Its jolly cold up north but no colder than down south. I put many layers on for the day and was determined not to suffer from the cold.. After a quiet night in the van at the club car park and a good healthy breakfast, I emerged to find a pleasant breeze blowing straight down the lake and knew we were in for a good days racing. On went the A+ rig (or so I thought) and put the boat on the water for a bit of practice. I was slow upwind and downwind and was perplexed as to why. I sought the help of the master himself John Tushingham and asked him to have a look at my set up. He took a thoughtful look at the boat and I was waiting for constructive feedback when he quietly suggested that I had put my A rig on the boat and not the A+which had considerable more sail area. I had clearly labelled the A and A plus rig in my bag but somehow had swithched them round. So a quick run back to the van to put the A plus rig on and my speed problems were resolved. Ooooops.
We were split into 2 fleets and I was the second seeding race. The line had a little bit of port bias so I elected to start at the middle port end of the line. I was called over only by a nose but back I had to go and immediately set off to the opposite side of the course to the fleet. Luck was on my side and I came into the windward mark in about fourth or fifth place but there were a few contacts at the mark and I was able to sail around the boats into second place. The rest of the race was chasing the leader Derek who I just managed to pip on the finish line.
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The rest of the morning went well with a first and a second. However after lunch things took a turn for the worse. However hard I tried to avoid trouble, it found me. Boats would tack right in front of me giving no opportunity to avoid them. On one start a group of boats formed a V shape and I had no option but to sail into them and stop. So in three races I scored a 7, 7, 6, so the pressure was on. I won the next race and thought I had to win the last race to beat John Brierley whose worst result was a 3rd. I was first to the windward mark in the last race but the chasing pack were close. Peter Baldwin managed to get a nose in front on the second beat timing the shifts perfectly and I ended up second in the race. So we had to wait for the scores to be calculated.
John B and I were level on points but my four 1st against his one 1st delivered the win. Had I won the last race I would have won outright but I am not one for if only's. The result is the result.
What have I learnt about the DF65
This is a great boat to sail to develop your levels of concentration. You cannot look away for a moment wwithout slowing and being exactly on the start line is so important to get a nose in front of your opponents as all these boats all go at the same speed.
There is no put the bow down for speed as it wont go any faster but it is important to keep the boat moving fast and that means do not pinch. As soon as you head up slightly the boat slows and you are quickly head to wind and stopped if you do not take corrective action. I seemed to set my boat up with more twist and try to drive harder which meant I did not point as well but kept the speed which likely meant better VMG. There are many good tuning pages/youtube videos available so I will not bore you with tuning tips as I have only sailed these boats in light weather. Tuning tips will come later when I have developed an understanding of the boat.
One thing I can say is the work done over the winter, the match racing with Craig and 3 boat racing with Craig and Dave Lindsay has made a difference to my sharpness.
Tomorrow is the turn of the DF95 and a whole new learning curve. Good wind is forecast and I have never sailed with a B rig but I have revised Craig's tuning tips on my web site.
And now to dinner.
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