RC BOATING YACHTING Sailing at Puddleduck Sailing @ Puddleduck 2025 Puddleduck Vineyard Racing DF95 28th Jan 2025

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    • #18334

      Gusty westerly conditions prevailed at Puddleduck today. While some gusts were quite severe all skippers sailed the day with their A-rig. There were plenty of boat strandings, both on buoys, and on the shore, and I think that we might have just about set a new record for deployment of the rescue boat.

      Eighteen skippers too might also be a record for DF95 at Puddleduck. I do remember that soon after I joined there were only two or three sailing through the winter months so there has definitely been growth in the sport. The big turnout was helped by some guest skippers joining the fleet today. Nathan Arnold raced a boat with the same number as one of our regulars (#55) and it had a similar paint job too. It was easy to think that Sheep was on the water today. Clinton Thomas is on holiday in Tassie with his wife and he had the good sense to put his DF95 in his luggage. And Al Short brought his family along too – son Will and grandson Benny. It is really great to have some youth in our fleet! We hope that you all had a great day at Puddleduck. Sorry about the conditions. It isn’t always like this at the Vineyard.

      During the morning there were some quite serious gusts. One, in particular, brought a small tree limb to the dam and plenty of bark debris that was an extra factor to contend with. The big gust also dis-masted Geoff’s boat bringing an early finish to his day. Rather surprisingly I think that most other skippers finished the day unscathed. Considering the large number of boats and the squally conditions the number of collisions was also fairly low – so well sailed skippers!

      Peter Germaine took on PRO duties this morning but shared the duties with Bodge, the two forming a tag team to sail Bodge’s boat. Our thanks to you both.

      Phil Turnbull brought his red boat today – I don’t know if this is the faster one but it does look faster – and he finished third overall with back-to-back race wins in the middle of the program helping his cause. Lisa took second place overall with her trademark consistency she was nearly always close to the podium. And another win for Jammy today with lots of boat speed in the challenging conditions and the ability to win even when starting a long way behind the rest of the field. Congratulations Jammy, Lisa and Phil.

      After sailing many of the skippers stayed on for lunch at the café. A Puddleduck pie is always delicious and something to look forward to.

      Shorty

    • #18335

      Great write up today Shorty. Thanks for that 👍

      The day was very challenging.

      Here’s a couple of hat cam videos and a few more to come….

      Race 1

      Race 3

    • #18336

      A few more hat cam videos.

      Make sure to check out the mini tornado that went through at the 5 minute mark of video 4. That’s when the branches and tree debris blew into the dam!

      Race 4

      Race 6

      Race 8

       

    • #18340

      WOW ……………………………….just sayn

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