All in all, everybody enjoyed themselves which of course is why we go sailing.

See you all again, in two weeks

Colin and Pete arrived first and sorted the courses and got the kit out. The light breeze was coming from the north but was forecast to go more to the east so a course was set on the East Bank, start close to the club and a beat midway up the bank in an effort to avoid the millpond conditions near the club entrance.
Nine skippers showed up including two from Huntington and racing got under way on time; however Adrian had an issue with his boat which could not be fixed, so 8 raced the morning.
As it was it became the Tim Hand day with him winning all but one of the 9 races completed. This being quite a feat with the very changeable conditions especially near the top mark.
Ben and Hayden Wallace from Huntingdon showed good pace with Hayden giving his dad a lesson or two.
Colin H nearly won one of the races from Tim but it appeared the pressure may have got to him, allowing a pass within the last 20 metres of the finish.
Racing was kept going with very few breaks and the courses were quite long allowing competitors the chance to get back over the 2.5beats.
A few calls as you would expect over rule infringement but all done in good humour.

Pics below from Andy many thanks .

A great turnout of 16 Lincoln skippers and one visiting skipper, Mike Drew of Fleetwood MY&PBC, for the first round of the IOM Summer Series.

The weather appropriately was brilliant sunshine all day with a moderate wind in a northeasterly direction, ranging from mid to top end of A rig in strength.

The two Rodgers had arrived early and had kindly prepared the dingy and starting equipment ready for the race officers. The wind direction coming from the northeast, diagonally across the lake, made it difficult to set a course for racing. The OOD Pete W, assisted by Kevin E, opted for a course of the south bank with a zig-zag beat from the west towards the clubhouse followed by a run downwind to a gate in the south west corner of the lake. The short windward leg, large fleet and starboard rounding of the windward mark resulted in some challenging situations.

Racing commenced at 10am with Darin B taking the first win followed by Tim H and Rodger C in third. Four races were completed before the morning coffee break with Darin and Tim sharing two wins each, Chris E getting two seconds and Pete W beginning to show some consistency with a second and a third.

During coffee break top skippers were noted giving advice and tips to others which helps promote the standards and skills throughout the fleet and promotes a friendly but competitive fleet.

After the break racing continued with a further four races up to lunch, Rob W, Pete W and Darin B scoring some good results but Tim H7 dominated with three wins. Tracey B, sailing with a new rig, showed improving results during the day as adjustments were made and Martyn A was stringing a series of good consistent results together.

As the day progressed the wind direction was more from the east and the course was changed to a single longer beat towards the clubhouse with a port rounding windward mark and wing mark, which proved to be a less challenging course.

After eight races a break for lunch was taken and a number of skippers left for other commitments and Rodger B decided he had walked far enough and volunteered to monitor the start line for the rest of the racing (many thanks Rodger). Chris E unfortunately sustained damage to a sail and had to retire.

The final five races continued with the same skippers at the sharp end of the fleet, Rodger C taking three wins and Tim H taking two.