Tag Archives: DF95

Beginners Guide to Diagnosing Under-Deck Problems – Electrical/Radio/Winch/Servo….!!

I had a little outage last Marblehead Sunday. The boat slipped into Failsafe mode and drifted quietly off toward the Royal Castle of Windsor!!

The Commodore leapt into RIB duty mode and helped me get it back, no problem! Useful to take a lifter with you! As soon as racing finished, in classic Datchet manner… everyone gathered around, tool boxes came out, to get my fault diagnosed.

It was pretty educational and a great learning to see them go about it. We quite quickly figured all the electrics and radio were OK and identified the winch as a possible failure point. It was great to see them checking out the transmitter, receiver, battery, cabling etc.

All this learning was a delight. So as not to lose it, I have documented the diagnostic and repair process here. If you find yourself in a similar position, it may be helpful. Click below to download.

Fabulous Radio Sailing Promotional Video from The Datchet 2024 Marblehead Nationals ….!!

Have you seen the fabulous video from the Marblehead Nationals, brought to us by our Commodore (!). It does a super job of outlining the sport’s attractiveness to newcomers!!

Take a look !! Just released on the excellent MYA Video Channel….!!

Race Reports – Weekend of 20/21 July 2024 ….!!

Results from the weekend.


Saturday saw four 95s in a light breeze on the south course, we managed 8 races in two batches of four with a coffee break and a trim.  Geoffrey had a bad day on the water but happy to be sailing and at times the racing was very close with Phil and Hugh battling most of the day with Peter ready to snap at their heels when the opportunities arose.
Phil. 8 points and 4 wins 
Hugh 9 points with 3 wins
Peter 14 points with 1 win
Geoffrey 24 points

On Sunday we had four Marbleheads including Richard Uttley’s brand new F-6 on the water for the first time.  We again managed 8 races this time on the north course, again with four before and after coffee.  Richard Jones had an unfortunate communication glitch in the first race after coffee and this proved terminal for him which was bad news for him because although scoring four fourths before coffee was often close to the others for many of his four races.  Richard Uttley had his F-6 going very well out of the box to the extent of  scoring a bullet in race 5.  As Mr Uttley only came with a lightweight A and a B.  We all agreed on B, thought for most of the time we were a bit under powered upwind, despite the two rigs being nominally the same area.
Hugh 7 points 5 wins
Richard Uttley 11 points 1 win
Phil 12 points 2 wins
Richard Jones 26 points

HM