Df65 Winter Series Round 1 at Fleetwood Model Yacht Club
by Tony Wilson 9 Jan 2018 05:52 GMT
6 January 2018
After two weeks of rain and claggy weather over the festive period, it was nice to get back out on the water. The dry spell to come was moving round through to the East, and it was North East for Saturday's racing.
For the past couple of years we've had a joint racing day at Fleetwood for the Dragon Forces. First up was the smaller Df65 for a couple of hours and then its bigger brother, the Df95. The following fortnight would be reversed with the bigger boats going first and so on. Most skippers had both boats and found it a bit too hectic in the half hour break in-between on turnaround.
Come 2018 and the new plan was to race just one of the classes at each outing, but for the full four hours. Again, this takes place in the afternoon,leaving part of the day to do other chores or still go shopping if that's your thing.
Tony had half promised Bob, our Df65 Captain, that he would make more of an effort this year to try and at least enter one of the race days. You can't sail everything, but you can at least try. Saturday morning came and a quick glance at his boat on the wall was all it was going to get. His arrival was late just to meet the guys already on race 5 after their midway break, and to see how things were going and maybe take a couple of pictures. The day was a pleasant day with hardly a cloud in the sky and a good callibre were present to hold up the Dragon Force name.
Tim Lanigan had nailed the first four races good and proper and our Derek was now starting to stretch his legs. Chris Chatsfield was also in attendance and the numbers for the day were about 10 in total. One left early on as he was the only one to not come equipped with a B rig the medium size sail. Probably the wrong description now as for some clubs, the 'A' plus rig has been included in sail selection to give you 4 full sets.
The course was two triangles in clockwise direction and finish by the boathouse. Peter J. was sitting nice and snug in his car and kindly recording results in-between a slurp of his coffee.
Tony "where's your boat" was soon sailing Bob's 'Bobbing along' boat number 314 for race 6. Totally surprised at the speed of these little boats, he had forgotten how nice they were to sail. A finish place of 5th and then again in race eight a fourth place.
Each race for the last hour seemed to be losing one skipper to breakdown or fatigue, and the tenth was started at just after 3pm. Tony seemed to be leading from just after the start but he would usually buckle when under too much stress and pressure. Maybe they were letting him stay out in front to entice him to come again? He won the last race just ahead of Derek, followed by Tim.
With 2 discards it was Tim that triumphed over the day for the first outing of 2018.
Day 1 Results: (top three)
1 Tim Lanigan 11pts
2 Derek Priestley 15pts
3 Chris Chatfield 27pts
The next racing again for the small boat is the first Saturday of February and then again the first Saturday of March, giving a total of three for the Winter series. Likewise for the DF95 there will also be 3 for the series and these are on the third Saturday of each month. (Times 12:00 - 16:00)
For a small budget boat, these are great little racers and still hit the same part of the brain for your daily fix. Unlike the IOM's and the other prestigious classes costing thousands, for a couple of hundred quid you can still have a brilliant time.
The Fleetwood boys have put together a spare loan boat from their bits and pieces. A name the boat poll went out for a week and looks like it's being christened with the new name 'Knot for Sail'. Thanks again to all the generosity from the guys. The boat is for family, friends and interested folk use, and an early email to the DF65 captain just might book you a place for a go if available. Club information and details at fleetwoodmypbc.org.uk