So day two took on a familiar pattern as John Tushingham continued his day one form to take a convincing second DF65 National Championship title with 24 points. Trevor Binks took a distant second with 47 from Derek Priestley on 52 and Ken Binks on 55.

It sounds like the racing was very close throughout the field with some great battles at the top, and bottom of the fleets, the wind made matters easier with competitors in C rig by the end of the day as the wind strength increased.

Full scores are available on the Nationals website.

With day two now underway the day 1 results are available and it seems that there is a familiar name at the top of the sheet in the form of a certain John Tushingham. He has taken 8 points from 9 races and with the nearest challenger being Trevor Binks on 25 points it seems that JT is going to have to have really bad day at the office if he is not to collect the winners trophy for a second time.

That said the breeze is due to fill quite nicely to provide a really nice days sailing which could give some of the others renewed purpose on the racecourse.

For full day one results check out the Nationals website.

With 30 entries confirmed the seeding races have been drawn  for this weekend’s DF65 Nationals.

For details of who is racing in which heat please check out the link here

I’m sure if you wanted to enter the organisers might just let you….but be quick!

Are you still umming and ahhing about entering this years DF65 Nationals at Coalhouse Fort. There isn’t much time left to get your entry in and the deadline is on Monday 6th July which gives you just a few days to make your mind up.

I know there will be those of you reading this post who are thinking that you’d love to enter but you’re worried about not being competitive in a fleet racing situation, not having enough experience to get involved at this level.  Please, if you are in this situation get yourself entered, you will absolutely love it.

We all had to start racing somewhere and even John Tushingham had to do his first nationals once upon a time.  Getting started at a nationals gives you a great intro into the class racing and those involved in it. They are a friendly bunch who will give any newcomer a great deal of help even at an event like this.

If you are in any doubt, get your entry in!!

Check out the Nationals page for more details.

Last weekend saw lots of DF65 racing at both Fleetwood and Lincoln with nearly 40 skippers taking part over the weekend. There are reports on the Results page but here’s a photobomb from your author who raced for the first time in nearly 4 months!

The ROFWAC boys on tour, Paul Rudkin (L), John Goodyear (Middle) and a portly chap who’s enjoying the racing(R)! Photo – Mrs Goodyear.

Don’t forget folks that there are two days worth of DF65 racing happening this coming weekend.

Saturday sees the Fleetwood club hosting an open meeting which will looks like being well supported by the local fleet which is growing in strength, there will be some visitors too from Yorkshire and North Wales, so if you are in the area make sure that your boat is in the back of the car.

Pre entry is preferred with name, club and sail number to ken.crabtree@btinternet.com

Then Sunday sees the Lincoln club holding a DF65 race meeting down on the Farm.  It will be part of their summer series and again will be well supported by the local fleet as well as having visitors from Yorkshire and North Wales. The club is easy to get to and is just off the main Lincoln ring road, has ample lakeside parking and great control areas.  Another venue that is well worth a visit if you’ve got a spare day.

Pre entry not essential but nice if you could name, sail number and club to v113simo@outlook.com

Remember that even if you haven’t raced your DF65 before you’ll be assured of a warm welcome at both of these events.

Those amongst you with an eye for detail will no doubt realised that there appears to be a clash of events on June 20th with Dragonforce racing at both Fleetwood and Lincoln. Do not panic, there is not. The Fleetwood event will take place on the Saturday whilst the Lincoln event will take place on the Sunday.

So, if you fancy a day by the sea at a great venue followed by an inland day at another great venue then you can indeed do both, just remember that it’s Fleetwood on Saturday and Lincoln on Sunday!!

More details to follow shortly on the events page.

This weekend sees a new event for the Bristol based club who are hosting a joint RG / DF race day, there is still time to enter with details on our Events page. Remember that supporting clubs that run race days for us keeps the wheel turning and encourages them to invite us back again!!

We are now well into 2015 and since I took over as registrar I have registered over 150 DF65’s. As some of you will be aware my life is currently a little bit hectic and as such I am conducting registrations and issuing sail numbers in batches of ten.

This means that if you are the first of a new batch you may experience a delay of perhaps a week or so before a sail number pings into your inbox.  If however you are number 10 of a batch you’ll experience some lightening quick sail number issuing!

Remember some good events this weekend at Keighley and Watermead.

Well here we are, there is a week to go until the DF65 Northern Championships which takes place on the 25th – 26th April at Weecher. A keen entry so far with more to come will make this event good fun, but the famous Yorkshire hospitality will make it great fun so get your entry in! Details on the events page.

there is also a joint DF / RG event being held at Watermead on the 25th which is the third round of this joint series, details are on the RG website for this one.

Then on the 10th May there is the Southwestern District DF/RG Event which is being held at the Woodspring club at Portishead nr Bristol. It’s a new venture for the club and deserves your support so please get your entry in early. Details are on the poster below and on our events page.

And finally we have added a Nationals 2015 page to the site, in reality it is a link to the dedicated Nationals website that the host club, Coalhouse Fort have developed. It is a great site with all the details you’ll require to enter the event, find some accommodation and keep up to speed with the preparations for the event.

Even if you haven’t yet raced your DF65 yet please do not think that you are not going to be good enough to compete. At any and all of the above events there will be plenty of friendly help and practical advice available from both newer and more experienced skippers, you may well find your boat being looked at by a National Champion and some useful advice being imparted to help you along. If you are umming and ahhing about entering an event then take our advice….just do it, you’ll have a great day out at the very least!