So 21 of us converged on Chipstead SC this morning to enjoy a great days sailing, after a somewhat gloomy start the sun came out and the lake looked great, however despite much whistling, coaxing and all sorts of other weird dances it seems that someone forgot to put 50p in the wind meter last night and there was none.

Despite this all 21 of us lined up at the start of the first race and off we went, Tim Long being the luckiest of the bunch and he took the first bullet of the day followed by Ken Binks and a very excited, and rightly proud, Glen Meekcoms. Ken then went on to take the bullet in race 2 before having a servo failure and using both his discards in races 3 and 4.

Race three saw John Tush take the top spot for his only first place finish of the event, surely he hadn’t been defeated by Mike & Ann Weston’s hospitality the previous night….had he? JT was pushed hard in the race by Buzz Coleman who was never off of the pace all day and he took the top spot in races 4 and 5.

Close racing despite the lack of (any) breeze. Photo – Sue Brown

With the breeze failing to show up still the races were sometimes pot luck and you could easily find yourself running to the windward mark before running to the gate and running back to the top mark again. The biggest victim of this “rogue” Zephyr of a breeze was Derek Priestley who didn’t score a bullet all day despite leading races often up to the last leg. His self educated lesson has been “It’s never where you think it is this bl#*%y wind”, indeed Derek it never was, however he was consistent in his placings.

Fishing for a DF65. Photo – Sue Brown

With a large fleet of boats often approaching marks as a large group it did make some of the later races quite interesting and the battles down the fleet were like watching match racing in super slo mo. Frustration eventually set in and after ten races it was decided to call it a day.

Mark rounding became….interesting to day the least! Photo – Sue Brown

Top of the pile was the very on form Ken Binks with a haul of 21 points from the ten races with 2 discards, Buzz, Derek and John took the next three spots and the top four were separated by a mere 6 points which is some good consistent sailing from them. Tim Long rounded out the top five but he was never a threat having spent most of the day wrestling with a pre inflated lifejacket!

Everyone had fun, Chipstead laid on a great event despite the un co-operative breeze. We are all off to Coalhouse Fort tomorrow for some more organised drifting with the DF95. Results sheet below for those that need to see it. I’m sure Sue Brown will have some photos early next week.

To the bar Batman!!

So the DF65 V6 was given it’s UK debut at the RYA Dinghy Show over the last weekend and there was a huge amount of interest in the V6. Many questions were asked, many answers were given and all those who helped out on the stand went away feeling that they had done a great job of making people more aware of the DF Racing Classes.

So the V6 is now available from all good retailers some of whom will be offering the new A+ rig kits and sails for the DF65 class. The A+ rig will be allowable as a legal rig for the TT Series from 20th May 2017 which is the Gosport round. For club racing, please crack on!

With the new rig comes an updated set of rules to cover both the A+ rig and some backward compatible parts to update earlier boats.

So we have a new set of restricted class rules, a new A+ rig template, a new DF65 class logo and we have also added the V6 rigging instructions to the site too.

The relevant information can be found by hovering over the DF65 script on the menu above then selecting from the drop down menu.

So we are into day 2 of the Dinghy Show here at Ally Pally and what a time we are having. The stand has been super busy with lots of people interested in getting involved in radio sailing with the DF Racing classes. 

We’ve also been surprised by the number of people who already race one or other of the classes and are coming to say hi!

We’re here until 1700, come and get involved!

So the DF Racing UK crew are ready to rock and roll at the  2017 RYA Dinghy show. We are on stand C47 in the great hall, pop along and say hi if you’re at the show. Opening at 10am we’ll have a knowledgeable bunch of chaps and chappesses to answer your DF Racing questions.

So we’ve got a stand plus some helpers plus some snazzy T shirts, I think we are ready to go.

DF Racing will be available on stand C47 in the great hall on Saturday and Sunday, setup happens tomorrow along with some drinking, the stand looks awesome and we can’t wait to show it to you guys.

More photos tomorrow!

We have had word from the Eastbourne Club regarding the Travellers Series events over the weekend of the 1st & 2nd April. use the drop down menu to view the event NoR’s or click here to take a look.

Make it your goal to enter the Fleetwood TT event this weekend, the Notice of Race is published and the entry is open, check out the event page here.

We hope to have the Eastbourne event detail very soon as well as details and online entry for both the DF65 and DF95 Nationals.

Evening folks, just a quick note to let you know that the next rounds of the DF Racing TT series which take place at Chipstead and Coalhouse Fort over the weekend of the 11th & 12th March have opened for entries. The event page can be accessed here and includes NoR’s and entry details for both events.

We will get the Fleetwood event details online as soon as we have them.

So the first DFRUKNCA has taken place over the last few weeks and several topics have been voted on.

The results of the voting can be found on the AGM page.

Thanks to all those who took the time and voted.

We are now on 23 skippers for Saturday and 19 for Sunday, check out who’s coming here.

Looks like it could be a good weekend wind wise but there might be a little dampness so bring some foulies too!

The club will be open on Friday PM for some practice should you need any….

We will also have a preview of the DF Racing UK Dinghy Show stand which we reckon looks great.

Entries are still open for both days, send them through and we’ll add you to the list.

See you there!