Classic Trophy 2019/20
12 events for DF65s first sailing Wednesday of each month
Sailing now suspended
Round 5 Wednesday March 4th
(Geoff had a bad day and called it Non Trophy Racing in the results schedule below!)
No Dramas today, no storms or even rain so the foul weather gear stayed in the car, pity the boots were still damp from last Friday.
Whilst the wind wasn't in much evidence early on, it did steadily increase through the morning to give us a reasonable sailing breeze. The south westerly direction wasn't ideal and of course coming from over the houses it was somewhat unreliable in direction, especially around the windward mark and finish line, which caught a few out at the last minute.
Starting between white 3 & 4, the obvious choice should have been red 1, in Doom Bay, however this buoy was well in troubled waters, so the shorter option of using white 1 seemed the next best option. From the favoured port tack start this could sometimes be made with only a single tack but not every time. From the windward mark, we ran down to red 6, out to white 6, repeating for the second lap, missing out the spreader.The finish, which proved difficult for some was between White 1 & 2.
After the first race we realised that there weren't really any good beats so it was a bit of a follow my leader affair, so a slight modification by swapping the spreader to white 9 and the leeward mark out to red 3 which rave a much better upwind leg but of course proved a bit of a challenge for the short sighted.
Today Rob just pipped Dorian to first place, on count back, a little way ahead of Alan. All three sailed consistently well today with Rob and Dorian sharing all the wins, except for the race where Richard spoilt their run. Sadly the effort must have been too much for Richard as after his win, the boat developed a gremlin in the winch department, forcing him to retire early, but not quite as early as Brian Haith, who only managed a single race before his boat packed up. Fortunately neither boats needed any assistance making it to shore.
Geoff
(Geoff had a bad day and called it Non Trophy Racing in the results schedule below!)
No Dramas today, no storms or even rain so the foul weather gear stayed in the car, pity the boots were still damp from last Friday.
Whilst the wind wasn't in much evidence early on, it did steadily increase through the morning to give us a reasonable sailing breeze. The south westerly direction wasn't ideal and of course coming from over the houses it was somewhat unreliable in direction, especially around the windward mark and finish line, which caught a few out at the last minute.
Starting between white 3 & 4, the obvious choice should have been red 1, in Doom Bay, however this buoy was well in troubled waters, so the shorter option of using white 1 seemed the next best option. From the favoured port tack start this could sometimes be made with only a single tack but not every time. From the windward mark, we ran down to red 6, out to white 6, repeating for the second lap, missing out the spreader.The finish, which proved difficult for some was between White 1 & 2.
After the first race we realised that there weren't really any good beats so it was a bit of a follow my leader affair, so a slight modification by swapping the spreader to white 9 and the leeward mark out to red 3 which rave a much better upwind leg but of course proved a bit of a challenge for the short sighted.
Today Rob just pipped Dorian to first place, on count back, a little way ahead of Alan. All three sailed consistently well today with Rob and Dorian sharing all the wins, except for the race where Richard spoilt their run. Sadly the effort must have been too much for Richard as after his win, the boat developed a gremlin in the winch department, forcing him to retire early, but not quite as early as Brian Haith, who only managed a single race before his boat packed up. Fortunately neither boats needed any assistance making it to shore.
Geoff
Round 4 Classic trophy for DF65 February 5th
A slightly delayed start whilst we waited patiently for the wind to wake up.
In the meantime we were treated to an impromptu air display, with Alan flying his delta sea plane from the mirror like lake, whilst Geoff and Rob were engaged in re setting the 1 and 2 buoys in order to minimise the adverse effects of the houses bordering Doom Bay.
Ten of us finally got under way around a very short course, starting between white 3&4 followed by a short upwind leg up to white 1, a run out to white 5 ( later changed to red 3 ) finishing again between white 3 & 4, just one painful lap.
Of course the start was important, even more so considering there was no second lap to make up places. Sadly there was no real challenging beat either so avoiding any trouble was vital.
Even after moving the buoys, the windward mark wasn't easy and there were a few pile ups as there was insufficient wind to manoeuvre easily, get round cleanly and you were well on your way.
The sunshine did make for a pleasant morning and the racing was super close with just 4 points separating second to sixth places, with Keith just four points ahead , to win todays battle.
Geoff
A slightly delayed start whilst we waited patiently for the wind to wake up.
In the meantime we were treated to an impromptu air display, with Alan flying his delta sea plane from the mirror like lake, whilst Geoff and Rob were engaged in re setting the 1 and 2 buoys in order to minimise the adverse effects of the houses bordering Doom Bay.
Ten of us finally got under way around a very short course, starting between white 3&4 followed by a short upwind leg up to white 1, a run out to white 5 ( later changed to red 3 ) finishing again between white 3 & 4, just one painful lap.
Of course the start was important, even more so considering there was no second lap to make up places. Sadly there was no real challenging beat either so avoiding any trouble was vital.
Even after moving the buoys, the windward mark wasn't easy and there were a few pile ups as there was insufficient wind to manoeuvre easily, get round cleanly and you were well on your way.
The sunshine did make for a pleasant morning and the racing was super close with just 4 points separating second to sixth places, with Keith just four points ahead , to win todays battle.
Geoff
Round 3 Classic Trophy for DF65 08/01/20
Geoff Raygada reports:-
A Great turnout of 14 skippers came out to play today and we were treated to a very pleasant warm winter's day with a half decent breeze.
Although the Breeze was blowing from the North West and ideally we should have taken the trip over to the spit, the ground conditions, especially with a large fleet meant that for safety's sake we made do with sailing from our usual sailing area.
Yes of course it was tricky, well when isn't it?
Our course took us from a start between white 3 &4 into Doom Bay, rounding white 1 then red 1 to port, then running down the lake to white 6, followed by a very interesting beat to white 4, back to white 6, followed by another beat back to the finish.
Places were made mainly at the all important start and then on the beats. The wind was fickle at times, especially at the first windward mark, which caused the odd collision and tangles at the mark.
After the first couple of races, as the wind dropped slightly, the decision was taken to shorten the course, by substituting white 6 with the nearer white 5, which also helped those struggling with distance vision.
With such a large fleet the early decision was made to take at least one skipper off for one race, meaning we only sailed 8 out of the 9 races.
Paul Risdale turned up with his RG65 so was excluded from the results, everyone moving up one place. I have included his results in a separate line for interest but will not count towards the results.
Today's sailing was very tightly fought, with some extremely close finishes, all taken in good spirit, followed by an enjoyable lunch on what turned out to be a very large table at the Old Beams.
Geoff Raygada reports:-
A Great turnout of 14 skippers came out to play today and we were treated to a very pleasant warm winter's day with a half decent breeze.
Although the Breeze was blowing from the North West and ideally we should have taken the trip over to the spit, the ground conditions, especially with a large fleet meant that for safety's sake we made do with sailing from our usual sailing area.
Yes of course it was tricky, well when isn't it?
Our course took us from a start between white 3 &4 into Doom Bay, rounding white 1 then red 1 to port, then running down the lake to white 6, followed by a very interesting beat to white 4, back to white 6, followed by another beat back to the finish.
Places were made mainly at the all important start and then on the beats. The wind was fickle at times, especially at the first windward mark, which caused the odd collision and tangles at the mark.
After the first couple of races, as the wind dropped slightly, the decision was taken to shorten the course, by substituting white 6 with the nearer white 5, which also helped those struggling with distance vision.
With such a large fleet the early decision was made to take at least one skipper off for one race, meaning we only sailed 8 out of the 9 races.
Paul Risdale turned up with his RG65 so was excluded from the results, everyone moving up one place. I have included his results in a separate line for interest but will not count towards the results.
Today's sailing was very tightly fought, with some extremely close finishes, all taken in good spirit, followed by an enjoyable lunch on what turned out to be a very large table at the Old Beams.
DF65 Classic Trophy Round 2 18th Dec 2019
Good afternoon All
A good turnout for Round 2 of the postponed DF65 Classic Trophy series with 12 boats on the water with Ian Haith a guest from Watermead joining us.
On arrival it looked like we would again drift around but gradually the wind filled in initially from the south and then towards the end it shifted to our familiar SW direction taking us into Doom Bay! but not too bad.
The course we sailed most was an odd start from the far white start marks with a beat up to Red 6 off of the jetty out to White 5 down the the far Red 2 off of the island and repeat without the spreader. The SW course was similar to that we have recently sailed that you will be familiar with.
Dorian, Rob and Richard all had at least two wins each with KC just managing a win in the final race. However….it was a day for consistency and KC had all second places other than one third which after discards gave him the win on 11 points.
Dorian had a game of two halves with a good start but then the odd difficulty, contact with buoys etc (quite unusual for him) So he came in second on 14 points just pipping Rob on 15 points.
At one stage Dorian had to take his boat off having ‘fiddled’ with the set up mid races which stopped the boat dead in its tracks. He soon fixed it. Rob with three firsts just had one too many lower places otherwise he may well have beaten both KC and Dorian, but such is life!
10 of us lunched at the clubhouse and no politics was discussed at any stage, just lots of talk of doctors and old age (bits dropping off) but again such is life! (Keith has no equals when it comes to operations)
Cheers
Keith
Good afternoon All
A good turnout for Round 2 of the postponed DF65 Classic Trophy series with 12 boats on the water with Ian Haith a guest from Watermead joining us.
On arrival it looked like we would again drift around but gradually the wind filled in initially from the south and then towards the end it shifted to our familiar SW direction taking us into Doom Bay! but not too bad.
The course we sailed most was an odd start from the far white start marks with a beat up to Red 6 off of the jetty out to White 5 down the the far Red 2 off of the island and repeat without the spreader. The SW course was similar to that we have recently sailed that you will be familiar with.
Dorian, Rob and Richard all had at least two wins each with KC just managing a win in the final race. However….it was a day for consistency and KC had all second places other than one third which after discards gave him the win on 11 points.
Dorian had a game of two halves with a good start but then the odd difficulty, contact with buoys etc (quite unusual for him) So he came in second on 14 points just pipping Rob on 15 points.
At one stage Dorian had to take his boat off having ‘fiddled’ with the set up mid races which stopped the boat dead in its tracks. He soon fixed it. Rob with three firsts just had one too many lower places otherwise he may well have beaten both KC and Dorian, but such is life!
10 of us lunched at the clubhouse and no politics was discussed at any stage, just lots of talk of doctors and old age (bits dropping off) but again such is life! (Keith has no equals when it comes to operations)
Cheers
Keith
DF65 Classic Trophy Round 1 13th Nov 2019
Good afternoon All
Today we had 11 boats competing for Round 1 of the DF65 Classic Trophy series.
The wind direction was SW and ideally we should have been sailing from the spit. But it is waterlogged so we had to sail from the western jetty. This meant a start into Doom Bay and it was doom laden, for some anyway. It was to a degree a matter of luck as to where you chose to start with last minute changes in shifts favouring one end or the other - but which to choose was the dilemma. If your luck held out there was a good chance of coming in at the top end of the fleet.
Although some skippers had top 5 placings it was consistency that paid off. Dorian and Keith tied on 22 points with Dorian taking first place on count back with three firsts. So KC was second and Alan third on 24 points.
All for now
Keith
Good afternoon All
Today we had 11 boats competing for Round 1 of the DF65 Classic Trophy series.
The wind direction was SW and ideally we should have been sailing from the spit. But it is waterlogged so we had to sail from the western jetty. This meant a start into Doom Bay and it was doom laden, for some anyway. It was to a degree a matter of luck as to where you chose to start with last minute changes in shifts favouring one end or the other - but which to choose was the dilemma. If your luck held out there was a good chance of coming in at the top end of the fleet.
Although some skippers had top 5 placings it was consistency that paid off. Dorian and Keith tied on 22 points with Dorian taking first place on count back with three firsts. So KC was second and Alan third on 24 points.
All for now
Keith