The DF TT at Keighley Radio Sailing Club

There is always such a friendly reception at Keighley with the Tushinghams and all the volunteers. Teas and coffees all weekend, lunches provided and evenings organised in the local pubs. There is plenty of accommodation around both for hotels and camping. I was lucky enough to be the only booking on my campsite which like the club has the most wonderful views of the landscape and moors.

Arriving on Saturday (DF65 day) there looked to be plenty of wind but what rig to use. Racing started at 10am but I arrived early to park the van. Instead of procrastinating what rig to use, I stuck the B rig on the boat and put it onthe water to see how it went. Perfect for the conditions so after a quick sail in the potential course area, I pulled the boat off the water and retreated to the van for a cup of tea as the urn had not heated up enough in the club.

Racing to be honest was a bit of a blur. We got through B, A, A+ and B again at the end of the day. The forecast was for a good steady breeze but the wind had other things on its mind and faded a while in the afternoon before filling in again making for tricky rig decisions.

I like the DF65 becasue things happen slowly and you have time to think. On the other hand the boats are so twitchy, you cannot take your eyes off the boat for a few moments without it veering off course so tracking wind shifts is extremely tricky.

The wind was shifting over twenty degrees but there was a pattern I had mapped reasonably well on the water and that enabled me either to escape the fleet on the first beat, or recover from bad starts. One thing I did notice, was I sailed with a slightly slacker leach than most and this enabled me to sail in a more bow down mode. Not so great for pointing but the boat was always tracking fast.

After all the races, I had no idea what the result was so it was a nice surprise to hear I had won.

Sunday with the DF95 was a similar pattern to Saturday with similar wind and use of multiple rigs during the day. I started well with 2 wins and would have won the third but for a missjudgement on the second run with a beating boat and forced to do a turn letting David Potter through. He seemed to be having a stellar day and often saw his boat at the front of the fleet, however he did have a few poor results which impacted the final score. My scoring trend was one of consistency again and took the win by a couple of points over David in second and Peter Baldwin in third.

In terms of setup I follow the Craig Richards tips on the website for the DF95 and am slowly creating my own settings for the DF 65. On the latter design, I am not sure how critical the setup is but I will learn with time.

So overall a great weekend with a smile on my face for the long drive home.

Results should be going up on the DF web site.