LRSC Report DF65 Summer Series – Round 4. 27th July 2025 report by Kevin E

Five skippers arrived on a warm overcast morning to contest the fourth round of this series. The wind was light and variable on arrival but strengthened and settled as the morning progressed.

Roger B arrived early and helped Kevin E, the race officer, get things ready for the day’s racing. The wind direction coming from the south west, diagonally across the lake, made it difficult to set a course for racing. The RO initially opted for a course off the east bank with a zig-zag beat from the north end towards the clubhouse followed by a run downwind to a gate in the north east corner of the lake.

Racing commenced at 10am with the wind light and shifty, Adrian C mastering these conditions to take the win in the first race closely followed by Mick C. The second race again saw Adrian taking the win with Rodger B sailing well to get second. By 10.30 the wind had changed to a westerly direction and freshened, so the course was moved to the South bank with a beat from the clubhouse towards the southwest corner followed by a run to a gate at clubhouse corner of the lake. Sam P sailed well in the third race to take his first win of the day with Mick C in second.

There was some banter on the bank after race 3 that Mick had not had a win…. that was soon about to change, and after a quarter turn easing of the kicker,( He told me ) Mick C went on to dominate the rest of the mornings racing with 6 wins out of the last eight races. As the morning went on the wind increased and became less shifty resulting in some close competitive racing and a great morning’s sailing.

During the morning a visitor arrived with a boat (unknown design) and was made welcome, given advice on rig and settings and joined in the sailing, following around at the back of the fleet for a couple of races. Hopefully a future new member.

Although Dave C was not at the sharp end of the results he was in contact with the fleet and second to the first mark on one occasion showing steady improvement with practice, unfortunately battery problems forced Dave to leave early after race 6.

After 12 races at around 12:40 the sky darkened and rain looked imminent so the unanimous decision was taken to finish early and everyone helped to put the equipment away quickly just before the rain started……many thanks

Very close results overall on the day for the minor positions with Sam P (second), equal on points to Rodger B (third) and Adrian C only one point behind.

Congratulations to Mick C for a clear win

For those keen on seeing the the cumulative results so far in the series click HERE

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Guys this is a great little series with the DF 65’s , at very small expense, you can come and join in the fun and banter at a great club, just enquire for more info , ” It could change your life “

IOM Summer Series 20 July 2025

Roger Bowtle arrived early as ARO and did most of the prep for sailing – thanks Roger! Martyn (RO) and Micky Boy decided on a dog-leg course on the South bank to suit the difficult South-Easterly wind direction and some time was then spent in arranging the buoys for the seven skippers.

Adrian was struggling to get his boat functioning and Roger generously offered to share his Britpop on alternate races. Roger and Adrian also offered to alternate doing starting and finishing duties which lead to the racing going very smoothly.

We were very light on numbers for one of our prestigious IOM events with most of the top guys playing away and giving the rest of us the chance to set our sights on Micky C! Sam made a good start to achieving this by taking the first two bullets in the light winds but then slipped up with three poor races whilst Mick and Martyn both began to find some speed and Kevin took two seconds in the first three races.

The racing was tight, but all of us failed to turn in consistently good results, except Micky C. Cooperman made many rig adjustments but failed to find settings that took him beyond third place. Bryan was in the mix for most races and took a second position in race four.

The last few races after coffee were conducted in moderate rain. At least it was warm rain and it ceased raining as we finished sailing allowing the unfortunate ones (like me) to display the failings of our summer waterproofs on our inner clothing. I personally was soaked, having also sat in a puddle on the finishing chair! Not to mention the rain running down my legs into my boots.

At the end of racing Mick, Sam and Martyn had divided up the nine races with 3 wins each. Micky C was the winner with thirteen points followed by Martyn (sailing his Alioth) on 15 points and Sam just one point behind on 16 points. Close racing indeed.

A special thanks is due to Roger and Adrian for doing a large part of the set-up and strip down along with the starts and finishes. Not a cross word was heard throughout the session despite the soaking we received and nobody needed to protest Micky C.

Report by Martyn Aspinall.

20th July 2025

You can see the cumulative results HERE for the series so far , I hope .

With the big boys and girls of LRSC off plying their skills at the Datchet Ranking event, round 6 of the IOM summer series was always going to be light on numbers. The forecasted rain throughout the morning maybe put a few off too. But 4 skippers sailed some competitive, fair sailing in good humour.

Somewhat surprisingly, the weather forecasters had got it wrong and the whole mornings sailing saw just a very occasional spot of light rain, and at times the sun came out. The wind was light with A rig the order of the day.

Racing with a smaller than usual fleet enabled the skippers to concentrate a little more on the set up of their boats and trying to get a better balance. The two Ventis of Sam & Kev were noticeably quick upwind, pointing high and fast.

New member Bryan, sailing his recently acquired TNT, sailed extremely well. A tweek to his rig before race 3 saw him very much in the pack, regularly leading around the windward mark as the day’s racing progressed. No doubt as he gets used to his boat he will be a strong contender in the near future.

With 12 races sailed there was never a clear winner. Kev, Sam & Paul each taking 4 bullets. But with 10 minutes to go and a somewhat foreboding sky, we made the decision to get one last race in.

Kev sailed skilfully to take the bullet, just as the heavens opened.

The final results were close and the learnings from sailing in a smaller fleet will hopefully come to fruition once the fleet comes back together for the next round of the series.

Paul K

Bit breezy , but sunny and warm for the 5 skippers who contested round three of this series, close racing was to be the order of the day. Micky boy got some marks sorted for a nice dog leg course on the East bank which kept us close to the action , and as the wind backed we took out the dog’s leg , Adrian got of to a great start , having a good set up with a nice amount of twist, Martyn took the second win, and Micky boy took the third race, after a bad start Martyn was making up ground with a series of good results, and him and Adrian were neck and neck going round the race course, Clarkey was in the main getting his set ups right and doing his best, he was of course very happy with his days racing and as usual had a wide smile on his face. After a couple of not so good races Micky boy got a couple of bullets, and it was anybody’s call who was ahead at this time, Jen was threatening Martyn with a no apple crumble option by race 9 but Martyn ploughed on with another couple of wins, Adrian was slipping, and it was all so tight by the end that nobody could have forecasted Micky boy taking the top step but only on countback and being pushed very hard, As we were finishing rain was in the air and we all mucked in to get the gear put away, A great mornings racing was had by all, not heard the outcome re the crumble debate but I am sure we will hear when we all get together next.

Many thanks too all for an enjoyable morning .