So after a few pints and a bit of social on Saturday evening we all went to bed with the promise of some better weather and a bit of breeze on Sunday morning. At midnight it was still raining cats and dogs and I wasn’t sure we’d see anything else.

Sunday morning appeared and as forecast we had bright sunshine and some fine looking breeze to go with it. Back up to the moors and having avoided the most belligerent sheep I’ve ever met there were a good number of skippers at the pond, all ready for action with A rigs set.

Off we go! – Photo Sue Brown

Ken Binks was quick out of the blocks, posting three wins from the first four races with John Tush only managing a couple of second places, a fourth and a fifth in the first four. Nigel Brown, Tim Long and DF95 newbie and DRSC member Dave Kent were a little off the pace but the three of them were to battle for the final podium step for the rest of the day. Further down the field the battles were just as intense and as we know from previous events it doesn’t take too big a mistake to find boats whizzing past you leaving you with a lot of work to do to recover a decent finish.

Race 5 saw Tushy wake up and remember that he was racing and he promptly won the next two, took a third from race 7 and then took the next 5 races. Ken posted a bunch of second places and won the race JT didn’t. Nigel, Tim & Dave continued the titanic struggle to grab the third place with Dave taking two DNF’s which didn’t help his cause. Nigel and Tim traded places during the mid session and third could have gone either way.

Liz Tushingham and Wayne Stobbs were locked in their usual battle and John Smith and Jim LaRoche keeping the battle on its toes. Even the tail end of the fleet were locked in battles of their own throughout the day with DRSC skipper Neil Harvey and well travelled John Howard from Poole being kept honest by DRSC members Nick Whyte and David Brooke.

The downwind leg was a rapid affair! – Photo Sue Brown

Race thirteen was lucky for Tim who scored a win from Ken & Nigel with JT in fourth with normal service being resumed for 14 with JT in top spot from Ken and Nigel with Jim LaRoche from Coalhoue Fort scoring his best result of the day with fourth spot. Ken took 15 from JT, Tim and Nigel.

16 through 20 saw JT seal his win whilst Ken took a discard of a third, yes really he was that consistent all day, Dave scored a second with Tim fourth whilst Nigel had issues and ended eleventh.

Breeze on! – Photo Sue Brown

The battle for sixth was won by Liz by a reasonable margin from Wayne. Fifth went the way of Dave, who would have done better after a strong finish after another DNF in race 14. The monumental day long battle for third was taken by Nigel by just two points from Tim.

However even Nigel on 65 points was a country mile behind the two class acts of the day, JT and Ken, who scored 22 and 29 and really did show us all how it should be done.

Sundays top six

The wind was good all day, top end of A rig all day and perhaps a little beyond at times, the morning races and a couple of afternoon ones were sailed from the South bank before the course was reset and the remaining afternoon races were sailed from the North bank. The race team were very on point all day and worked tirelessly all weekend to ensure that the skippers got the best of the available conditions. Many thanks to the DRSC team, without you guys we wouldn’t be able to enjoy our sport to the same degree, we all hope that you’ll host us again in the future.

Results

Next on the calendar is the DF65 Nationals at Eastbourne in late September.

Sue Brown was, once again, was on hand with her camera on both days and got some great shots of the action which can be viewed by clicking here.

There is also a Dartmoor RSC facebook page which, if you are social media savvy, can be accessed by clicking here.