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.

It was incredibly hot and windless as the forecast for to 5 mph north-easterly never arrived. Only 2 regular supporters, Roger and Les got the boat out and set up the course, but we had two visitors who enjoyed the experience at Abbey Meads and want to become members, which is very encouraging.  We look forward to this when we restart sailing after the holiday period on Saturday, 11 September.

Just 4 of us had a very good sail in a southerly/south-westerly breeze.  We were delighted to welcome back Mike Wilkie from his successes in his Solo after a break of 23 years.

He is now learning to sail his DF 95, but did not need much time as he won Races 4 and 14!  The other races were shared by Martin and Les with 8 and 6 wins respectively.  Roger did get some 2nd places with his BOTTLE boat, but struggled to keep up in the strong winds in the afternoon as you can see from the scoresheet. 

Mike invited his friend Tom to watch and he kindly took lots of photographs, which give a good indication of the conditions.  So many thanks Tom!

As there is lots of weed at Hampton Court we hope that will bring some of his friends to sail on our last summer Wednesday DF series on 21 July.

After that GMYC will be closing down over the August period and starting back again with the Marblehead club event for the Ted Gearey Trophy on Saturday September 11.

Although the entry was disappointing, those that attended enjoyed a decent A rig southerly breeze in the morning, which after a heavy rain shower died and then went more westerly in the afternoon.  Martin, Roger and Peter Jackson welcomed long-time full-size sailor, Chris Chandler and his partner Phoebe and introduce them to radio sailing in some of the best conditions that Abbey Meads can provide.  Roger brought the BOTTLE boat no:2 and immediately let Phoebe, who was not a sailor, spend all morning learning to sail radio, which she thoroughly enjoyed.  Roger also brought his ROAR EDGE for Chris to sail.  He was also on a learning curve despite having been sailing all his life in all sorts of full-size boats and yachts.  

When we arrived at the Western control area, a friendly fisherman, Simon, was just packing up and we had some interesting discussions.  He noticed the carbon fibre moulded corner units to the landing stage and mentioned that he was a technical teacher for a local public school and also interested in the material.  He thought that the BOTTLE boat might be a good subject for a young person’s project and may contact Roger about this.  He also walked round the lake casting in different areas to test the depth of the water with a specially designed gadget.  The depth he recorded was between 10 and 16 feet.  This should help us when making up the lines for new marks, as in the past they have often been too long.

Martin and Roger had some close racing and at lunchtime the scores were level.  Peter was struggling with the setting up of his swing rig not allowing the forces in the mainsail and jib to be properly balanced.  However this was identified and Peter will be coming back with the rig properly set up in the future.

As we had a lady present, Phoebe was invited to present the Arcadia Trophy to Roger who had a two-point advantage over Martin as the scoresheet shows.

With the August holiday period approaching the next Marblehead event at Abbey Meads will be on September 11.

Report by Roger Stollery 2021-06-04