Dragon Force Winter Series at West Lancashire Yacht Club - Day 5
by Tim Long 3 Mar 2015 07:57 GMT
1 March 2015
Right up until Friday evening the forecast was looking like we would be lucky to get any racing in at all but after an almighty blow on Saturday evening the wind had dropped to around 20 some mph as the day dawned on Sunday and even the sun was shining. The course was set by PRO Clive Porter and as with the previous events the course was shared with the RC Lasers with all marks being the same and with 8 Lasers on the course it was essential to keep some distance between boats!
The field of 9 dragons set out in the first race all with C rigs flying in the gusty breeze and at the finish it was the familiar name of John Tushingham who took the win from Tim Lanigan and Tim Long. At times the conditions were such that tacking was near on impossible and a gybe was the better plan but making that decision early was the key and fluffed tacks cost most competitors a place or two throughout the day.
The second race saw Tim Long get the perfect start and he led from gun to flag followed by Llandudno MYC clubmate John Brierley with JT taking a rare third place, it should be noted that in this race the first three DF65's crossed the finish line before the first Laser despite starting a minute behind, these little boats really do go well in a blow! The rest of the morning session was dominated by JT with Tim Long taking a string of seconds ahead of Liz Tushingham, Tim Lanigan and John Brierley who fought for the third step of the podium.
Lunch was a welcome rest from the breeze, which showed no signs of abating, and chilli and rice along with a steaming cup of tea set all the competitors up for the afternoon session.
Fortified by lunch the first race of the afternoon was taken by Liz from John B and JT. The rest of the afternoon followed a now familiar pattern with JT at the top leaving everyone else to squabble over the lower placings with the two Tim's and John B taking at least one second place through the final races.
The wind dropped sufficiently for the fleet to change up to B rig although Tim Long thought A rig might be a comedy wildcard but the wind got up mid way through the first beat and he was quickly down to B rig with the rest of the fleet for the next races!
The last race saw the wind come back up again and C rigs would have been the ideal which was borne out by Jordan Porter who hadn't changed up and managed a good 5th place finish to end his day.
The day ended with JT taking the honours with 10 points from 10 races, Tim Long scored a solid but distant second with 25 points. Behind this was a super close finish with three points separating the next three places with Tim Lanigan in third with 31, John B in 4th and Liz T in 5th, Roy, Mark, Jordan and Glyn rounded out the field.
Considering the conditions there were very few breakages in the fleet and 8 of the 9 boats completed the days sailing.
The final event in this series takes place on the 15th March and if you haven't raced at West Lancs yet you should give it a try, the atmosphere and lunch make it worthwhile, the racing makes it a must!
For more details please check out www.df65racing.co.uk