David Donin DF65 Trophy Winner 2023
Notices:
Photos of the Month
Deputy Mayor, Richard Earle, trying a DF65 and big fleet sailing on Monday 29 May – Series 3 Race 5.
Saturday 20 May – Gosport Marine Festival
Thank you to the DF65 sailors who came along to demonstrate our class for the Festival. I even managed to get the Deputy Mayor, Richard Earle, to have a go. He enjoyed it for a few minutes until his wife reminded him that they had to be somewhere else.
I thoroughly enjoyed having a go on the controls and I was just getting the hang of it too Thank you Paul.
DF65 Trophy – 3 June
Our DF65 trophy winner this year is David Donin (334).
Saturday PM Series (Ended)
It was decided after our sailing on 27 May (before we looked at the results) to discontinue the Saturday Afternoon Series due to low turnouts.
So the final results of the Saturday PM Series is:
- 1st Paul Heaney
- 2nd Mike Kemp
- 3rd Ian Proctor
We sure do a lot of DF65 sailing – I’ve just copied 14 racing (and training) events from our Facebook page for the last month (for those who don’t use Facebook).
Recent Results:
Monday 15 May – Series 3 race 3
We had a forecast of around 20-25 knots from the North today. Rather than go to the exposed South side of the South Lake which still has a lot of jellyfish we opted to sail on the newly weeded North Lake. We had a mixture of A and A+ Rigs and a good fleet of 11 boats.
Paul Heaney (422) needs to include a training session on preparation after he forgot to tape down his hatch cover and water logged his servo at the end of Race 1 (thanks for lending me your spare servo Ian).
We had some very strong gusts at times which quickly spun around any A+ Rigs heading downwind. Even though we had the expected wind shifts that come with a Northerly, they at least lasted long enough to tack with the shifts.
Our winner today was Adrian Wallis (81) with 3 wins and a second. Second was Ian Proctor (823) with a win and 3 seconds and third was Mike Kemp (270) with a win and 2 seconds. Martyn Clark (793) was just a point behind in fourth with a win and a second.
Paul Heaney (422) and Ian Mc Innes (49) also had a win each.
These are interim results as there are several DNC results where a finish may have been missed. Please let me know if you results need correcting.
Wednesday 17 May – Evening Handicap Race 3
Our evening started with a fresh breeze from the North (almost an A rig) which gradually died to a few knots by the end of the evening. We started with a running start for a course of two triangles and a windward/return. The course was shortened for the last few races as the breeze dropped.
We had a good fleet of 8 boats starting in 4 different divisions.
Greg Long (234) was our star performer showing that his practice starts at our first training session has paid dividends. He was on the line at speed for each of his starts and he was hard to catch. Greg was our overall winner with 2 wins and 4 seconds. You reward is that you move back a division for your next race evening.
Paul Heaney (422) was second with just 1 win but consistent results. John Smith (277) was third with 2 wins and a second. John sailed well except for a couple of late starts.
David Perkins (047) also sailed well with 2 wins and a second, however, his mainsheet came apart forcing his early retirement and a possible podium result.
Graham Baker (122) also had an exciting win in Race 5 after sorting an issue with his jib – well done Graham.
Monday 22 May – Series 3 Race 4
Another Northerly of 10-15 knots to contend with today. We set a course from the South side of the lake and we had a good turnout of 12 boats on the water. I withdrew with a receiver problem and went Race Office for the day. Surprisingly, we had no problems with the large number of jellyfish in the lake today.
David Donin (334) was our overall winner with 4 wins and 2 seconds. Martyn Clark (793) also did well in the tricky conditions with a win and 2 seconds. Adrian Wallis (81) was just a point behind in third with some consistent results.
Mike Kemp (270) and Ian Proctor (823) with a win each were just a point apart in fourth and fifth.
John Smith (277) had a win in Race 4.
Wednesday 24 May – Evening Series 4
Another breeze from the North this evening so we used the same course as last week with a running start for a course of two triangles and a sausage to the finish. We dropped a windward mark further out into the lake to avoid the turbulence near the windward shore.
We had a good fleet of 8 boats starting in 5 divisions. Unfortunately, we had a couple of incidents with jellyfish and seaweed but it still a great evening to be sailing. We had a several finishes where the fleet came together up the last leg and in one race 4 boats finished within a boat length of each other.
Martyn Clark (793) was our overall winner with 3 wins and a second starting back in Division 5. He will join Division 6 next time. Richard Smith (212) was second with 2 wins and 2 seconds starting in Division 2. Graham Baker (122) was third with 2 wins and a second also staring in Division 2.
Saturday 27 May – PM Series Race 6
Today we had a light breeze from the North-West. It was suggested that we move to the North Lake with less jellyfish. The breeze gradually swung 180 degrees clockwise to the South East with the last race swapping the start and finish lines of the earlier races.
A special congratulations to Peter Bird (411) for winning his first race (Race 2) today. He chose the best side of the leeward gate at the last mark and caught the new breeze first.
Well done Peter!!!
Paul Heaney (422) was a winner today with 3 wins and 3 seconds including a dead heat for second in Race 5. Ian Proctor (823) was second with 2 wins and 3 seconds just edging out Mike Kemp (270) also with 2 wins and 3 seconds.
Monday 29 May – Series 3 Race 5
We had a North-Easterly of 15 gusting 20 knots. Nearly the whole fleet of 16 boats sailed their A rigs. As we were nearly making the first windward mark on one tack, so an extra mark was added for the second lap to ensure a good windward leg.
There was an unfortunate incident at the start of Race 8 when a couple of boats that were a bit early bared-off into boats in a good starting position causing multiple collisions. We need to keep clear of other boats!
Our overall winner today was Ian Proctor (823) with 3 wins. Second was Simon Fairman (666) with 2 wins and a second, just ahead of Paul Heaney (422) with a win and 2 seconds (who retied in Race 5 when a leak caused his servo to fail and he was late for Race 6).
Adrian Wallis (81) was fourth with a win and a second and Chris Durant was (91) was fifth also scoring a win (not sure what happened in Race 5).
Wednesday 31 May – Training
A good turnout of 6 sailors for tonight’s session which focussed on:
- Basic theory of sail setting – covered side and forward vectors of boom positions including a demo of water running over the back of a hanging spoon and drawing it into the flow.
- Boat balance – adjusting the mainsail twist via backstay or kicker to reduce lee-helm or weather-helm upwind.
- Rig choice – a good example this evening in 20 knot gusts where A+ rigs were overpowered and A rigs on their limit.
Saturday 3 June – AM South Race 6 / DF65 Trophy
We continue to have gusty winds of 5-15 knots from the North-East with the associated dramatic wind shifts. We set a course as windward as possible from the South bank of the lake with a triangle/sausage/triangle course.
We agreed to run 9 races with one Officer of the Day (OOD) and 2 to drop. Hence I set the OOD as 10th place and changed the Scoring system to drop 3 races.
We all had problems at times with jelly fish or getting tangled on the windward mark. A special ‘well done’ to Greg Long (234) for a second in Race 6 after leading to the first mark and keeping in touch with David Donin (334) for the rest of the race.
Our DF65 trophy winner this year is David Donin (334) with 4 wins and 2 seconds. Second was Adrian Wallis (81) with 3 seconds and a consistent set of results. Third was Mike Kemp (270) with 2 wins and a second.
Simon Fairman (666), Paul Heaney (422) and Ian Proctor (823) also had a win.
Monday 5 June – Series 3 Race 6
The High over the UK continues to bring 5-12 knots of breeze from the North. Thank you Chris Durant for being our race officer for today despite difficult conditions for setting a course.
The jellyfish only caused minor problems but the weed is starting to grow with the spell of sunny weather.
Mike Kemp (270) was top of the podium today with a win and 4 seconds. Chris Forman (161) had a welcome return to form coming second on countback with 2 wins from Paul Heaney (422) third with a win and a second. John Smith (277) was fourth also with a win and a second.
Our ‘Most Improved’ today goes to Greg Long (234) who is now starting to compete near the front of the fleet with 2 thirds and a fourth – well done.
Ian Proctor (823), Phil Hampson (506) and Martyn Clark (793) also had wins today.
Wednesday 8 June – Evening Handicap 5
We had a gusty breeze from the North-East which kept changing the favoured end of the start line on short notice. We had a good mixed fleet of 9 boats with starters in 5 different Divisions.
Chris Durant (91) joined our fleet this evening and started with the back markers in Division 6.
Thank you John Smith for assisting Rob Harvey with his rig and sailing in Races 5 and 6.
John Smith (277) was our handicap winner this evening with 4 wins – you are promoted to Division 5 next week. Greg Long (234) continues to improve and was second overall with 2 wins and a second. Paul Heaney (422) was third with 2 wins starting back in Division 6.
Monday 12 June – Series 3 race 7
The light southerly breeze on arrival gradually built up to a nice 8-10 knots from the South-East.
A special mention for Martin Banbury (23) who continues to improve and to Graham Baker (122) who would have won ‘Division 2’ (if we had one)! Thank you John Smith (277) who skipped Races 5-8 to help a new sailor.
It was very close at the top of the leader board today with only 2 points between the top three boats. Our winner was Ian Proctor (823) with 3 wins and 3 seconds followed by Paul Heaney (422) with 3 wins and 2 seconds. Third was Alan Nash (58) also with 3 wins and 2 seconds.
Wednesday 15 June – Evening Handicap 6
This evening we had a light breeze of 3-5 knots from the South-East. We had a good turnout again of 9 boats starting in 5 different Divisions.
We shortened the course from 3 laps to 2 after our break which unfortunately made it too difficult for Simon Fairman (666 Division 7) to catch the fleet, though he was getting very close near the finish. We also had a couple of incidents where boats were hampered by weed during racing.
Our overall winner was Paul Heaney (422 Division 6) with 2 wins and a second, just ahead of Tom Kemp (274 Division 6) with a consistent set of second and third places. Chris Judd (525 Division 3) was third on countback with 2 wins equal on points with Chris Durant (91 Division 6) with a win and a second.
We had winners from 5 different boats in 4 different Divisions including David Perkins (47 Division 3) and Richard Smith (212 Division 2) showing that the handicaps are working well.
Although the points were close tonight Paul Heaney will move back to Division 7 for the next handicap race.
Saturday 17 June – AM North 7
After testing the North Lake and getting stuck on weed, we were offered use of the South Lake as the Vanes can’t get through the weed at the far end. As the wind swung from South-East to South, we dropped a new windward mark to ensure we had a windward beat.
Paul Heaney (422) and Ian Proctor (823) had their usual close racing with only a few boat lengths between them in 3 of the races. Graham Baker (122) is continuing to improve winning Race 6.
Our winner today was Paul Heaney (422) with 4 wins and 2 seconds, Ian Proctor (823) was second with a win and 3 seconds while Graham Baker (122) made it onto the podium with a win and a second. Peter Bird (411) also had a win in Race 5 finishing fourth overall.
Monday 19 June – Series 3 Race 8
The wind has returned to the ‘normal’ South-West and was very light with a few 5-8 knot gusts. We added a new windward mark after our break as the wind moved to the South.
The top three boats (Ian, Alan and Paul) had some close competition finishing within a boat length of each other in the last 2 races where picking the closest part of the finish line decided the result.
Our winner today (despite getting stuck on the windward mark in Race 5) was Ian Proctor (823) with 3 wins and 2 seconds. Just one point behind was Alan Nash (56) with 2 wins and 3 seconds and a further point behind was Paul Heaney (422) with 2 wins and 2 seconds. John Smith (277) sailed well in the light conditions for a creditable fourth with a win and a second.
Peter Bird (411) and Graham Baker (122) are closing the gap to the leaders with improving results, both gaining a third place.
Coming Up:
Wednesday 21 June – Evening Training from 6:15 (so you only have to pay for 1 hour of parking!) to 8pm ‘Rigging and Tuning tips’
Monday 15 May – Series 3 Race 9
Regards,
Paul Heaney
DF65 Class Captain
