DF95 Mid Week Handicap

It was a nice warm day for sailing and although the forecast predicted a 5 knot South-Westerly the wind at Risdon Brook Dam was 15 knots and Northerly. This wind maintained strength throughout the day and while A-rigs were the weapon of choice they were a handful at times. A lot of skippers (myself included) found that the DF95 needs to be well rigged to avoid getting in-irons when going about when sailing the A-rig over-powered.
 
I was pretty happy to get third overall today. I lost my jib in a race #3 accident and so was forced to use the B-rig for the two races prior lunch. This proved to work out well for me – winning the next race.
 
Second place was taken by Phil Turnbull with two race wins in the tally.
 
Today’s winner was Ian Hey who had a real day out. Bodge was so far ahead that even rudder servo problems at the end of the day could not stop him winning the event. It was a really impressive result especially considering his good form was at the start of the day and so most of his racing was done with high handicap. Congratulations Bodge.
 
Thanks to Andrew Wardrop who set excellent courses as PRO and kept the day moving well.
 
It was interesting to see a strong South-Easterly sea-breeze on the Derwent as I drove home still with the Northerly still pumping at the Dam. Wind is a fairly local phenomenon.
 
Coming up:
Sunday: NOTE CHANGE OF CALENDAR - Scratch sailing will be for IOM’s (instead of RM) at Montrose - 1:00 button press.
 
Next Wednesday: IOM handicap racing at Risdon Brook Dam - 11:00 button press.
 
John S