Dragonflite 95 National Championship Lincoln Model Yacht Club

Friday Practice

The fleet gathered on Friday afternoon at Scotland Farm for a final shakedown and the customary chat about your journey, the upcoming weekend and an in depth analysis about the one thing we can't control... 'the wind' Turns out we shouldn't have bothered as Fridays gentle zephyrs were nothing like the solid wall of wind we faced on Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday Racing

34 boats made it to the start line on Saturday morning which made for 2 decent sized fleets, with 6 up, 6 down giving everyone a chance to get plenty of racing done over the course of the weekend and taste life at the top and the bottom. Principal Race Officer Darin Ballington set the tone for the racing, clearly explaining the format and reminding us to enjoy ourselves and respect each other on the water and on the bank. An ethos which held throughout the 2 days.

Dragonflite 95 Nationals at Lincoln - photo © Sue Brown / www.flickr.com/photos/catsails

The seeding races kicked off at 10am, the majority of the fleet were in B rigs and revealing in the fast open water conditions. The wind built steadily throughout the day and it soon became obvious there is big overlap between the DF95 rigs. B & C rigs were racing neck a neck at times, with the C rigs gaining in the bullets and the B rigs sliding away in the lulls. By the end of the day the entire fleet had made the change down to C rigs with the wind gusting 25kts+ and considering these wild conditions the boats survived remarkably well, no major damage to report, no blown winches and just one rudder servo that gave up the waggle on Tim Longs boat.

In terms of the racing it was tight at the top, with the 3 senior amigo's Derek Priestley, John Tushingham and Ken Binks leading the way. For us middle packers it was hard work sailing consistently enough to stick in A fleet with everyone dropping down at some point and counting some big scores.

Dragonflite 95 Nationals at Lincoln - photo © Sue Brown / www.flickr.com/photos/catsails

Sunday Racing

The day dawned cold, with frost on the windows and more of that bitter wind from the North. The racing continued from 10am with Darin driving the fleets hard from the outset to push through as many races as possible. Conditions were at little grimmer today, driving rain & strong winds saw a few taking an early bath and I can't say I blame them.

Again there was much chopping and changing of rigs, we started the day in C rigs and slowly worked our way up to the A's. There was a big shift in the breeze late in the afternoon which necessitated a course change and the shifty fading breeze that followed really separated the men from the boys in the last 4 races. Many of us suffering a couple of brain bubbles before the racing finished at 3:45 with a return of the sun helping to dry out our weary bones and gear before the journey home.

Dragonflite 95 Nationals at Lincoln - photo © Sue Brown / www.flickr.com/photos/catsails

Results & Prize Giving

Throughout the weekend the one design nature of the DF95 really shone through. The key to doing well was knowing when to change rigs, setting up and tuning the rig you chose (often with seconds to spare!), tactics on the course, spotting the wind shifts and keeping yourself out of trouble. All these skills need to be perfected to win and every place on the score board was hard fought and well earned its just that John Tushingham, Derek Priestley and Ken Binks are a little bit better than the rest of us. For now at least they are the top 3 but there is a big fleet building behind them ready to take away their crown. See you next year boys, we're coming for you!

Dragonflite 95 Nationals at Lincoln - photo © Sue Brown / www.flickr.com/photos/catsails

Special Mentions & Thank-yous

Thanks to Darin for being the race officer and giving up other sailing commitments to run our event on the bank. Thanks to to all the observers, line judges and Fiona for the scoring. And to our most travelled competitors, the Dutch crew of Tjakko Keizer & Tuen Peit Vanes... Thanks for coming chaps, see you again soon.

And in no particular order thanks to the following people for putting on the event, sorting the lake out, running the kitchen and ensuring we all had a cracking weekend. Liz Bacon, Roger Bacon, Jen Hand, Mick Cooper, Jan Cooper, Beth Stevenson, PJ Ballington, Emily Ballington, Alan Newman, Sue Brown, Jo Preistley, Peter Cogill, Francis Tomlinson, Norman Fish, Bert Whitehead, Chris Corrin, Alan Edgar and Graham Keighthley.

Overall Results:

Full report at dfracinguk.com/2016/11/07/df95-national-championships-2016-lincoln-myc