On May 14th Mike, Richard and Mark decided to brave it and compete in the regional (eastern) championships held at Coalhouse fort. No one knew what to expect and we all went with the aim of trying to avoid being last. Well we found out that competitive DF racing takes a great deal of concentration and a lot of walking.
In the end we were not too shabby at all.

Mike pushed Buzz in a couple of races and in a few races lead the rest of the fleet for most of the way around. After a few infringements and after getting dizzy with turns he finished a very creditable 11th.

Richard, a real dark horse, only picked up a transmitter for the first time a month ago and kept flitting into the A fleet after some very consistent runs. He confounded the experts by often making huge gains by sailing free and hitting the port corner. He finished 8th - Top half of the fleet and thrilled to bits.

Mark too had a good day at the office - Scoring third overall and missing out on second by one point.

Buzz had it all his way and won every race he entered in which he bothered to turn his boat on.

​VIDEO HERE 

On May 6th  Mike, Richard and myself (Mark) spent a wonderful after noon as the guests of Lackford lake sailing club. We took 4 boats over and let all and sundry have a go. We demonstrated the 4 rigs including the A+ and I think a good time was had by all. I have loaded a video and pics up on our facebook page. 

The interesting thing about the day was that in about 8-10 kts of breeze the A rig is as fasat as the A+.

Also the other slightly annoying thing we discovered was that the fastest boat of all was Nigels v3 

Spring has sprung. Some would say it was warm... Whatever there was a lovely 10kt breeze from the south easy and in this direction we could sett a long beat across the bay. After two or three races we decided the walk was too long so we shortened the course and raced ten races around the willow tree.
​Mark and Ben were joined by Jonk and Robin. Robin dominated the long races, Jonk then shone in the first few shorter races. Sadly Ben had made an "improvement" to his steering and was out of a few. He cane back after some tweaking, possibly with a bfh.
Mark used his v6 and yes he won couple but it was clear thT the v6 has no advantage over older versions.
Overall Robin won probably, Jonk second. Jonks sails did look the part

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We sailed the day - turned out nice. The sun came out to play. and most did not need gloves or muffs. The wind was light and at times a little flukey but we got in about 15 races. Sadly Jonk had to stay at home to look after his wife.
Ben,, with his new Jonk A rig and full of hope - bought in Blake Tudor, a Tera National squad member as a ringer. We also welcomed David Perkins, a potential new member, Jerry Andrews also came along to watch and eventually started playing. Were we nice to the new guests? Were we F..... Mark took an early lead winning the first couple but then he tweaked his boat ... Haha Tha'tll teach him - He spent the next few races being unable to tack without the boat stalling out. Robin took the day with the most wins. 
Mike finally had sorted his boat out and was competitive. He took an awful lot of seconds and with Ben was probably in the shout for second overall.
Blake was awesome. He knew the rules which shocked a few of the old men. Welcome to the fleet Blake - I reckon father Christmas may know what to bring you. David found his boat was slow up wind and he was sporting a set of stretched original sails, father Christmas may well visit that household soon. Jerry plucked up courage and sailed a couple. In his first race ever he led from the off and took the forst lap, fortunately for the oldies he got confused with the radio control, thankfully, allowing the fleet to get past him.
Mike celebrated in a slightly unseemly manner when he won his first ever race, I reckon he owes us all a glass of champagne... well done Mike

Jonk didn't have it all his way today. It was blustery but in .general around 15 knots with the odd gust maybe hitting 18. We raced at the beach today and had to reset the course a couple of times because the wind shifted. At least Doris had well and truly departed.
We ran about 10 races.. Jonk, Robin and Mark shared honours. Ben took the last race of the day. We decided today that we needed to be firmer about the rules and that meant a few turns were necessary... mainly by Mark.
It was Mikes birthday today and guess what he got... a new transmitter. Sadly he found once again he could tack to port
but not starboard, or something. Whilst adjusting things Mike dropped his boat. after that it had developed a leak... Best wishes Mike

It was spring. It was mild. We were joined by Buzz from coalhouse fort who very kindly helped us all with tuning the 65. He came with his beautiful v6 and also he bought a 95 to tempt us.
Dave also came with his iom, although he soon had his hands on a 65......tempted?
Racing was informal, fun and punctuated by a shifty breeze. we went to the western end today to utilise the breeze better.
Buzz stormed to the front in the first race but Jonk, Mark and Robin got the measure of him and in the end Jonk won the day overall.
Thanks Buzz for all your help. was the V6 dominant ...no, was it beautiful...yes. i think most thought that the new style tray and gooseneck were worthy upgrades

Ok so it was snowing and about 0 degrees, but there was a 15 kt easterly coming in and Jonk, Robin, Mike and Mark braved the drizzly sleet and held several races. Time flew by and no one noticed the sleet and everyone had a blast.
Jonk and Robin used V rigs and Mark and Mike were using A rigs but there was nothing between the boats. Mike had rudder servo issues and not being able to tack to port was a bit of a disadvantage. Jonk took the gun in most races and Mark and Robin had a few discussions about the rules. So no change there then.
When Mike gets a service that allows him to turn left he will be far more competitive....
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The forecast was awful but Mark decided to sail the day not the forecast. Much happier thanks to some tuning advice from Jonk.

Much better thanks

Nigel made it today with his new beast... the blue streak. and along with Mike used their A rigs against Jonk, Robin, Ben and Mark who used their B rigs. the Harwich boys and Ben used Jonk sails and whether it was the sails or just skill. they Jonk sails dominated the racing.
Indeed Jonk was the winner in most races, Robin and Ben shared the honours for the rest Mike scored a bullet or two and Nigel got a couple of seconds. Mark supported the fleet in last place ... wait till next time

What do you think?