Dear All,

It was good news today, although it started badly in very gloomy weather with only three competitors initially to set up the inflatable et cetera. However, not only did John Turnbull arrive, but also Richard Lucas from the RSW club, who had been sent the invite by RSW’s secretary Peter Kirby and even Peter himself came to watch and very kindly took the attached photographs of all the competitors and the presentations. Thank you Peter!

There are no photos of the sailing is it really was gloomy and the wind was very light fluky and frustrating. For a change Roger enjoyed these conditions and was a bit lucky to sail BOTTLE boat 2 to the front on more than one occasion. When we stopped for coffee we set up a table and Martin set out what we enjoyed at the Brass Monkey last Saturday, six glasses of mulled wine and mince pies and of course a bit more chat!

As usual the windward leeward course from the south bank with two beats and a run down to the gate was not exactly exciting sailing, but kept everyone on their toes and there were some very close finishes in some of the races. As the wind started to die close to the end of our sailing time we packed up early, repacked the tent, which had been drying in the clubhouse and locked up for the year.

Attached are Alan’s spreadsheet with the race results for WWS 6 and also ‘the series’ scores, which you can see benefited those who attended most and Roger in particular who was presented with the superb the copper sailed trophy, presented at the end of each series to the winner of the series. You will see the name on the bow of the boat that it came from Paris and maybe created by the famous sculptor or trophy maker. Looking at the series results is good to see that we attracted 10 competitors during the series and we all hope that this number can be increased when we run the three series on the same basis in Spring, Summer & Winter in 2022.

A very happy Christmas and New Year to you all, Roger

Results 15th Dec

Results Winter Series 2021

This annual Christmas event was again a great success with 15 starts for both Marblehead and the ‘small boat’ fleet with DF 95s and BOTTLE boats racing together.

A light southerly breeze blowing straight down the lake all day allowed a long windward leeward course, which gave good close racing in both fleets.

In the Marblehead fleet there were five different winners and in the opening race Rob Vice, sailing his modified UP, put down his challenge by winning it, with his son CJ sailing a GRUNGE second. In Race 2 CJ was second again, but this time to Peter Stollery sailing his UP. These two winners then won in alternate races until the pattern was broken by David Cole sailing a GRUNGE, winning Race 6 and then by CJ winning Races 7 & 9, only interrupted by Rob taking Race 8.

The Brass Monkey traditional lunch break included mulled wine and mince pies and lots of chat, before returning to racing 40 minutes later.  The scores were close at the top of the lunchtime leaderboard with CJ scoring 18 points having had a very consistent morning, 1 point ahead of his dad and 6 points ahead of Peter. It was a different story in the ‘small boat’ fleet where Alan Viney dominated by winning all the morning races.

A win for CJ in Race 10 was followed by a win for Martin Crysell sailing a PRIME NUMBER. Young Oliver Stollery sailing his dad’s old UPROAR was delighted to have beaten him in those two races. However, this didn’t last and Peter won both Races 12 and 13 before letting Rob win Race 14 and Martin win the final race.

This event was good at bringing together youngsters from two model yachting families sailing against their dads. It was a real delight to welcome back CJ after a long break whilst studying and young Nathan, who hadn’t sailed for two and a half years, but still won Race 14 in the smaller fleet.

As this was the finale of the 2021 GAMES there was absolutely no doubt about the winner of the Midgley Mug Trophy, as by winning this event Rob had also won the series by a clear margin of 81 points from Peter. At the presentation Rob thanked the Guildford team of Roger and Judith for running the event, which he said was “clearly enjoyed by everyone.”

Marblehead results

1st Rob Vice Guildford UP 24 points,
Winner of the Brass Monkey & Midgley Mug

2nd CJ Vice Guildford GRUNGE 31
3rd Peter Stollery Guildford UP 38
4th Martin Crysell Guildford PRIME NUMBER 52
5th David Cole Hampton Court GRUNGE 57
6th Oliver Stollery Guildford UPROAR 66
7th Graham Hetem Datchet QUARK 73
8th Charles Wand Tetley Guildford UPROAR 92

Small boat results

1st Alan Viney Guildford DF95  14,
Winner of the Brass Monkey for DFs

2nd Leen Buurman Hampton Court DF95  29
3rd John Turnbull Woking DF95  36
4th Nathan Stollery Guildford BOTTLE boat 56,
Winner of the Brass Monkey for BOTTLE boats
5th Keith Parrott Frensham RSG BOTTLE boat 7

6 competitors arrived for this event in good weather for December and a reasonable breeze from the WNW although it did tend to swirl around quite a bit .

We laid a windward leeward course with a gate at the leeward end.

There was some extremely close racing with no less than 5 different race winners out of the 12 races that we sailed.

However it was Les Thorn that mastered the gusts and changes of wind direction best of all to win the day with a total of 5 wins.

This now puts Les near the top of the leaderboard alongside 4 other skippers who are intending to sail in the last of the series on the 15^th December. This promises to be a mouth watering event to see who will be the overall series winner.

All of the competitors are also wanting to sail in the forthcoming Brass Monkey event on the 11^th December to get in more practice of the challenging Abbey Meads conditions.

BRING IT ON

Click Here for RESULTS 1 December 2021 DF95 Winter Series

Whilst the forecast for most of the day was gloomy, at the start it was a glorious sunny and beautiful day, but the wind…   It was north-westerly and initially very fitful and light. We were operating from the Western bank with a beat and run course using the two blue marks as a windward gate and using the start line as the finish for the eight races sailed.

Our visitor, Barrie Martin from MYSA was again welcomed to join us for our series of races and provide good competition to the local fleet.

In the first race Roger was testing out a newly refurbished BOTTLE boat 82 and it went well in the light stuff with a trim that just followed the instructions provided with the boat. In the first race the fleet had a job to get off the starting line and with the first two boats miles ahead the race was abandoned. Normally the start is close to the bank, but as there was no wind there, this caused this abandonment, so the start line was reset across the other side of the lake giving a more true windward leeward course and a steadier breeze. In the light stuff the shorter waterline & less wetted surface design helped Roger win Races 1 & 3, with Barrie Martin winning Races 2, 4 and 5 before the short lunch break.

The final three races were sailed in a much stronger and more northerly breeze, which was more or less straight down the lake and gave Martin a chance to win Race 6 and Paul Tickner to win Race 7 and overcome the friction of his gooseneck, which was not allowing the mainsail to go out. Finally, winner of WWS 2, Les Thorn showed his ability to win the last race.

It was frustrating but genuinely enjoyed by the fleet and by Richard Huckle who joined us for the last half hour and enjoyed sailing BOTTLE boat 82 that Roger had just refurbished.

We look forward to more support from local clubs for the next WWS event for DF 95s on the 17th of November.

You are welcome again to come and take part in Event 3 of our DF 95 Wednesday Winter Series, to be sailed on our superb lake at Abbey Meads, Chertsey. This Wednesday 3rd November, promises to be a good event as the northerly wind is one of the best directions for racing, as the course is at the leeward end of a kilometre long lake with no interruptions!

Wednesday Winter Series – Event 3. Please forward this to your DF 95 members, who we hope will come, have a bit of fun and enjoy the racing. These events are not just about the racing, but sharing our expertise to help you to get your boat to sail well etc. As usual there will be a prize for the top visiting skipper in the form of the unique ROF (Roger’s One Flag), much appreciated by the event 1 & 2 winners.

Please don’t forget that if you would like to come you must ring Roger or Martin on Tuesday 2nd November for access details.

We look forward to hearing from you and then seeing you on Wednesday.

Cheers, Roger

It was disappointing that the entry was just Roger, Martin and Peter Jackson as this was the first Marblehead club race for such a long time. Initially the continual heavy rain was also disappointing, but the thick clouds cleared away and we even got a bit of sunshine. As usual, the wind was not as forecast and the westerly took some time to take over from the southerly and the high winds never arrived, so we were in A rig all day.

We installed the landing stage on the southern control area and the course was set at an angle towards it. The wind made this awkward at first although it was spot on as soon as the westerly arrived.

We sailed 12 races and the results are attached, with Martin again winning the Teapot Trophy, both on merit and on handicap with seven wins with Peter second and Roger last with five wins. Such are the merits of our handicap system! Roger and Martin helped Peter to improve his performance by several changes to the sail trim. Peter will be back again with more suggested improvements for next time! 

When the sun came out Roger recorded some of the gorgeous scenes at Abbey Meads and one particular special occurrence. This was a group of four cormorants perched on the branches of the big fallen tree in the middle of the lake. This was a family with the two parents teaching the kids to dry their wings. This was most dramatic because cormorants are large black birds, but the juveniles have a white breast as can be seen in the photos.

We look forward to more support for Hydonia, the next Marblehead club race on 20 November.

This was another cracking DF95 event at Abbey Meads with strong gusty winds making for some exciting sailing at the top end of A rig. 16 races were sailed and whilst there were no visiting helmsmen it was great to welcome Alan Viney back to racing after such a long break. Competitors were very grateful to Judith Buurman for taking the scores. 

Initially there was hardly a ripple on the water at the windward mark, but that soon changed as the wind increased to power these boats downwind on the limit of their A rig in the strong black gusts. One could feel autumn setting in, so the sun on one’s back was very pleasant. The simple windward leeward course made for some good racing with many very close finishes and spectacular speed off the wind.

In the very first race only the plastic cup of the bow of Roger’s BOTTLE boat separated him from Les Thorne, but in Race 2 the finishing places were reversed with Les winning ahead of Roger, who went on to win Race 3. Les won Race 4 in front of Martin Crysell, who then beat Leen Buurman into second in Race 5. Leen bettered this by winning Race 6 & 9 and interrupted Les’ run of wins in Races 7-10, before winning race 11 and letting Roger back in Races 12 & 15. Les won the remaining races, to finish with eight wins, beating the very consistent Martin into second place, with Leen third.

The Short Penalty system was used again and whilst not everyone did their penalty turn it did encourage more than the usual compliance. There should be no worry about this being too lenient as it still takes time ‘to face the other way’ when obliged. Roger is discussing the wording with IRSA Racing Committee Chairman, Gordon Davies, who believes that this move to a more lenient penalty is interesting and they are thrashing out the best wording for the Short Penalty rule. All will be revealed in due course…

The Guildford Club look forward to more of a response from DF 95 sailors in the local area, as this form of racing is both exciting & fun and is not to be missed!

Event 1 of the Wednesday Winter Series made a good start with half a dozen member entries and Barrie Martin from the MYSA with sunshine and a stiff gusty breeze from the west. A simple windward leeward course was set close to the southern bank of Abbey Meads Lake and the black squalls, probably of 20 mph made it difficult to row back from the start/leeward gate marks. Initially most of the fleet put on their B rigs and in the strongest gusts these were sometimes needed to maintain control and make it easy to tack without stalling. 

However, the wind was very variable in strength as well as in direction, particularly in the centre of the course, so the A rigs dominated the initial results, with 2  unusual wins for Roger’s BOTTLE boat, which always goes very well when over pressed and then a hat-trick of wins by Barrie. The trick was to have enough of twist in the top of the sail so as not to overpower in the gusts and also to present to the wind various angles of mainsail to maintain speed in the lighter stuff when the wind was coming from big variations in direction. Martin, who hadn’t made a good start, with weed problems in Race 4, won Race 6, but then let Leen win the last race before lunch. 

The lunchtime leaderboard showed Barrie way in front with 10 points, Roger 19 & Martin 22. As Barry was the leading visitor Roger presented him with his prize of a ROF, a special DF 95 flag that clips onto the backstay crane.

After lunch the wind had moderated and all were in the A rig. Newcomer John Turnbull perfected his sail trimming and won Race 8, with the final race being won by Barrie. It was champagne sailing and everyone enjoyed the event and promised to come back for more in a fortnight’s time for event 2 of the Wednesday Winter Series. An event not to be missed!

On trial at this event was a new idea from Roger to encourage competitors to do penalty turns by having a more lenient penalty. The Short Penalty is simply that on a course to windward the penalty is a gybe and when on the run the penalty is a tack. This appeared to work well and showed benefits to competitors and potentially big benefits to observers. The full wording will be on the GMYC website and clubs are encouraged to try this idea to try and reduce cheating.