So Day four of the DF95GC and at last we had some decent breeze which didn’t change direction or drop out all day. This gave us a great opportunity to get some proper racing in and rack up some points on the board.

B rigs all day which meant fast and fun racing for most. Winners and losers for the day were Mark Dicks who gained ten spots on the board by sailing some really consistent races. Loser of the day was Snackers who lost ten places on the board and even managed a DFL in C fleet. He drank some Tequila and felt much better about the job.

Tush still leads the racing with team GBR showing well in the top ten with Derek, Mark and Peter Baldwin all sailing really well.

Day five today and it looks like a breezy day, maybe we’ll see C rigs out on the water. It’s a long week of racing that’s for sure!

Sooooo we are at the end of day three and we are up to race 11B which is slow but steady progress.

Yesterday ended early due to a lack of breeze which meant it was early to the bar which caused some of team GBR a bit of an issue. As Ron manager had been repairing boats all day the good people were repaying his kindness with beer. This was fine until he hit the wall during last nights darts competition. Bless him!

The racing started this morning and the conditions looked challenging but manageable for the race team and the competitors.

There was a good bobble on the water which resembled putting your boat in a washing machine and tested your light wind tacking skills as well as your ability to overstand the weather mark just enough to allow for the bobble but not so much that you had skippers trying to squeeze in on port.

The racing hit its rhythm and we racked up a couple of rounds before the course needed a rethink. Once sorted we carried on and got through another couple before the wind “crapped out” on us at around 1430 during race 11B.

AP flag up and we had an hour of useful skipper led discussion about how to get an ICA off the ground and running. AP flag down, plug pulled on the day as the wind had died to absolutely nothing at all.

Team GBR took a walk across to the Bass Pro ship and had a shooting gallery competition where we found out Wayne is really quite a good shot. Good to know if ever we need anyone knocking off.

There should be more wind tomorrow but there certainly won’t be any less!

Much like the last round of our UK TT series at Eastbourne it seems that someone forgot to put the preorder in for any breeze. After the race briefing we completed just two full races today in some really tough conditions for both the race team and the skippers.

Team GBR are looking healthy enough with four skippers in the top ten.

Results posted below. More breeze promised for tomorrow.

So, along flight plus three hours driving up to Dallas and the event hotel in a proper Secret Service Chevy Suburban with Snackers at the helm and we’d all earned a beer or two, maybe even three.

Saturday morning saw skippers getting sails measured in, building and tweaking their charter boats and generally getting prepped.

There was some sailing too however it wasn’t really much about tuning, more survival. Whilst the wind was C rig, the waves were around 3 feet high as the day went on and you needed a D rig to get the boat through the tacks. Some people had forgotten to bring D rigs so they were hastily purchased and built which almost guarantees we won’t need them again this week!

The opening ceremony was a fun affair which brought the twelve competing nations skippers together for a drink or two and a couple of great speeches from Chuck and AMYA president Ray Seta along with a couple of words from Tushy.

So racing starts today, will there be any wind, will there be residual swell from yesterday, who knows, but it will be a good days racing that’s for sure.

So we are almost wheels up on our trip out to Dallas for the DF95 Global event which starts later this week. We have an advance party on their way out tomorrow to throw Union Jack towels at the sunloungers around the hotel pool and check out the local eateries. Most are travelling either Thursday or Friday and we should have a full team on site by close of play on Friday ready for some practice on Saturday and Sunday.

Whilst we are away there will be a delay in registrations being processed as Wayne is taking an extended “vacation” and will be back in the saddle on the 20th November dealing with registrations.

Good luck to all those taking part, hopefully we can bring some trophies home……..

As promised Dave Pickett has edited and uploaded a number of photos onto his Flickr site, please clicky here to take a look. Thanks Dave!

Lots of great banter over a windless (ish) weekend sat round a pond in Eastbourne. Full weekend roundup is available on the Results page.

Driving down to Eastbourne yesterday was difficult for most of the travellers, some set off early and had short delays, others set off later and had more significant travel trauma but Friday night is usually a fun fleet night out and the Tomato & Cheese Italian provided a good deal of amusement.

This morning was a sloooow start, the 0945 briefing went well with some added pond history thrown in for good measure but even with the extended history lesson we still couldn’t muster enough wind to complete the three seeding races before pretty much midday. Much sitting around, much laying and re-laying of the course only to find that the wind had moved around once more or completely gone.  The tea trolley did good trade whilst waiting for the breeze which finally appeared just before lunch.

Seeding race victors were Nigel Brown, John Tush and Tim Long. Tony Marshall took race two, Peter Baldwin race three, Tushy took 4 and Buzz triumphed in the final race of the day…race 5.

A super tough day for all involved, the race team had a horrible job and did a superb job to get the five races in with the three fleets. Jez was a whiz in the dinghy and the shore team did a sterling job too. Tea trolley and catering team did equally well keeping us fed and hydrated.

Nigel was victorious on the day, five points clear of Derek and Tim, tied on 15. Tushy could only muster a 4th place finish on 16 points with Ken Binks and Peter Baldwin in fifth and sixth spots.

Well done to all 36 skippers that took part, travelling far and wide to enjoy yet another nice day by a pond.

More tomorrow and the wind is forecast to be just as light…or lighter.

Results below.

We now have nearly all the dates available for the 2019 DF Racing UK TT Series, click here to take a look at where and when.

Birkenhead delivered its usual mix of conditions with some breeze blowing in some directions at some times. Not often in one direction for all of one race but still it wasn’t raining.

Sixteen races, a mix of winners but the usual suspects were towards the pointy end of the fleet. Tushy won the day, local skipper John Brierley took second with Dave Darwell in third.

No disasters apart from Tim’s winch packing up before the start and then sinking quite a bit in the last three races. It’ll be the last time he treats his boat to a new rudder servo before an event!

Thanks to all at Birkenhead, lots of well organised racing with plenty of tea….

Upside down Results below.