DF95 Mid Week Handicap and DF95 Nationals News

There was a nice Northerly of about 8-10 knots when we arrived at Risdon Brook Dam for today’s DF95 handicap racing. With some of the fleet away at the National DF titles there were just ten skippers fronting today. While the morning was quite sunny, PRO Andrew Wardrop was aware that rain was forecast for the afternoon and got racing underway a few minutes early and we had completed 7 races before lunch time. The wind did calm a little over lunch (perhaps heralding the approaching rain), and the three races of the afternoon session were sailed in less than 5 knots of wind and a much flatter dam.  
Today we welcomed Richard Wylie to the fleet. Richard lives in Orford and has been sailing both DF65s and DF95s with the group at Orford and also at Puddleduck. ‘Tiles’ said that he really enjoyed sailing today and when you look at his scorecard you can understand why.  With a race win, a 2nd and two 3rds for an overall position of 4th, I reckon that that is a pretty good start to racing with the club. Great sailing Richard!
The first race featured a comedy of errors. The leading skipper sailed the wrong course and dragged the next two boats with him.  John Hall and Ian Hey ensnared each other after a collision and needed to employ the dinghy for a rescue. A couple of others found a big clump of weed. I could hardly believe my luck - without sailing particularly well I found myself leading as we headed to the finish. A classic ‘Bradbury!  Easy game this Radio Sailing!
In fact most skippers reported mixed fortunes today, but no-one turned the day around more than Alan Short. Al just could not get his boat going in the morning session but John Penman kindly had a look at it over the lunch break and retuned the rig. Al went out and won every race of the afternoon - three races - back to back! It was a very impressive effort. It does also show how sensitive these boats are to correct tuning. With the DF95 a small difference can make a big difference.
The positive side of mixed fortunes is that every skipper got to the podium at some stage and there were race wins right down the table. As far as the overall positions were concerned; I managed to get third with two race wins in my total. Ian Bailey claimed second and was consistantly well placed through the morning session. Well sailed Ian! But it was Phil Jackman who claimed overall victory just a single point ahead of Ian. Back sailing again after a bit of a break for surgery Trout has lost none of his trademark consistency. Congratulations Trout!


Coming Up: 
Sunday: IOM Scratch racing at Montrose. Note that we will be using the ‘Summer-time’ button-press of 1:00
Next Wednesday: IOM handicap racing (Trophy Round) at Risdon Brook Dam. (11:00 button press) 
Shorty

Stop Press........
As many are aware, we have got quite a team in South Australia for the DF95/DF65 Nationals. I'd hazard a guess that we would havehad the highest representation per state membership (but could also be very wrong there).
The DF95 championship concluded today. Very challenging conditions overall on lovely long courses. A Rig for Day 1 to just after the extended lunch break, before thw wind really came in for an afternoon of B Rig sailing and C Rig for the last heat.
Days 2 and 3 were all in B Rig, and amongst the best fleet of sailors at a National DF Championship that I have experienced. It was so difficult to move up a fleet, with so many very good sailors vying for those coveted first 4 places for promotion.
In a fleet of 47 skippers, the Tasmanian results were
Peter Ross       29th
Ted Stevens     24th
Kyle Stewart     21st
Richard Fisher  11th
Nick Connor      9th
Stuart Dawes    5th
Lisa Blackwood  2nd (and Masters Champion)

Congrats to Team Tasmania for a great campaign and thoroughly fantastic experience.

I really encourage any skippers thinking of trying a championship such as this to commit to it and enter. It would be a great experience to sail in one and fantastic to put faces to names we often only see on-line with interstate news and results.

For more infor on the Championships - as we are about to start the DF65 Nationals on Friday, have  alook at https://www.dfsailing.com.au/

Kyle