2021 DF65 National Championship at Poole Radio Yacht Club

by Tim Long 8 Sep 2021 10:35 BST 4-5 September 2021

After our last outing at Weecher back in July, the DF65 Nationals at Poole Radio Yacht Club would be the first run out for many of the UK's skippers since West Lancs way back in February 2020 before the world changed. Luckily for us the great organisation from the gang at Poole RYC made us feel safe and welcome.

A bunch of keen people turned up on Thursday afternoon to scope out the location and the local drinking places as well as resting up from some pretty long drives to Poole from all corners of the UK and beyond.

Friday dawned with little breeze, which became a theme, and as the club came to life the usual suspects emerged and started setting boats up and taking to the water to see if they had remembered how to sail after the long layoff. Some informal racing took place then it was back to the hotel and pub for a debrief before dinner was had and stories of the last 18 months were regaled along with brave talk about weekend performances.

Once again Saturday dawned a little hazy (both weather and heads) with not much promise of breeze from any specific direction. Tea was drunk, stories were told, more new faces introduced themselves and before we knew it it was 0945, briefing time. PRO Peter Wiles introduced himself and his team and we were given the details of our day. Obligatory skipper photo taken and we all headed out onto the big lake for the seeding races to decide who would sail where.

Unsurprisingly John Tushingham won his race with Peter Baldwin winning his and DF Fleet newcomer Jerry Ibberson taking the win in his race. None of those races were easily won. The outer lake course was shiftier than a shifty thing that has just been appointed head of shifts at Oxford University, you get the picture. Pressure from the left, head there, it dies so you head right hoping to make it there before it dies and you have to go left once again. Why not stick it up the middle then I hear you say....well there was less than no pressure there as well as the washing machine of doom where the wind went round in circles.

The race team made the best of their lot and set us fair courses for what prevailed but it was a game of snakes and ladders for the first couple of races. Then, as if by magic, the sea breeze kicked in and we enjoyed racing from the far end of the club lake towards the seaward end for the rest of the day. Not as brisk as perhaps forecast but a great deal better than the morning breeze. It paid to go out to the catwalk but you could futter up the middle hoping the breeze would allow you to tack back out before the port entrance to the mark was really required... it rarely worked that way.

So into the heats proper and with three fleets and the light breeze anywhere between 40 - 50 minutes was required to complete a full race. Race 2 was won by Norwegian Odd Stray who showed well the week before at the IOM Nationals in Fleetwood and had come down on the train. Second spot was Dave Burke who would, over the weekend be quite effective but quiet as a mouse on the racecourse. Third spot was retired Swede Ulf Lindburg who spent the weekend in a lounge chair enjoying the late summer sunshine looking smoother than melted butter!

Race three and Tushy found his feet and took the win from Ken Binks and Alton Water's Malcolm Price who was looking racy in the light stuff. Tushy, Peter Baldwin and Odd made hay in race four. The final full race of the day was, once again Tushy's with Ulf in second and Gosport's Nigel Brown in third.

Race 6 C and B heats were held in dying breeze and as the six o'clock deadline for racing rolled by it was clear that the A fleet would take whatever they got first thing on Sunday. Fish and chips by the lake were very welcome and well organised by the club and as the sun went down it saw Tushy leading with Odd second, Peter third, Tim Long fourth and a strong looking Malcolm in fifth spot. Back to the hotel / pub combo for a few easy pints and an early bath for most.

Sunday was almost a repeat of Saturday and we started with A fleet on the big lake and another game of snakes and ladders where some of the top five took big scores and ended up back in B fleet hoping that the wind would somehow get better. C fleet went on in similar conditions and then B fleet had a left, right race which saw Tim Long staring at a demotion to C fleet until he gambled it all on right and overhauled a whole bunch of boats to get promoted back to A fleet quite comfortably. It wasn't to be for a few others.

With the wind not helping the race team it was decided to take an early lunch at 11.25 and make the move back to the club lake and wait for the sea breeze which kicked in just after another splendid ploughman's lunch expertly prepared by the ladies in the galley. Underway less than an hour after the stoppage it was almost like PRO Peter and his team have done this sort of thing before.

So on to race 7 and Ken was at the pointy end of the race followed by Tushy and Buzz Coleman who had spent most of Saturday telling himself he couldn't do it and his boat wasn't right. Well it was now. 8 Was Tushy's from Nigel and Mickey Chamberlain who hadn't made an impact up until now but would go one better in 9 and take second from Tushy with Dave Burke in third spot.

With top spot assured Tushy could ease off in the final race but you could have thrown a blanket over place 2 - 10 and not known the outcome. Dave Burke took the final race from Lincoln's Peter Walters with Tushy making sure he had a discard to play with in third. Error of the day came from Tim Long who managed to make an epic mess of the finish which had he done it properly would have seen him finish the Championship third, however, tiredness and a lack of nightclub action had caused the issue and there were no other guilty parties in his own incident.

Some boat faff and tidying later we had a great prize-giving with the top seven in reverse order, Mick Chamberlain, Jonas Samson, Nigel Brown, Ken Binks, Derek Priestley, Tim Long and Odd Stray in fourth spot.

The top three were Tushy at the top of the pile, a slightly pleased Buzz Coleman in second and Dave Burke in a very well deserved third spot.

As ever you can look all the way down the results sheet and see clusters of close scores and close competition that the class promotes and thrives on. Nine points separated second to sixth spot and it was clearly a very nip and tuck championship played out in testing conditions and stunning late summer skies, if you weren't there then you missed out.

Well done Tushy who, once again gave us all a good spanking and made it look easy. A bigger thank you however to those new faces that turned up and got stuck in at something you've not tried before, a great effort from all of you.

The biggest thanks of all however got to the Poole RYC and the oodles of helpers that pitched in and helped out so that we could all enjoy our racing. The race team made a great job of giving us challenging courses to race on, the boatman made alterations as required, the galley crew fed and watered us and the behind the scenes crew who stuck it all together. I certainly left the club for my 6 hour drive home having had a jolly good weekend.

Thank you Poole RYC.

As things are back to normal we also had Sue Brown, ably assisted by the lovely Ness taking photos this weekend. They can be found on Flickr here.

Don't forget the DF95 Nationals in Fleetwood at the end of the month, places available, get in touch!

Overall Results:

Pos	Skipper	Sail No	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	Pts
1	TUSHINGHAM John	51	Keighley & D MES Ltd	1	4	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	3	9
2	COLEMAN Buzz	12	Coalhouse Fort RYC	2	5	15	16	6	5	3	7	8	9	45
3	BURKE Dave	30	Birkenhead RS&PC	8	2	20	13	12	16	7	4	3	1	50
4	STRAY Odd Ornulf	90	Mandal YC	2	1	10	3	10	9	8	21	16	7	50
5	LONG Tim	199	Abersoch RYC	3	8	5	4	11	21	6	8	6	14	51
6	PRIESTLEY Derek	67	Fleetwood MY & PBC	5	12	4	12	9	2	10	11	9	4	54
7	BINKS Ken	83	Eastbourne & Dist MYC	4	14	2	24	18	3	1	18	4	12	58
8	BROWN Nigel	55	Gosport MYBC	7	27	12	5	3	12	17	2	5	13	59
9	SAMSON Jonas	60	HaSS	7	6	14	9	7	4	16	5	11	20	63
10	CHAMBERLAIN Mick	46	Lincoln RSC	5	20	26	17	5	6	57	3	2	8	66
11	ANNELS Trevor	10	Poole RYC	4	18	29	7	4	18	9	9	10	6	67
12	BALDWIN Peter	63	Birkenhead RS&PC	1	7	8	2	20	31	22	10	15	5	68
13	WALTERS Peter	65	Lincoln RSC	14	51	6	10	13	7	5	14	13	2	70
14	LINDBERG Ulf	645	Karlskoga	10	3	11	14	2	13	14	12	18	21	79
15	PRICE Malcolm	48	Alton RCSC	4	9	3	15	8	20	24	16	17	10	82
16	DANEHAMMAR Rolf	146	UKSS	15	29	16	20	16	11	4	6	7	15	90
17	IBBERSON Jerry	45	Royal Palma RCYC	1	15	7	6	23	39	11	19	34	22	104
18	KENT Dave	228	Dartmoor MBC	20	16	19	8	14	23	32	20	12	11	120
19	BRIGSTOCK Phill	26	Poole RYC	3	19	30	11	19	19	26	15	21	16	123
20	CAMPBELL Stuart	50	Greenock MY&PBC	7	25	33	35	17	15	15	17	22	24	142
21	HOWELL Geoffrey	391	Coalhouse Fort RYC	2	24	9	19	21	28	31	29	29	31	161
22	VENABLES Steve	211	Birmingham MYC	11	33	41	52	15	8	19	32	27	18	163
23	JERMYN Chris	38	Poole RYC	8	21	31	33	24	32	27	33	14	19	176
24	GRAY Martin	03	AMYA	14	30	41	41	42	10	12	13	20	37	177
25	MORE Chris	302	Askern RSC	16	40	25	25	34	17	13	22	31	29	178
26	TUSHINGHAM Liz	100	Keighley & D MES Ltd	6	10	13	22	38	30	25	39	57	45	183
27	CONNELL Terry	47	Eastbourne & Dist MYC	5	13	18	29	33	37	42	31	33	32	194
28	CLEMENT Malcolm	958	Fleetwood MY & PBC	13	43	43	32	32	14	20	29	38	17	195
29	MEEKOMS Glen	418	Coalhouse Fort RYC	9	26	24	36	27	22	29	34	24	41	195
30	MILES Oliver	49	Poole RYC	9	32	28	30	26	34	41	45	19	26	204
31	BOX Garry	712	Manor Park RSC	17	35	47	31	30	24	21	25	35	25	208
32	LA ROCHE Jim	57	Coalhouse Fort RYC	3	17	17	21	39	52	57	44	42	27	210
33	CHERRETT Andy	52	Poole RYC	10	34	21	27	22	38	34	38	41	53	224
34	FAIRMAN Simon	666	ROFWAC	17	49	45	24	37	25	36	24	26	35	224
35	CLARK Martin	793	Gosport MYBC	12	46	32	18	25	36	41	37	45	28	229
36	RALPH Jason	79	Poole RYC	12	23	23	39	55	46	57	23	28	41	235
37	CHARLTON Tim	179	Poole RYC	6	41	34	28	29	33	30	36	49	49	237
38	CLEAVE John	00	Ryde MYC	16	38	44	57	36	41	28	26	30	23	238
39	STROMKVIST Stig	133	RHSS	20	47	27	34	28	27	39	42	32	33	240
40	ANDERSON Shaun	24	Whitefriars SC	13	11	22	38	41	48	35	50	39	46	245
41	GRAY Richard	78	Poole RYC	8	31	41	26	31	35	52	40	37	52	249
42	BROPHY Michael	95	Poole RYC	14	45	55	40	49	54	18	27	24	41	258
43	HAND Jen	69	Lincoln RSC	18	42	36	47	48	42	44	28	25	30	265
44	BUURMAN Leen	97	Hampton Court	13	52	42	46	51	45	33	35	36	41	291
45	ROLFE Barry	119	Birmingham MYC	11	28	37	49	54	29	37	51	50	55	292
46	MORE Lisa	303	Askern RSC	6	22	35	50	43	50	48	55	43	51	297
47	LEGG Phil	169	Poole RYC	12	50	49	43	45	40	43	43	47	34	307
48	HOLLAND Brian	795	Abersoch RYC	16	55	46	42	46	26	38	49	51	48	311
49	RHODES Marcus	92	Poole RYC	9	37	48	37	53	47	50	46	57	43	317
50	CARLIN John	11	Birkenhead RS&PC	10	36	51	45	41	57	49	48	53	44	324
51	GILBERT Rob	711	Newkey RSC	18	54	54	53	35	57	47	41	48	42	338
52	COLLINS Jim	701	Solent RCMYC	11	39	56	48	56	53	45	56	44	47	343
53	HOWARD John	008	Poole RYC	15	56	53	51	47	43	46	47	46	57	348
54	HANSEN John	89	Poole RYC	19	53	52	54	50	51	51	53	40	36	352
55	HAGUE Christopher	19	Poole RYC	17	44	50	44	52	44	57	54	52	50	353
56	PRITCHARD Peter	93	Poole RYC	15	48	41	55	44	49	57	52	54	54	357