Four of us raced on the North Course in the SE’ly breeze of 8 to 10 Knots with pulses of a little more.
The northern course was ideal as there was a gaggle of 29ers having a training weekend and an FF Open. We were joined by Nigel testing the latest version of Craig’s Proteus.
We managed 10 races before departing home for the Rugby, least said best mended!
It was very pleasant in the sunshine, though the conditions were top end for lightweight sails. The lions share of the races went to myself, though pressed closely at times by Richard and Phil, indeed Phil managed 3 wins with his recently fitted new sails.
Richard had problems with his counter weight and had to retire from the last race, but did manage 3 second places to Graham’s one.
Hugh 9 pts with 7 wins
Phil 15 pts with 3 wins
Richard 24 pts
Graham 26 pts
I flunked out of sailing last Sunday (car reliability issues and low wind forecast).
(Cars used to just have mechanical problems, but the new fashion is to have “software problems”!! Funny the first time, but the novelty wears off !!)
Anyway, GH kindly called last night to tell me all about Sunday sailing. Each time I looked at the club webcam it looked very glassy, but GH reported that coffee-and-marblehead chatter lasted till 11am then, as if by magic, 8-10mph of breeze arrived!! The main club racing (a youth 29er event) was already abandoned for the day so Andrew G and his DF95, plus a handful of Marblehead sailors had 475 acres of water to themselves!! They got an hour and a half of fine races in, then the breeze went home in time for lunch!!
There was some great racing innovation going on, boat swapping, 2 boat calibration and all that. Honestly … sounds great and so sorry I had to miss it !!
A strong fleet of two dozen competitors from far and wide, including Germany, lined up at Datchet for a terrific weekend’s racing. “Ranking 1” was held on Saturday and “Ranking 2” was run on Sunday. Each day was scored as a separate event.
The weather ran the whole spectrum that Datchet can provide. Saturday had gentle breezes, 5-10mph, and the fleet raced on A-Rigs in the main. On the Sunday, we had 12-20mph with 40mph gusts . The competitors used every rig that they had brought with them and Sunday was a complete blast of a day.
(Radio Sailors having Fun!!)
(Radio Sailors having a whale of a time!)
(Darin, on Observer duty!)
On Saturday, our 2024 National Champion, Darin Ballington, sailed a superb and consistent day. In a 14 heat, 7 race programme, Darin scored a superb three wins of seven and discarded a 6th. Just seven points behind was Graham Bantock with 18 points and two wins. Graham had a constant tussle with Craig Richards of the home Club who scored one win and discarded an 11th. It was a very technical and challenging day with many star performances in the fleet, but special mention should go to the two entrants from Germany, Henning Faas and Nigel Winkley. Henning and Nigel both put in strong top ten performances and gave advance warning of their potential on the windier second day.
(Setting Sun with Windsor Castle in the Distance)
A special prize for the most helpful and team-spirited competitor went to Tracey Ballington.
If the Wind Gods were taking the day off on Saturday, then just to remind us all who’s Boss, they returned with a vengeance on Sunday. Before Skipper exhaustion set in, the Fleet managed twelve heats, six races. The fleet started at B Rigs, and progressively went to ever more conservative rigs as the wind stepped up … and up. By the final race, the boats were flying.
Henning Faas from Germany in his Niou Niou design Marblehead had a superb day – recording straight 4ths in the first four races leaving him very strongly placed by early afternoon. However, there was a battle royal in progress. Darin Ballington, with his Grunge design, continued his fantastic form of Saturday and took race 5 with a superb win. The star of the day and winner of Ranking 2, (by some margin) was 2023 Champion, Craig Richards sailing his F6. Despite the weather blowing the fleet across the lake, Craig recorded 4 wins in 6 races, discarding a 3rd.
Tracey Ballington had the race of her life on Sunday recording a very popular B fleet win at speed and handsomely beating Darin Ballington into second place. It must be said, there were huge cheers at the finish!!
(Tracey Ballington at the Prizegiving on Saturday – Race Committee Special Prize)
The Race Committee’s special prize for Sunday was awarded to Lewis Wyeth of Gosport. Despite having to withdraw from racing, Lewis piled in to help the race team in the very testing conditions. It was pretty cold out on that RIB !
A skippers conference was called around 3.30pm under rapidly darkening skies and the event closed at six races. At both prizegivings, special thanks were given to the whole race team for their efforts to make the two days successful.
Datchet Radio Sailing - Making It All Much Easier !! 