Hello Folks and a Happy New Year to you all. You’ll perhaps remember that we’ve got the DF Racing UK AGM going on at the moment. You had a mail from Wayne last week in which Chairman Jim suggested you should get voting.

So I’m here this week to tell you the same and throw some stats at you. So, the voting email went out to 1700 people, of those 1700 more the 950 have opened the email and from there we’ve had more than 120 people voting.

It would be great to have more people voting in the AGM, it’s your association so please crack on, open the email, click the link and get voting.

The last date for voting is in six days on the 10th February, so time is running out for you to have your say.

In other news….well, there isn’t really any at the moment. Poole RYC and Fleetwood MYPBC are busy preparing for the DF65 and DF95 National Championships in September. We are still unable to begin preparing any other sailing dates yet as the UK is still locked down and there seems to be little or no information about the way out of the lockdown. As soon as we are able to we’ll get on and arrange some events but they are likely to be low key affairs which offer something local rather than anything too grand.

We’ll get there folks, back to the pondside for some sailing, followed by a pub serving cold beers and good food for a debrief…..we’ll get there!

Crikey it’s like a London Bus Fest. Nothing and then lots. There has been some forwards motion with the International Class Association for the two DF Racing classes.

Check out the detail here – clicky clicky

So we are at that time of year once again where we need to inform you all of our upcoming DF Racing UK AGM. There is nothing ground breaking this year. As you’ll all be well aware the pandemic halted all our events other than local club sailing.

Full details of the AGM are available here – clicky clicky!

Afternoon folks, I hope this post finds you safe and well. Lockdown rules around the UK are somewhat different from country to country, no sailing in England currently but here in Wales we had a club outing yesterday, the first in more than a month. It felt good to get back on the water.

Lots of exciting vaccine news over the last few weeks with the potential to begin the huge task of getting us all stabbed in the arm in the not too distant future.

So, what does this mean for our 2021 calendar? In truth it doesn’t mean a lot for probably the first half of the new season. Planning is well underway for the two National Championships, the 95’s will remain at Fleetwood, the 65 venue may change and as soon as we have more to tell you we will let you know the details.

As for the TT series it’s a tough one. It would be tough to arrange a whole raft of events only to have to cancel them as we did this season. So we have taken the stance that we’ll see what the lay of the land is as the vaccine is hopefully rolled out and once we are confident that being stabbed in the arm is the answer to the problem then we’ll get on and put a race calendar together. I think you should expect that it’ll be a May / June onward affair which might make for a busy second half to the season, but hey, that’s no bad thing having being sat at home for the thick end of a year.

Many events have passed this year without taking place, I for one have stood next to the fridge looking at the calendar on the wall thinking I should be racing this weekend but the van hasn’t been packed, the hotels have been cancelled and boats have remained in park ferme. Luckily the calendar is near the fridge and I’ve been able to indulge in a sad snack whilst contemplating what might have been. I’m sure I’m not alone.

One such event was the DF65 Globals which was scheduled for the beginning of September. Obviously it was cancelled and we’ve heard from the organisers that the new event will not take place in 2021 but it has been scheduled for May 2022 which hopefully gives the world chance to get back to some sort of normality. It’s a while off yet but it’s worth an entry into a phone to remind you.

There is no Dinghy Show in 2021 either, the new venue of Farnborough was something to look forward to however after some consultation with the RYA and exhibitors it was decided to postpone until 2022. There is a virtual show but we’re not sure of the value to us so we’ll probably give it a miss and plan for 2022.

Not much other news to report currently but we hope that you’re all safe and well.

And to finish, here’s a picture from Sue Brown to cheer you all up.

So, with an air of inevitability we have had some news from Fleetwood letting us know that Not the 95 Nationals has, unfortunately, been cancelled.

With tighter restrictions coming into force this week it was always going to be a stretch to get the event run even though the MYA / RYA guidance allowed the event to go ahead.

A very tough decision for Derek & the club to have to make but one that is probably sensible and correct.

For a full statement on the cancellation please head to the event page.

It looks very much like that will be that for the foreseeable future, we’ll keep you up to date with things as they develop.

We are currently awaiting some news on this event from the Fleetwood club who are also waiting on guidance from the MYA and RYA. Currently the event is due to run as scheduled. As soon as we have more info we will post it up here and if you’ve signed up to the event then you should probably expect an email from the club with an update.

Morning Folks, I’ve had the latest up to date entry list from the chaps up at Fleetwood and we have reached our 28 skipper limit. You can check out the entry list here

However there is a note from Bob @ Fleetwood as follows –

“We are sorry to inform you, that the entry list for the 95 event is now fully subscribed, however still please enter and your name will be taken, and put on the waiting list, and if any positions become available you will be notified in due course.

Please do not pay any monies at this time, until if and when you are updated.

We will endeavour to let you know as soon as possible if any positions become free, so as to help with you making your arrangements.”

So there we have it, Not the 95 Nationals, fully booked.

Morning folks, it’s been a while since we’ve had much to tell you and it looks like the last thing we wrote about was the cancellation of the DF65 Nationals back in May. It’s now August and after a lot of chat between the DF Racing UK committee we have decided to cancel the rest of the 2020 TT season.

Whilst the situation has improved since we last posted there is still an awful lot of uncertainty about what the next few months hold in terms of the pandemic and how it evolves. For us to hold the remaining events puts a certain amount of pressure upon skippers to attend and perhaps puts people outside their comfort zones and, to be frank, that’s not what we’re about.

So the remaining two events in September and October at Fleetwood and Birkenhead have been cancelled so that’s the DF95 Nationals and the final TT event. A great shame, however there is some good news. Derek up at Fleetwood is determined to hold an event for DF95’s this year. With that in mind we have “Not the 95 Nationals” scheduled to take place on the same weekend of the 25th – 27th September. Obviously there is a possibility that the event may not go ahead but there is an good amount of confidence that we’ll get to the start line again this season with the DF95!

Please find the NoR by clicking here, filling in the form and submitting it. It’s really easy to do I promise…..

95’s @ Fleetwood 2019 – Photo – Sue Brown

So, we need to start looking towards 2021 and how that will work and after some discussion we have decided to try, where possible, to re run the 2020 calendar as it was. Obviously there will be one or two changes to make it work for the clubs but we are hopeful that we will not see another year as terrible as this again and we can go boating!

As well as the above there is now a good amount of socially distanced sailing going on at clubs all over the country.  Clubs are dealing with the reality of getting back to sailing on an individual basis and are following both local, National and MYA guidance as appropriate to their location.

Registrations have been strong throughout the last few months too, there has been a surge of dinghy clubs and yacht clubs around the UK taking up one or other of the DF Racing classes which is an encouraging direction not only for the DF Racing UK Class Association but also for Radio Sailing as a sport. Wayne will be along with a newsletter on the subject soon.

Following on from our last communication we have now had word from Coalhouse Fort RYC who have now taken the tough decision to cancel this year’s DF65 UK Nationals.

This should give everyone time to cancel travel plans and hotels. The club have offered to hold the 2021 Championship.

Full details on the club website, click here

Sounds very much like a British Rail announcement doesn’t it? Anyhow, short and sweet today, just to let you know that the DF Racing TT event at Keighley has been cancelled and the event at Eastbourne has been postponed. The guys at Eastbourne may try and put the event on in the later half of the year if there is enough time and space in the calendar.

The RG65 Nationals, also at Keighley have also been cancelled and will not be rescheduled for later in the year.

In line with current Government and MYA guidance we have no plans to restart racing anytime soon. Maybe we’ll get the DF65 Nationals at CHF but we haven’t had word from the club….fingers crossed.

So there we are, sorry there is nothing better to report but I hope you’re all safe and sound and staying alert, or at home, or at work or wherever you’re supposed to be….