DF95 Mid Week Handicap

There was a warm North-Westerly blowing down the dam, the skies were sunny and the temperature was nudging 26 degrees for today’s DF95 handicap event at Risdon Brook Dam. Most of the skippers were delaying their rig-up this morning in order to make the right choice. There was a lot of discussion over whether we should be using A or B rigs with nearly all opting for B in the end. In fact, the discussion should have been between using B or C-rigs as some genuinely strong gusts came through by start time. Only John Hall got it right by suiting up a C-rig and he peeled off the first two races with back-to-back wins (but in doing so dashed his handicap for the rest of the day.)
 
Choosing the right rig was important early in the day and a few of the skippers found that they had used three different rigs by the start of race four. By the afternoon things had steadied a bit and A-rigs were used throughout the afternoon.
 
There did seem to be quite a bit of weed about today and most skippers fell foul of it at some time. It is hard to explain this as we have had a generally good year as far as weed is concerned and even in recent weeks there has been none to report.
 
Andrew Wardrop officiated the DF95 day and as usual set excellent courses and kept the day moving well allowing us to finish the full complement of 10 races. Andrew was assisted by Commodore Rod Marshall who was able to count us in for starts when we found that both our usual start box and the back-up were not working. Nice, clear and loud speaking voice Rod! – Thanks to both Rod and Andrew.
 
Rod has just purchased Gerald Stephens DF95 gear and so we should soon see him on the water as our DF95 fleet builds.
 
At lunch time Andrew unfortunately sat on a nest of bull-ants provoking them into action. Only one sting! I did suggest that he should take off his pants to check that there were no others lurking in there, but a class of school kids were passing buy so Andrew kindly spared us all! On a serious note though - this incident could have been much, much worse and it definitely pays to check the ground when you are sitting down at the dam. Or, bring a chair to enjoy your lunch in lesuire.
 
Overall: Third place today went to Ian Hey who had a mixed morning but finished the day with the magic of winning the last race. Second went to Jammy Jones who went 3-2-1 in the first three races and then was pretty consistent throughout the rest of the day. I managed to win today with consistent places and luckily no weed!
 
COMING UP:
This weekend many of our skippers are heading to Launceston for the Classics day. A reminder on the start time - 1030 and not 10 as previously advertised. Bring your $3 entry and please let Kyle know that you intend to cmpete for catering purposes.
For those who are staying South, Sunday's racing is a DF95 scratch event at Risdon Brook Dam. (1:00 button-press).
Next week's handicap racing at Risdon Brook Dam is for IOM’s and will be the last ‘Handicap Sheild’ event for the year. (11:00 button-press)
 
Shorty