DF95 Mid Week Handicap

The warm and sunny day produced a strong fleet with 15 skippers contesting today’s DF95 handicap event at the dam.
We welcomed three new skippers. Collin Witton who has bought Rod Marshall’s DF95 (No. 81), Ian Bailey (No. 54) and Pete Ross (No. 887). Collin and Ian both have had some radio sailing experience in the past having sailed Marbleheads about 20 years ago. Pete is an experienced DF95 skipper who competed strongly at this year’s national championships. He has recently moved to Tasmania from Queensland and now lives at Dodges Ferry. We welcome you all to the club and wish you every success and happy sailing!
Despite the nice sunny summer day the conditions at the dam were a real handful with a blustery, swinging westerly of 5 – 25 knots keeping us on our toes. Andrew Wardrop and Rod Marshall took on the PRO duties and set good courses for the challenging conditions. Thanks to you both.
Nearly all skippers chose the B-rig at first but most changed to the A –rig after lunch.  It really was one of those days where whatever rig you had chosen it was the wrong one! The B-rig didn’t have the power to get through the chop in the calm patches and the A-rig was frequently overpowered and knocked down.
So a hard days racing! (New sailors note: The dam isn’t always like this!) I reckon that if you finished ten races then that was a bit of a triumph and if you made the podium today then you deserve a badge of honor.
Third overall went to Pete Ross. A great way to introduce yourself Pete! Second went to Chris Wood who chalked up plenty of podiums in the morning making it hard to win with maximum handicap in the afternoon.  Today’s winner by a good margin was Ray Joyce who finished with more wins and more podium finishes than anyone else. Congratulations Pete, Chris and Ray!


Coming up:
Sunday 10th: IOM Scratch Racing at Montrose (1:00 button-press)
Wednesday 13th IOM handicap racing at the dam (11:00 button-press)
Sunday 17th: Club Prize Day and BBQ (10:00 at Montrose) and last sail for the year – bring any boat. For catering prposes, can you please let Kyle know if you are coming by next Thursday, 14th December.


Shorty