RC BOATING YACHTING Sailing at Puddleduck Sailing @ Puddleduck 2022 Puddleduck Vineyard Racing 21/06/2022

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    • #11364

      We started on time with the light NW breezes forecast hardly enough to raise a ripple. That didn’t matter to the thirteen skippers who came out to join in the fun anyway. Due to the conditions it was decided to just sail a short course with the first windward mark being #2 buoy, #3 to starboard then rounding the fountain to the finish line. All except two skippers gave the fountain a wide berth with unsurprising results. More on that below.

      Great to see Predator #64 rejoining the Merry Men. Mike sailed with his usually consistency and good humour, taking some photographs @ the finish line for the record too.

      New man Phil W #17 is still finding his way around the course. Phil was without an A+ rig through HW supply issues and experienced rudder sticking problems early on too. A man of many talents, Phil launched his drone for the last race and has gifted us with some excellent photo’s and video to relive the day.

      David #81 also experienced mechanical issues, unfortunately missing the first race. Thereafter he demonstrated that his skill in boat handling and race knowledge is growing weekly.

      Don #99 was back with us again today too. The unflappable one had great consistency finishing strongly with only 2 races toward the back end of the fleet.

      Bad luck story of the day is Peter S #38. Peter launched his refurbished version 1 with much fanfare only to immediately experience rudder problems. His olfactory senses were however in perfect order as he smelt the new winch burning out shortly after. Thus sidelined Peter took up the PRO role and kept us honest for the rest of the morning. An impossible task I’ll grant you!

      John M #368 had a bit of a kangaroo day and thought he’d save some battery power by not switching on his boat for the first race. That didn’t end well, however his best result, a podium finish in race 6 was just fine.

      After languishing mid fleet for most of the morning Ron C #164 finally got the start he wanted and cleared out to taste victory in race six. The Icarex sails were well suited to the conditions with Ron, Don and the Admiral all benefitting from their light air performance characteristics.

      The Admiral #23 certainly used them to that effect by collecting five podiums for the morning which included two firsts in the DF65 class. Second overall for the day in the DF’s by one point from the winner.

      Bloody Geoff #80 was uncharacteristicly inconspicuous and stealthily consistent with two second and two third placings, never scoring below fifth all morning. Third overall for the DF’s he is indeed a changed man.

      Sheep #37 was another kangaroo candidate. After having boat issues early on he finally got it sorted coming home with a great second to Ron in race six. His fountin’ mountin’ effort was a bit disappointing though with the metal monster taking pity and releasing him way too soon.

      Phil #32 came out strong in the tricky conditions finding consecutive seconds in races two and three. The smiling assassin wasn’t done yet though as he gained another podium third in the second last race of the day giving him fourth overall in the DF’s.

      A measure of just how tricky sailing in the switching zephyr breezes was our Trout’s #11 results today. Opening his account with consecutive firsts and following that up with another three podiums our best sailor like the rest of the fleet still got caught out and bereft at times in his journey toward winning the DF65 class today.

      Without doubt our fastest today was NSS RG65 #08. Stuart wasn’t successful in claiming right of way with the fountain today  managing to mount it in classic fashion. This in no way diminished his excellent speed and boat handling in other races once the breeze picked up enough for the swing rig to work as designed.

      Big thank you’s all round today to Ron for scores, Mike for pics and publishing, Peter for PRO and Phil for drone shots of the final race.

      Mike informs me there are still some RCToysTasmania members who have not yet paid their subscription. This is essential to cover insurance and website fees for our group. If you are unsure about this please use the contact list on our website to get in touch with Mike.

      We have a date (tentative) for the fun mixed sail and Puddleduck lunch. Put August 16 in your calendars. I will report back with more information following discussions with PD management.

      Some pics from today

      A few more pics from today can be found here

      A couple of videos from today

      Race 8

      Race 9

       

    • #11386
      Fab

        Some pics from the drone

         

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