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A swirling and gusty North-West to South-West wind of about 20 knots was what the DF95 skippers had to battle with at Puddleduck today. The first couple of races saw a mixture of A-rigs and B-rigs, and in these races honours went to the A-rigged boats which prompted many of the skippers to up-suit to their larger rig. This may well have been a mistake as the wind did build steadily over the morning and most skippers battled with being over-powered for the last races.
Course setting is always tricky at Puddleduck in a Westerly. Todays figure-8 course is often the best that you can do but unfortunately it did leave us without much good upwind work. Today was all about keeping your boat moving fast, avoiding nose-dives and round-ups and avoiding other boats too. It was well worth giving other boats a wide birth today and those skippers who kept their noses out of trouble dominated the scoreboard.
All up it was a bit of a war of attrition. We were down to 9 of the original 17 starters by the time that we started the last race. The lake was probably at its lowest level that I have seen for several years which may have contributed to a number of skippers running aground. Both the rescue dinghy and prodding pole had a good work out too as raft-ups and buoy snares were common. Looking down the score sheet only seven of the 17 skippers managed to finish all races!
Now I did do a rough mental job at working out the scores at coffee as I had left my computer at home. I did say ‘rough’ and I did make mistakes – sorry. In fact I didn’t compute Phil Turnbull’s score at all. Quiet achiever Phil. He silently snuck in for third place today and was one of the skippers to finish all races. Phil Jackman took out second place but ahead by just one point was John Penman with scorecard rich in podium appearances. Sorry about the mistakes there, especially to you John. Please imagine us all giving you a most thunderous round of applause! Congratulations to you and the ‘Phils’!
Looking down the scorecard I also notice that there were plenty of tied results decided only by count back. I aways think that this shows how important every position is in every race. Even if you are coming last it is worth fighting for second last as it might be the one point that you need for overall positions.
Next week will be our last at Puddleduck for the year. It will be a bring whatever boat you wish day. Yes there is still likely to be racing – we can’t resist it! And it will be a stay for lunch (if you wish) day too. Gadget tried the pizza today and gave it a very strong review – really nice crust and tasty toppings. You would have thought that if it was all that good then he wouldn’t have allowed one of the ducks to help himself – but that is exactly what happened !
Shorty
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Hi Shorty, great write up again.
That’s a lot of tied results. I don’t think I’ve seen that many before. I like your suggestion of fighting for second last. That will come in handy in the future 😊
Congratulations to the podium placings today. They were well deserved in the tough conditions.
It was great to see Don and Sheep back sailing after such a long time.
Oh, yes, thanks to Andrew for helping out with the scoring after he had gear problems with his boat.
Overall, a tough but enjoyable day.
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Another written masterpiece by Shorty, you captured the day perfectly.
unfortunately Pete Germein misplaced his transmitter in R5 after his boat was beached on the opposite side of the pond. It is a Flysky with dark blue lanyard with a sticker on the back of it numbering his fleet. Pete did return to PDV, with no joy in finding it outside and checked with staff as well.
can everyone please check their gear boxes to ensure it hasn’t been taken in error. Pete is flying out to WA late Friday. If found please contact Peter on M 0407 961 196 or myself on M0418 123 644
thanks Bodge
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