A few Skipper’s showed up on Saturday afternoon and for sure, saw the best of the breeze over the weekend. Sunday morning was quite Misty and not a breath of wind, but by 0730 the smell of bacon was wafting down the bank, and Micky boys bacon baps were moving along quite nicely, some with Mushrooms I may add. Dave, the OOD was ably assisted and Tim was out in the dingy getting a couple of courses laid to cover the basics should the wind play ball, Jen and a great team had registration and the fleet board, as well as the other tasks that make the event run smoothly all under control.

A short postponement for 15 minutes but , it was looking like the South bank as skippers heading that way with the boats, sure enough a whisper of wind came in and the seeding races were run, Darin B 98 and Tim H 44, were the winner’s in just about the best of the breeze which continued to back into the north east, both these guys had previously won this coveted trophy.

I think that with the wind situation it was decided to move to the East bank, little need to rush as the lake was like a mirow, so now we were onto race two, with B fleet on the water, and a not too long course, which was followed by A fleet,, Nigel Brown132 sailing a V 6 , another previous winner, took the win followed by Steve Venables, 09 with his Brit Pop and Darin b 98, in third, race three and from what I remember it must have been lunch time !!!! and no stopping for lunch made loadsa sense. Roger Crates 30 won the race with I am pretty sure the only wooden boat on the day and very slippery it was too , he was followed home by John Tushingham 51 and Tracy Ballington, showed hubby Darin the way home by getting the third spot, hubby was just behind her !!!! . Well this really was slow going, the whispers would come and go and in race 4 we saw skipper go hunting, Darin B looked as if he was heading to the railway crossing to search for what looked a decent breeze, while the other in the middle, just wallowed, when all came down to the gate after what seemed ages, you did not pick a side, you just went for which was nearest, it was to make little difference, and after what seemed an age David Holyoak 06 took the win with J T 51 picking up second , third spot went to Ben Harker 22.

The 5th and to be the last race of the day seemed to probably have the best of the breeze, and whilst there were battles up and down the fleet, in a gentle kind of way, all eyes were wanting to see who would lift the trophy , that has been fought for every year , for what I believe is ten years, JT 51 got off to a great start with his Vision in the A fleet ,chased by Mick C 46 with his Venti , Darin B 98 was not to far behind, But these three held their positions ” Just ” to the finish line.

A final race was to be had, just as the sun came out , the B fleet managed to get to the weather and wing marks and you could see almost , in minutes the breeze disappeared completely and the OOD Dave had no choice to blow the whistle and bring proceeding’s to an end,

All in all a very enjoyable day despite the lack of wind , Many congratulations to John Tushingham , Darin Ballington and Nigel Brown, for taking the podium places , all I may add previous winners , and a very well done to all skippers who sailed this event with a great attitude. Fantastic

Finally, a huge word of thanks to the whole race team and especially to the Hand family for organising such a great event , lets hope we see you all next year .

A few pictures below from Allan E and more to come from Caz very soon

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”