DF65 Nationals at Lincoln 2025

 Where do I start with such a perfect weekend of sailing.  The only thing that was missing was Mediterranean temperatures.

The organisation was impeccable. From the time I arrived in my camper on Friday, parking pitches were organised as close to the race centre as possible.  The race team were on site to greet us, a course was laid out to practice on, banks were neatly trimmed, there was easy access to all sides of the race course and free tea and coffee available all weekend.  What more could we ask for.

Our thanks must go to the organisers   Judith and Sharon on the heat board, Colin the scorer, Mary Ann and Mike on finishing and other jobs, and Tim Hand the ARO (in the boat) and of course Jen Hand who brings everything together at the club.  Mick Chamberlain was in his ambassadorial role and sadly did not commit to making bacon sandwiches for breakfast this year.  The team’s tireless efforts meant we experienced a faultless weekend of racing topped by a superb performance of our race officer Wayne Stobbs, who kept the two heats sailing at a pace acceptable to all.  The Lincoln team should be proud of how they have developed their club and prepared for the weekend.

The conditions could not have been better.  The club is sited on a trial, squarish gravel pit who sides face roughly North, East, South and west.   On the Saturday the wind conveniently blew down the East bank and on Sunday shifted to the South bank so the course could be its maximum length and rounding marks would not be an eyesight test. Conditions varied through all the ranges of the DF65 rigs from A+ to C as the wind varied from light to 20+ MPH gusts.

The DF 65 is one of the smallest radio sailing boats, produced in China and shipped all over the world.  It is a marvellous design and has spawned many clubs and sparked interest in radio sailing across the globe.   Rumour has it, the numbers sold are in the tens of  thousands.  The boat comes in a box, is simple to rig and only a few hundred pounds to put on the water.  There are four rigs.  A light weather rig called the A+ for conditions up to 10mph, a slightly smaller A rig which has a very narrow wind band of a few miles an hour, then a smaller B rig for 12-18mph and a C rig for windier conditions. Interchanging the rigs can be done in seconds.

Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny and while I took breakfast in the van at 7am, I could watch Tim Hand, moving marks and prepping the course for the day.

Competitors were out early checking rigs, boat tuning, analysing wind shifts and testing the course.  At 9.30 ish, the call was made for boats to be removed from the water for a 9.45 briefing by our race officer.  The event was great practice for Wayne Stobbs, who later this year will be running the DF95 Globals (world championships) in South Africa on a lake a couple of hours from Cape Town.

Racing started promptly at 10am.  There were 31 boats entered so racing was run under the MYA Heat management system.  The fleet is split into two and sorted by the current ranking of competitors so there is a mixed set of abilities in each of the two seeding races.  The top six from each seeding race go into the heat A and the rest in heat B.  Heat B races first and the top six are promoted into heat A.  Heat A then race and the bottom six are demoted into heat B and racing continues like that until the end of the championships.  This system allows up to 80 boats to race as one fleet.

The seeding and subsequent 3 races were sailed using the biggest A+ rigs.  Nigel Barrow and John Tushingham won their respective seeding races and after 4 races with one discard at lunch Nigel had a lead over John with Peter Baldwin, David Burke and Simon Clarke making up the top 5.  However, that was to change as the wind built over lunch and the fleet changed down to B rigs.

A dominant start from John in the seeding race

With the increased wind, John stamped his dominance on the fleet and won all 5 races in the afternoon.  His experience was telling and reflected the fact he has his name on the trophy whenever he entered the event.  He is also the key designer behind the boat which must help.  Nigel had a hiccup after lunch with a 10th, and he and Peter put together a string of top 5 results to be separated by 6 points at the end of the day.  Dave Burke was 4th and Derek Priestley climbed up to 5th place.

On Saturday night we all went to the Railway Inn for dinner of excellent pies containing either chicken, steak or veggie with crispy chips and peas.  Quality food, hot and tasty.  Two competitors shared their birthdays, Nigel Barrow and Paul Plested so they were each given cake and card and all sang happy birthday.

Sunday dawned bright and windy, conveniently down the south bank of the lake and there was much discussion over whether to use B, or the smallest C rig and after the briefing from Wayne, most elected to use their C rigs.

Launching into a windy day. 572 is a B rig. 438 is a c rig

John continued his dominant form although in one epic race he was beaten into second place by his wife Liz.  Barrow might have challenged for the lead if he learnt how to tack in a chop. He demonstrated good speed upwind but lost ground with several failed tacks in each race.  Ah well there is always next year.

After 7 races on Sunday, we had completed 16 races overall which brings in a 3rd discard and after a fleet vote, we decided to leave for home early and forego the last race.

When the scores were added up, John’s lead over Nigel was 18 points who 9 points ahead of Peter Baldwin.  Simon Clark was 32 points behind Peter and Dave Burke 7 points adrift of Simon to make up the top 5.

The winner and his better half, Liz

At the prize giving, our PRO who had worked with a fluey cold all weekend, thanked the club and organisers who delivered an exceptional weekend.

The next event at Lincoln is the IOM Nationals which if the wind delivers will be a stellar event.