Friday DF 95s 2017/18
Sailing of DF 95s takes place each Friday morning and the competitors directly circularised. Occasional reports will be posted here to give a flavour to those who are interested. Those tending to be posted are the reports of the first event of the month which for 2017/18 will count towards a trophy.
Friday September 7th
Evening All
Eight skippers out today with a variable SW to W strong wind direction. I say variable as we had three goes at setting a suitable course with three different start lines and windward marks!
Eventually the wind settled at more westerly and a good course was chosen
Good racing, many place changes and as usual some interesting windward mark challenges. However the racing was fun and everyone had their good moments
Mike Kemp had a variable day (for him) but finished first with 14 points. KC had a weak start but improved as the morning developed coming second with 16 points.
Geoff Raygada pipped Alan on Countback ( more 4th’s) with 28 points to complete the podium
All for now
Keith
Evening All
Eight skippers out today with a variable SW to W strong wind direction. I say variable as we had three goes at setting a suitable course with three different start lines and windward marks!
Eventually the wind settled at more westerly and a good course was chosen
Good racing, many place changes and as usual some interesting windward mark challenges. However the racing was fun and everyone had their good moments
Mike Kemp had a variable day (for him) but finished first with 14 points. KC had a weak start but improved as the morning developed coming second with 16 points.
Geoff Raygada pipped Alan on Countback ( more 4th’s) with 28 points to complete the podium
All for now
Keith
Friday August 3rd
Hi Folks,
Today's DF95 sailing had it all, beats, reaches, and runs, just not in the order one normally expects and sometimes all on one leg of the seven that made up each race.
To say the wind was variable is a bit of an understatement: it went from nothing to a little and back again and it blew - or whispered - from what seemed like all of the compass points. The course consisted of a couple of triangles starting between a pole and orange 5, off the right hand jetty, out to the grey topped orange mark, then to red 2 and around orange 5. The triangle was repeated but with sharpest point changing to orange 8 from which there was a short leg to finish across the same line used for the start. This is pretty close to what would be good for a North to North West wind and, indeed, did occasionally provide something approaching a beat for the first and second journies to the grey topped orange bouy.
Getting a good start is usually key to a successful race but several of the six sailing raced off to the windward mark only to find themselves in anything but a good position in the latter stages of the race. They were no doubt left wondering "where did I go wrong", and words to that effect were often heard during the morning.
Most of the usual Friday morning 'crew' were missing today but we were joined by one of our newest members, Tim Prince, with his predominantly green DF95 and there were two guests sailing. Chris Godfrey also comes from the Huntingdon club with Tim and Derek Davies hails from the Lea Valley club. they were welcomed to our Friday morning session and joined those of the TIs club that retired to the Old Beams after sailing.
This Friday my rudder servo decided that it all was too much for it to bear and it demonstrated its feeling by jittering when the winch was operated and was seen on several occasions to do a complete 360 degree movement - not what it should be doing; so I just pressed the 'A' button on Geoff's dongle to set things in motion and wrote the numbers as boats finished.
Oh, I do hope Sunday turns out to be a better sailing day than today: and Saturday as well for the inter-club DF65 meeting with Watermead on our lake. The fish were gulping for oxygen and our lake deposited a worrying coating of 'mucky slime' on the boats: it's becoming a bit like sailing in soup!
Cheers,
Mike Kemp
Hi Folks,
Today's DF95 sailing had it all, beats, reaches, and runs, just not in the order one normally expects and sometimes all on one leg of the seven that made up each race.
To say the wind was variable is a bit of an understatement: it went from nothing to a little and back again and it blew - or whispered - from what seemed like all of the compass points. The course consisted of a couple of triangles starting between a pole and orange 5, off the right hand jetty, out to the grey topped orange mark, then to red 2 and around orange 5. The triangle was repeated but with sharpest point changing to orange 8 from which there was a short leg to finish across the same line used for the start. This is pretty close to what would be good for a North to North West wind and, indeed, did occasionally provide something approaching a beat for the first and second journies to the grey topped orange bouy.
Getting a good start is usually key to a successful race but several of the six sailing raced off to the windward mark only to find themselves in anything but a good position in the latter stages of the race. They were no doubt left wondering "where did I go wrong", and words to that effect were often heard during the morning.
Most of the usual Friday morning 'crew' were missing today but we were joined by one of our newest members, Tim Prince, with his predominantly green DF95 and there were two guests sailing. Chris Godfrey also comes from the Huntingdon club with Tim and Derek Davies hails from the Lea Valley club. they were welcomed to our Friday morning session and joined those of the TIs club that retired to the Old Beams after sailing.
This Friday my rudder servo decided that it all was too much for it to bear and it demonstrated its feeling by jittering when the winch was operated and was seen on several occasions to do a complete 360 degree movement - not what it should be doing; so I just pressed the 'A' button on Geoff's dongle to set things in motion and wrote the numbers as boats finished.
Oh, I do hope Sunday turns out to be a better sailing day than today: and Saturday as well for the inter-club DF65 meeting with Watermead on our lake. The fish were gulping for oxygen and our lake deposited a worrying coating of 'mucky slime' on the boats: it's becoming a bit like sailing in soup!
Cheers,
Mike Kemp
Friday July 6th
Gents
A small group assembled today to be greeted by light winds form the North West, a little different to recent weeks.
A committee was duly convened and set a course starting between a pole at the right of the left hand jetty out to a distant white mark almost directly opposite where we stood, left to a spreader than back into the bay on the right, a repeat but with no spreader and finish on the starting line.
The racing was very close with everyone recording at least one win. Rob started well but complained his boat was off trim after bumping Mike off the windward mark after the second race. Brian with two wins was very competitive, keep this up and he will have to start doing turns for his misdemeanours.
Regards
Richard
Gents
A small group assembled today to be greeted by light winds form the North West, a little different to recent weeks.
A committee was duly convened and set a course starting between a pole at the right of the left hand jetty out to a distant white mark almost directly opposite where we stood, left to a spreader than back into the bay on the right, a repeat but with no spreader and finish on the starting line.
The racing was very close with everyone recording at least one win. Rob started well but complained his boat was off trim after bumping Mike off the windward mark after the second race. Brian with two wins was very competitive, keep this up and he will have to start doing turns for his misdemeanours.
Regards
Richard
Friday June 1st
Good afternoon all
9 boats out today for the DF95 Friday racing.
We sailed from the ‘normal’ position with the wind directly behind us. The course was from the start line immediately to the east of the jetty up to red 1 in the bay, out to red 4 then to the middle red as the spreader back to a white 1 bouy as the windward mark and repeat without the spreader.
While this course provide some wind in the middle of the lake it also threw a significant wind shadow from the western island across the course. With the wind very light to almost nothing this provided something of a lottery as to who got the wind and who didn’t. With a westerly wind we probably need to use the spit as a sailing location for the future.
Mike Kemp was his usual consistent self easily taking first place. Mike Stevens had a good day with nothing lower than 4th after discards. Geoff in third place had a front of fleet back of fleet sort of day but managed to lose the worst as discards. KC’s boat developed gremlins at race 5/6 and he retired for safety reasons (no rescue boat needed).
Unusually most skippers had ‘things to do’ so the trip to our clubhouse (Old Beams) was abandoned
Keith
Good afternoon all
9 boats out today for the DF95 Friday racing.
We sailed from the ‘normal’ position with the wind directly behind us. The course was from the start line immediately to the east of the jetty up to red 1 in the bay, out to red 4 then to the middle red as the spreader back to a white 1 bouy as the windward mark and repeat without the spreader.
While this course provide some wind in the middle of the lake it also threw a significant wind shadow from the western island across the course. With the wind very light to almost nothing this provided something of a lottery as to who got the wind and who didn’t. With a westerly wind we probably need to use the spit as a sailing location for the future.
Mike Kemp was his usual consistent self easily taking first place. Mike Stevens had a good day with nothing lower than 4th after discards. Geoff in third place had a front of fleet back of fleet sort of day but managed to lose the worst as discards. KC’s boat developed gremlins at race 5/6 and he retired for safety reasons (no rescue boat needed).
Unusually most skippers had ‘things to do’ so the trip to our clubhouse (Old Beams) was abandoned
Keith
Friday May 4th
HI All
Please see below the results for todays racing.
A great 11 boats on the water today with at least two or three regulars away. Looks like we are heading to 15 boats soon.
The wind was forecast as SW but just before we started it shifted to ‘sort of’ NNW. I say ‘sort of because at times we were either running on both ‘upwind and downwind' legs or the opposite with a beat. However we managed the, at times, massive variations sailing out to the buoys just off the western island back to our favourite red 8 and repeat.
For the first three races we had a windward spreader but then….Brian managed to hook the windward mark. Normally the boat would drift off but not today. Mike Ewart firstly tried the electric rescue boat and despite running between Brian’s boat and the buoy twice it would not sail free. So then Mike took a fishing line which a) circled Brian’s boat and b) it also circled the offending buoy! The only solution was to launch the inflatable or Mike tried an alternative and pulled the boat and buoy to the bank! Some strong breaking strain on the fishing line!
We were then down to one windward mark which created bedlam at times.
Given the considerable ‘faffing’ around on this exercise we were limited to just 6 races with one discard.
There were some violent shifts and the wind shadow from the island was unpredictable. Hence the wild variations in finishing places for all. However Keith C fresh from a few weeks off squeezed in ahead if Mike Ewart by just 2 points with Geoff Raygada taking third place.
Some great fun, tinged with some frustration but excellent banter and humour, just as it should be
Eight of us off to the Clubhouse - ‘The Old Beams’ for more fun and banter. We always talk about those not attending, of course!
Cheers
Keith
HI All
Please see below the results for todays racing.
A great 11 boats on the water today with at least two or three regulars away. Looks like we are heading to 15 boats soon.
The wind was forecast as SW but just before we started it shifted to ‘sort of’ NNW. I say ‘sort of because at times we were either running on both ‘upwind and downwind' legs or the opposite with a beat. However we managed the, at times, massive variations sailing out to the buoys just off the western island back to our favourite red 8 and repeat.
For the first three races we had a windward spreader but then….Brian managed to hook the windward mark. Normally the boat would drift off but not today. Mike Ewart firstly tried the electric rescue boat and despite running between Brian’s boat and the buoy twice it would not sail free. So then Mike took a fishing line which a) circled Brian’s boat and b) it also circled the offending buoy! The only solution was to launch the inflatable or Mike tried an alternative and pulled the boat and buoy to the bank! Some strong breaking strain on the fishing line!
We were then down to one windward mark which created bedlam at times.
Given the considerable ‘faffing’ around on this exercise we were limited to just 6 races with one discard.
There were some violent shifts and the wind shadow from the island was unpredictable. Hence the wild variations in finishing places for all. However Keith C fresh from a few weeks off squeezed in ahead if Mike Ewart by just 2 points with Geoff Raygada taking third place.
Some great fun, tinged with some frustration but excellent banter and humour, just as it should be
Eight of us off to the Clubhouse - ‘The Old Beams’ for more fun and banter. We always talk about those not attending, of course!
Cheers
Keith
Friday April 6th
Results from Mike Ewart for Today's DF95 racing .
"Well after a glorious day of sunshine on Thursday, Friday did not turn out as well as we hoped a low turn out, holidays and the fact we have a six metre do tomorrow probably accounted for most of the absentees, but a small but select band were there to battle with a decidedly fickle wind coming from over the houses.
We started from the whites by the left hand island and out to the red bouy in the middle of the inlet and then a nice run out to one of the outer reds with a leg to a spreader then back to the red in the inlet and out to the red on the perimeter and to the finish via red 7.
We did have at times some very close racing but I have to admit to being on good form today, just losing a couple to Rob but Mike Stevens kept putting himself in lovely positions to blow with some bouy hitting and bouy mssing and some missed tacks, hard luck Mike.
Brian was there with his new red hull and was going quite well until his jib boom tie down parted.
Due to lunch appointments and birthday parties we did not go to the pub today but a good mornings sailing with a decidedly uncooperative wind.
Mike"
Results from Mike Ewart for Today's DF95 racing .
"Well after a glorious day of sunshine on Thursday, Friday did not turn out as well as we hoped a low turn out, holidays and the fact we have a six metre do tomorrow probably accounted for most of the absentees, but a small but select band were there to battle with a decidedly fickle wind coming from over the houses.
We started from the whites by the left hand island and out to the red bouy in the middle of the inlet and then a nice run out to one of the outer reds with a leg to a spreader then back to the red in the inlet and out to the red on the perimeter and to the finish via red 7.
We did have at times some very close racing but I have to admit to being on good form today, just losing a couple to Rob but Mike Stevens kept putting himself in lovely positions to blow with some bouy hitting and bouy mssing and some missed tacks, hard luck Mike.
Brian was there with his new red hull and was going quite well until his jib boom tie down parted.
Due to lunch appointments and birthday parties we did not go to the pub today but a good mornings sailing with a decidedly uncooperative wind.
Mike"
Friday March 2nd
There is no evidence that this event took place, there was probably a couple of keen sailors who battled through the snow, but who are keeping quiet to avoid derision being heaped upon them.
Ed.
There is no evidence that this event took place, there was probably a couple of keen sailors who battled through the snow, but who are keeping quiet to avoid derision being heaped upon them.
Ed.
Friday February 2nd
Friday 2nd Feb was a new record for the Friday DF95 fleet with eleven skippers on the water, during the early races anyway. Richard Dolman was the first to strike a problem with his yacht where the winch appeared to have gone 'half strike'. Lakeside wisdom suggested that it had somehow dropped a turn of its line but Richard decided to man the start/finish line and score sheet rather than get his cold fingers down in the depths of his yacht: a very big thank you to you, Richard.
Most of us elected to use 'B' rigs as the North North West wind looked very strong out in the area of the windward mark: those that stuck to 'A' rig had their moments but never managed to get to the front and break away although both Mike Stevens and Alan Smedley had a collection of 3rd and 4th places in the big rig. Overall the sevens had a good day with Mike K. (37) and Geoff Raygada (57) near the front at the finish of most races although both had their 'moments' at or before the start but managed to fight their way through the fleet in most cases.
I will have to draft a bigger score sheet if this trend continues - heaven forbid that we have to start splitting into heats with HMS and all that!
Regards
Mike
Friday 2nd Feb was a new record for the Friday DF95 fleet with eleven skippers on the water, during the early races anyway. Richard Dolman was the first to strike a problem with his yacht where the winch appeared to have gone 'half strike'. Lakeside wisdom suggested that it had somehow dropped a turn of its line but Richard decided to man the start/finish line and score sheet rather than get his cold fingers down in the depths of his yacht: a very big thank you to you, Richard.
Most of us elected to use 'B' rigs as the North North West wind looked very strong out in the area of the windward mark: those that stuck to 'A' rig had their moments but never managed to get to the front and break away although both Mike Stevens and Alan Smedley had a collection of 3rd and 4th places in the big rig. Overall the sevens had a good day with Mike K. (37) and Geoff Raygada (57) near the front at the finish of most races although both had their 'moments' at or before the start but managed to fight their way through the fleet in most cases.
I will have to draft a bigger score sheet if this trend continues - heaven forbid that we have to start splitting into heats with HMS and all that!
Regards
Mike
Friday January 5th
Hi Folks,
The first Friday of the year saw six of us sailing from the 'Spit' into a South Westerly breeze that could be described as brisk - that's an average of what we faced. Mike Kemp started the morning in 'B' suit after Geoff kindly suggested that might be the sail set to use, but then joined the others in 'A' suits - a 'con' was suspected, especially after Geoff won the first race! By race 4 it became more likely that 'B' was actually the way to go and Geoff retired to follow his original recommendation: whilst Rob, Alex, Mike S, and Richard soldiered on with their 'A' rigs. Mike.S eventually withdrew from sailing after, first, a batten separated from the middle of his mainsail then, having taped it back in position, his mainsail developed a tear at the batten point.
The course took us from a start between White 6 and the left hand end of the Spit launching platform, up the lake to White 1, down to Orange 6, on to White 6, back up to White 1, down to White 8 (I think) in the channel, and back across the line to finish. Despite the leader generally getting fairly clear of the 'pack' the finishes were pretty close affairs with boats being close enough for last moment position changes. Geoff summed up the session as "a good morning's sailing, very enjoyable": well said.
Regards,
Mike
Hi Folks,
The first Friday of the year saw six of us sailing from the 'Spit' into a South Westerly breeze that could be described as brisk - that's an average of what we faced. Mike Kemp started the morning in 'B' suit after Geoff kindly suggested that might be the sail set to use, but then joined the others in 'A' suits - a 'con' was suspected, especially after Geoff won the first race! By race 4 it became more likely that 'B' was actually the way to go and Geoff retired to follow his original recommendation: whilst Rob, Alex, Mike S, and Richard soldiered on with their 'A' rigs. Mike.S eventually withdrew from sailing after, first, a batten separated from the middle of his mainsail then, having taped it back in position, his mainsail developed a tear at the batten point.
The course took us from a start between White 6 and the left hand end of the Spit launching platform, up the lake to White 1, down to Orange 6, on to White 6, back up to White 1, down to White 8 (I think) in the channel, and back across the line to finish. Despite the leader generally getting fairly clear of the 'pack' the finishes were pretty close affairs with boats being close enough for last moment position changes. Geoff summed up the session as "a good morning's sailing, very enjoyable": well said.
Regards,
Mike
Friday 1st December DF95 results
Hi Folks,
Wednesday sailor Alan Smedley picked a cold day to come and show off his skills with a DF95. He quickly aclimatised to the 'fresh' Northerly breeze - some would say a freezing North wind - and led the way around a course which started between the two white bouys in the shadow of the western island out to the second orange bouy taken to port and on to the first orange bouy, again to port and down to the western-most orange bouy in the shadow of the island. After rounding that to port we beat our way back to the windward mark, returned to the leeward mark and a nasty little, lopsided, beat to the line.
Rob and Alex started the day in 'B' rig and were joined by Mike Stevens after the first race: they probably had more control than the rest who flogged around in 'A' rig and didn't really lose out to windward but when it came to the downwind legs, with the fluctuating wind strength, they found themselves being overtaken often. Brian Haith arrived ready to go but, sadly, didn't complete the first race and spent the rest of the morning 'adjusting' and trying to get his boat to work properly - the conditions conspired to make this an impossible task. Race eight saw the demise of Alex Robertson's sail winch which brought his morning to end and a wise departure from the proceedings. Alex had been getting good results in his 'B' rig, achieving a couple of second places. It took Mike Kemp quite a while to 'get going' consistently: putting the blame on his new gloves which, while ensuring his fingers stayed warm throughout the morning, made feeling the 'sticks' next to impossible. In reality it is probably an indication that Friday morning competition is getting stiffer.
Overall it was nice to have a wind direction which was hardly influenced by the foliage on the islands - it would would have been so much nicer if the temperature had been at least 10 degrees higher.
Regards,
Mike Kemp
Hi Folks,
Wednesday sailor Alan Smedley picked a cold day to come and show off his skills with a DF95. He quickly aclimatised to the 'fresh' Northerly breeze - some would say a freezing North wind - and led the way around a course which started between the two white bouys in the shadow of the western island out to the second orange bouy taken to port and on to the first orange bouy, again to port and down to the western-most orange bouy in the shadow of the island. After rounding that to port we beat our way back to the windward mark, returned to the leeward mark and a nasty little, lopsided, beat to the line.
Rob and Alex started the day in 'B' rig and were joined by Mike Stevens after the first race: they probably had more control than the rest who flogged around in 'A' rig and didn't really lose out to windward but when it came to the downwind legs, with the fluctuating wind strength, they found themselves being overtaken often. Brian Haith arrived ready to go but, sadly, didn't complete the first race and spent the rest of the morning 'adjusting' and trying to get his boat to work properly - the conditions conspired to make this an impossible task. Race eight saw the demise of Alex Robertson's sail winch which brought his morning to end and a wise departure from the proceedings. Alex had been getting good results in his 'B' rig, achieving a couple of second places. It took Mike Kemp quite a while to 'get going' consistently: putting the blame on his new gloves which, while ensuring his fingers stayed warm throughout the morning, made feeling the 'sticks' next to impossible. In reality it is probably an indication that Friday morning competition is getting stiffer.
Overall it was nice to have a wind direction which was hardly influenced by the foliage on the islands - it would would have been so much nicer if the temperature had been at least 10 degrees higher.
Regards,
Mike Kemp
Friday November 3rd - Commentary and scoring by Mike Kemp
Seven of us gathered this morning and wondered where the wind was, so smooth was a major part of the lake. It turned out that there was more wind than we thought, though as usual it was not always where one's boat was.
The course was laid as a result of a sort of committee decision, using the orange mark at the extreme west end of our water and the two white marks in front of the eastern island starting and finishing between the red and white marks close to the 'gallery'. Two laps gave us a long course resulting only seven races with lots of opportunities to make up, or lose, places during 'quality races'. Occasionally one skipper would 'get lucky' and escape to a seemingly unassailable lead, on fewer occasions that lead was maintained all the way to the finish. One wrong choice out of the leeward mark would see one or more boats creep past on the other side of the course. It was an excellent exercise in light wind sailing which saw nr 37 (Mike Kemp) winning the morning again but closely challenged by Rob Tottey who convincingly won the same number of races but slipped further down the fleet in his other races. All the races saw fairly tightly grouped roundings at both ends of the course with boats trying different ways between the ends.
Seven of us gathered this morning and wondered where the wind was, so smooth was a major part of the lake. It turned out that there was more wind than we thought, though as usual it was not always where one's boat was.
The course was laid as a result of a sort of committee decision, using the orange mark at the extreme west end of our water and the two white marks in front of the eastern island starting and finishing between the red and white marks close to the 'gallery'. Two laps gave us a long course resulting only seven races with lots of opportunities to make up, or lose, places during 'quality races'. Occasionally one skipper would 'get lucky' and escape to a seemingly unassailable lead, on fewer occasions that lead was maintained all the way to the finish. One wrong choice out of the leeward mark would see one or more boats creep past on the other side of the course. It was an excellent exercise in light wind sailing which saw nr 37 (Mike Kemp) winning the morning again but closely challenged by Rob Tottey who convincingly won the same number of races but slipped further down the fleet in his other races. All the races saw fairly tightly grouped roundings at both ends of the course with boats trying different ways between the ends.
