Guildford Model Yacht Club hosted their first event for this class and attracted 9 entries from 7 clubs. Despite the cantankerous light and variable breeze, which was forecast to blow from the north-west, but instead blew from the north-east, 8 competitors enjoyed 14 races of a 300 m windward leeward course.
The DF 95 is a one design just under a metre long and has transformed the accessibility of a quality radio racing yacht at a reasonably economical price. As a result the racing was very close with skippers who could pick the right wind shifts and sail the course to avoid the holes in the wind came to the fore.
In the first race Martin Crysell demonstrated this skill and won from David Cole and Barrie Martin. This was a pattern which set the scene for the whole of the event. In Race 2 the order was reversed, but with Glenn Meekcoms taking 3rd place. Martin won Races 3 and 4, but then let David win Race 5. Glenn, who was consistently in the top 3 came good in Race 6 to win from Charles Wand-Tetley and Martin. Race 7 was won by David from Barrie and Colin Honour and as the wind was becoming more variable and inconsistent, the lunch break was taken,
The lunchtime leaderboard had Martin on top with 12 points closely followed by David with 13 and Glenn with 16 points.
Race Officer Roger, Stollery was expecting the wind to back to the forecast north-westerly, but this wasn’t happening and so another 2 races were sailed, after which the wind became very calm and fitful. In these conditions Martin took Race 8 from Barrie with David 3rd and in Race 9 Barrie reversed this order with Glenn 3rd.
The beauty of radio racing at Abbey Meads Lake is that the club has 2 control areas with the banks of the lake at right angles and Roger decided to move the operation to the southern bank to allow a better windward leeward course to be set. This took just over half an hour as in addition to moving cars and gear etc, the marks needed to be reset etc.
On the new course Barrie sussed out the constantly varying breeze to win Race 10 in front of David and Glenn, but it was backing even more westerly and the course was reset again.
Perhaps it was just local knowledge or just pure skill of picking the right shifts and following the right gust path down the run, but Martin won Race 12 from Barrie and both Races 11 & 13 from Les Thorn, who was enjoying the stronger winds and the impacts of the heavy dark gust streaks, as he had been struggling in the lighter conditions.
Leen Buurman had beaten only a few competitors during the day, but in the last Race 14 he made up for that by sailing through the fleet from a good start to round the windward mark first with a small lead and then screamed away in a black gust into a 10 metre lead. On the beat he kept in front of all but David to finish 2nd and was absolutely delighted.
At the prize giving Roger thanked everyone for coming to Abbey Meads and helping to create an enjoyable event sailed in a very good spirit of sportsmanship. He also thanked Judith Buurman for volunteering to act as the assistant RO and recording all the finishing places and presented her with a bottle of wine.
In preparation for the event the club decided to rededicate, the Ash Trophy, originally presented by David Coode and Mervyn Dackombe for the 36″ class, as perpetual trophy for this DF 95 class annual open event.
This was presented to the winner, Martin Crysell as well as the prize he collected from the table. He thanked Roger and the team for running another good event at in difficult conditions. David collected the 2nd prize and both Barrie and Glenn tied for 3rd place, which was broken in favour of Barrie, who had more first places. He collected the prize and thanked Guildford for their efforts in running the event.
As is traditional at Abbey Meads, the club always present a prize for one of the most important competitors at the event, who are not the winners but the other competitors without which there would be no winners. So the prize for the last-placed skipper at the prize giving went to Leen Buurman; he was both surprised and delighted!
The club are looking to build up the membership for sailing this class with events on alternative Wednesdays, so please come along for more racing and contact Roger Stollery on (01483) 421801 for details.
Results:
1st Martin Crysell Guildford 22 points and the Ash Trophy
2nd David Cole Hampton Court 30
3rd Barrie Martin MYSA 35
4th Glenn Meekcoms Cole House Fort 35
5th Colin Honour Chipstead 57
6th Les Thorn Hawley 58
7th Leen Buurman Hampton Court 80
8th Charles Wand-Tetley Guildford 84
