A very gusty morning greeted 12 skippers at Scotland farm for Round two of this Summer series , Pete W had got there early with Mike W to get it all set up, and it was going to be a long beat and run course on the East bank , ( secretly 3 Venti’s were seen practising on Saturday afternoon and swapping measurements etc ) But hey it was a great breeze probably 70/ 80 % of top suit but very fluke’y in the gusts, Pete W 65 was quick out of the blocks and he had to be to hold of the challenge of Roger C 30 with another new design, this one called a combo, and although a little rough looking ( Sorry Roger ) it looked as if it had been rubbed down to within and inch of its life, and boy was it quick , so quick it even surprised Roger, But I have to say the beats were tricky and you had to be on you game from about half way up to ensure you were at the pointy end at the weather mark. Roger won the second race and Pete the third , Tim H 44 was having one or two problems with his knicker elastic , ( jib Boom elastic ) but eventually sorted it, and in fact around half way through and with an eye on the Worlds coming up in November swapped his V10 with his mums Britpop just to get a new feel on things. Mick C 46 managed to win races 4 and 5 but then followed a complete disaster, thru the fluke’y stuff and ended up 10. It was great to see Mick Cooper 39 racing hard especially after what he has been thru , and that little group Kevin , Jen Peter and Mick were separated by only 3 points, Colin H 20 struggled a little today and Richard J 12 has some work to do with his Venti and I am sure it will be a quick boat, Mike W 76 also seemed to struggle, and something may well have happened from race 7. Good also to see Pete C 110 back after a bit of an absence just pipped Cooperman by 1 point, I drove away from the lake realising how competitive the racing is , bad start and it’s hard to recover , over the line early your race is over , have to do a turn again your race is done, I think mainly our set ups are not to far out but we could do with a little chat or two on perhaps out tactics and race strategy perhaps Darin top tips for the future. At the end of the day Micky boy took the top step and was as consistent as he could be, the fleet is getting hotter each week that’s for sure. The manners on the bank today were superb,, as was Jen’s birthday cake , Thank you and happy birthday Jen, The nationals are coming up fast ,Lincoln have a few skippers in it , and there is a pre nationals race at Manor Park next Sunday, if you wanna go try your boat for speed get your entry in..

Many thanks to all for helping out getting the gear out and away again , superb

Well done to the old boy, Micky Boy with his prized Venti for the win .

Report by Martyn

Martyn arrived to fill in for Mick as OOD (hope you are feeling better Mick), to find that early bird riser Richard had set most of the required equipment up requiring only the repositioning of the buoys to suit the moderate Westerly wind. We were blessed with a bright sunny day that warmed as the day progressed, but only 6 sailors! Definitely quality versus quantity though, as a highly competitive but friendly sailing session ensued.

Martyn got off to a great start with 3 wins before Mike and Colin H found winning form. Positions were changing all the time in the races though and every sailor enjoyed some glory time whilst heading the fleet. Alan sailed very well, but a win eluded him. Colin Toll was thrilled to deservedly win a race. Richard was experimenting with his rig settings. Some worked, some didn’t of course; he took one win but gained a reputation for pinching places on the finish line!

There were a number of rapid finishes with multiple boats vying to cross the line first and quite a few position changes on the final leg due to the changes in wind direction. Gusts of wind made the downwind leg entertaining in some races and guiding the boat to prevent submarining could add vital distance between competing boats before negotiating the gate and commencing the final long beating leg.

It was a great day, and came with a free sun tan. Everybody mucked in to help with the tidy up after 14 completed races and everybody notably took a turn on the start line. Martyn was the most consistent sailor taking the day with 19 points. Mike also sailed consistently, taking second spot with 29 points. Colin H was a little more erratic in his positions, but sailed very competitively and took third with 37 points. Then, Alan on 42 points, Richard on 43 and Colin Toll on 55. All the sailors went home with a smile on their faces having enjoyed a pretty-much perfect day sailed in the best of spirits (thanks for the wording, Colin!).

Martyn Aspinall

Easter and do we need to learn from this , There was a time we did not race on the Easter weekend, I can now see why. Hey ho, 5 skippers showed on what looked like a foggy morning at the lake , but this all changed very quickly and by the time we started racing blue skies and sunshine came thru and with a breeze that continued to strengthen it was to be a great day for racing, we started on the East bank and did the first four races, all racing was with the A + rig and Alan who was our OOD struggled with maybe an intermittent radio fault which he struggle with until after the break and then called it a day. Mick C 46 sporting his 5 year old Icarex sails , looked as if he was going to be hard to beat and won the first two races, the third was won by Dave R 180 with Mick C in second and young Martyn getting another of his many thirds, in a close fought battle with Jen H 69. After the break we moved to the South Bank and the breeze had upped its game a little and from that moment Mick C 46 just appeared to have so much extra speed it was at time’ slightly embarrassing, and the only boat to beat Mick was 34 Kevin E , but wait a minute he was sailing a I.O.M , sorry forgot he brought the wrong boat , not I may say for the first time. But Kevin stayed and enjoyed trying different settings to try and get in trim for the first of the summer series next week, But in truth the old bugger Mick C was far too powerful on the day , There was a little secret if you believe in superstition, some do some don’t But whenever Micky boy goes racing he always wears the same Underpants ( blue and yellow in case your interested ) but last week the missu,s’ threw them out saying they were disgusting, so for todays racing he had a brand new pair not going to divulge the colour ( it may be bad luck ) but let me tell you they will soon get well worn . Another little snippet, Is that mick is digging a bit of a hole for a new Patio and it is hard work , so he asked all the racers today that he would give a roast lamb sandwich to any body who could come and help him plus copious amounts of red wine, but sadly no takers , Well done Mick C and well done to all who turned up to race on Easter Sunday .

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