Tag: Datchet Flyer

D-Zero Winter Series Round 1 and 2 roundup

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On December 14, 2018

In Events, News, Open Meetings

Nigel Austin and Andrew Spencer in close proximity. Photo  Copyright Tim Olin/Sailracer

With 2 rounds of the Winter Series already completed it seems the year is drawing to a close at breakneck speed. So a short roundup of both events and some results seem to be in order.

3 D-Zeros travelled to Draycote in November for the Dash, class poster boy Tom Southwell, ever present Nigel Austin and class newcomer Andrew Spencer. The weekend promised an easterly wind which is never a good direction for Draycote Water. this meant it was variable in both strength and direction. Tom had a superb 5th in race 4 on the Saturday which put some distance between himself and the rest. he duly held it together on Sunday in slightly stronger conditions to take class honours and record 38th overall. Andrew came home 77th overall just pipping Nigel in 82nd out of the 103 boats that took to the water over the weekend.

Tom Southweell on his way to Class honours. Photo  Copyright Tim Olin/Sailracer

Moving on to the Datchet Flyer. With the wind gods promising a good blow it was with some trepidation that the sailors rigged on the Saturday morning. For this event 5 D-Zeros came to play with Seb Prowse and James Gerwat joining the 3 who had contested round 1. The forecast was definitely correct and even said to be on the conservative side.

Tom enjoying the breeze at the Flyer. Photo  Copyright Tim Olin/Sailracer

With class stalwart Nigel reporting the conditionals as ‘brutal’ the D-Zeros stuck t out despite the conditions and had fun despite a couple of people being ejected during the huge squalls. Unfortunately for Seb his day was cut short when he was ejected out the boat in a squall which caused some minor damage to his mast.

Sunday dawned and the conditions had moderated somewhat. Seb and James decided to call it a weekend after their adventures the previous day leaving Tom, Nigel and Andrew to battle it out for class honours. tom duly prevailed again posting a 15th in the double points pursuit race to take class honours and 31st overall with Andrew sneaking  ahead of Nigel in the pursuit with them taking 40th and 41st overall with Andrew being a single point ahead of Nigel.

It never looks at windy in a photo… Photo  Copyright Tim Olin/Sailracer

So overall Tom is leading the series with 2 firsts, Andrew second with 2 seconds, Nigel 3rd with 2 thirds followed by James and Seb.

In the Selden Sailjuice.com Winter Series Tom Southwell is flying the class flag in 18th overall after 2 round. More details and full results for this series can be found by clicking here.

From here we move on to the Brass Monkey up at Yorkshire Dales on the 27th December where entry is currently full but they have a waiting list if you are wanting to go. This is followed by the Grafham Grand Prix on the 30th December where we are hoping for a decent turnout given the large home fleet that is there.

More information on the D-Zero Winter Series can be found by clicking here.

D-Zero Winter Series 2018/2019

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On October 22, 2018

In Events, News, Open Meetings

Photo Copyright Tim Olin

People have asked if we will be running the D-Zero Winter Series again this year. The answer is YES. The overall winner of the series gets to carry ‘W’ on their sail to denote that they are the Winter series champion (if they wish). The series this year will encompass all the events on the Selden SailJuice.com Winter Series along with the Steve Nicholson Trophy at Northampton SC.

The series will consist of a total of 8 events with your 4 best scores to count.

Entry for the Selden SailJuice events can be done online by clicking here.

Entry for the Steve Nicholson Memorial Trophy will be available by clicking here (when they open it).

The full list of events:

17th/18th November 2018 – Draycote Dash, Draycote Water SC
8th/9th December 2018 – Datchet Flyer, Datchet Water SC
27th December 2018 – Brass Monkey, Yorkshire Dales SC
30th December 2018 – Grafham grand Prix, Grafham Water SC
12th January 2019 – The Bloody Mary, Queen Mary SC
26th January 2019 – Steve Nicholson Memorial Trophy, Northampton SC
2nd/3rd February 2019 – Tiger Trophy, Rutland Water SC
16th February 2019 – Oxford Blue, Oxford SC

D-Zero Winter Series 2016-2017 Round 2 update

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On December 14, 2016

In Events, Open Meetings


Ian Morgan leads after 2 round of the D-Zero Winter Series. Photo Copyright Tim Olin

After round 2 there is very little change at the top of the leaderboard with Ian Morgan taking class honours followed by Rob Lennox and Tom Southwell.

From here the series moves on to Yorkshire Dales for the Brass Monkey on the 27th December and then just under a week later to Grafham for the Grand Prix on the 2nd January 2017 where a large entry of D-Zeros is expected boosted by the big home fleet there.

Current D-Zero Winter Series standings can be found by clicking here.

D-Zero winter Series 2016/2017 Round 2 Preview

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On December 4, 2016

In Events, Open Meetings

Dash2015GBR156
Ian Morgan leads the series after the 2016 Fernhurst Books Draycote Dash

This coming weekend sees the resumption of the D-Zero Winter Series 2016/2017 after a short interlude for the re-scheduled Burghfield D-Zero Sprint Open.

At the time of writing we have 7 pre-entries which is down on last year but some of the regular protagonists have had house moves and holidays thrust upon them. Can Ian Morgan keep his winning ways going in 2016 and extend his lead or will his clubmate and arch rival Tom Southwell remember how to sail. Will Rob Lennox turn up and sail off into the distance or will the dark horse that is Nigel Austin in his newly christened ‘Southwell Beater’ spring a surprise on everyone?

To find out first hand and join in the fun this coming weekend and take part on the D-Zero winter series simply head on over the the event website by clicking here and getting your entry in.

Datchet Flyer 2015 – Reports and Results

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On December 15, 2015

In Events, News, Open Meetings

The weekend of the 12th/13th December saw Round 3 of the D-Zero Winter Series 2015/2016 and Round 2 of the GJW Direct Sailjuice Winter Series 2015/2016. As with last years event, and with the recent Draycote Dash, the wind forecast was looking ominous for the handicap races on the Saturday with a much lighter forecast for the Sunday some of the 13 strong fleet were having a distinct sense of deja vu. In the end 1 race was sailed on Saturday in survival conditions with a second handicap race re-scheduled for Sunday morning before the non-discardable double point pursuit race.

The weekend was another success for the class with all 13 entries making it out on the water. As, with the recent Draycoate Dash, the class was again 1 of only 2 classes to record 2 boats in the top 10 overall with David Summerville and Rob Lennox coming home 5th and 9th respectively. The rest of the fleet was then a little spread out through the overall results with Christian Smart completing the D-Zero podium. Full results for the Datchet Flyer can be found by clicking here. In the other categories running as part of the GJW Direct Sailjuice winter series Tom Southwell continues to lead the Harken Youth Category (click here for full standings) and Ian Morgan recorded the fastest speed of the weekend in the Musto Speed Challenge of 15.62kts (before deciding to sample the waters). We will update this report on the other categories once Sail Racer publish them as the D-Zero is well placed in the classes trophy as well.

David Summerville – GBR192 reports for the class:

Despite an inclement forecast for the Saturday, 13 hardy D-Zero sailors turned up for the Datchet Flyer on 12th and 13th December, only being surpassed in numbers by the Musto Skiff, who were re-running their previously cancelled Inlands. Total entry for the event was 102 boats.

Race 1
The fleet split was such that the D-Zeros were at the front of the slow fleet, with the fleet race course being an inverted P. Race 1 started in a solid 20 – 25 knots of breeze with gusts of 35 knots recorded later in the race. Ian Morgan rounded the weather mark with a decent lead, followed by Christian Smart, of Blaze fame, and David Summerville, with Rob Lennox of Lark and Laser fame in a good position to attack the leading bunch. Ian extended over the 2 reaching legs, and David passed Christian. At the bear away onto the run Ian capsized and floundered for a while, ultimately retiring. David passed him and extended his lead around the course, to finish 17th on handicap, mostly behind fast fleet trapeze boats, as the 2 fleets were combined using average lap time to compute corrected times under the Great Lakes handicap system. Christian finished 27th, Rob 29th and Gordon Stewart finished a creditable 31st. With the average wind speed now blowing over 30 knots all further racing was abandoned for the day, a wise decision by the race team.

Race 2
Sunday dawned wet with little wind across the reservoir. The race was eventually started in 5 knots of breeze. Rob Lennox made the best of the port biased start line and played the shifts well up the first beat. He had a clear lead at the weather mark, followed by David, Christian and Mike Corney. Christian and Mike passed David on the first downwind leg and after 2 laps the finishing order was Rob with a well earned 4th on handicap, Christian 7th, Mike 10th and David 11th.

Pursuit Race
With little change in the wind strength, and gusts of perhaps 7 knots at times, the Pursuit Race was started with the D-Zeros as late starters in the slow fleet. David, Rob and Christian emerged as close leaders at the first weather mark and started to hunt down some of the slower boats with Lasers and Radials taken out relatively early. As the race progressed David started to pull away from the pursuing D-Zeros, with Rob and Christian have a private battle all the way round the course. Later in the race David managed to pass an Enterprise, a Streaker, a Supernova and a Snipe, with only a single Enterprise left to take when the finishing signal was sounded. Final results for the Pursuit Race were David in 2nd, Rob in 8th and Christian in 9th, with Tom Southwell and Seb Prowse sailing well to finish 17th and 18th respectively.

Overall D-Zero results for the 2015 Datchet Flyer were as follows:-
David Summerville 5th
Rob Lennox 9th
Christian Smart 14th
Mike Corney 31st
Tom Southwell 35th
Gordon Stewart 41st
Graham Cooper 42nd
Nigel Austin 44th
Seb Prowse 45th
Rob Campbell 50th
Kevin Moll 51st
Alistair Hill 64th
Ian Morgan 80th

There are some photos from the lighter winds racing on Sunday here from Tim Olin: https://www.flickr.com/photos/48594582@N05/albums/72157660216138073/with/23537026770/

From here the class moves on the Brass Monkey at Yorkshire Dales SC on the 27th December followed by the Grafham Grand Prix on the 28th December. The Grafham Grand Prix is also doubling up as a re-scheduled Grafham D-Zero Open so be sure to hang around for prize giving.

D-Zero Datchet Flyer 2015 preview

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On December 7, 2015

In Events, News, Open Meetings

This coming weekend is Round 3 of the D-Zero Winter Series 2015/2016 and Round 2 of the GJW Direct Sailjuice Winter Series 2015/2016. With an impressive 12 D-Zeros already pre-entered it is looking like another competitive weekend is on the cards. Can David Summerville kick start his Winter Series title defence after sitting out the windy to windless Draycote Dash or will Ian Morgan extend his lead in the series?

Also competing is Queen Mary sailor Mike Corney who showed some good speed at the 2015 Inlands, can he build on that and challenge Ian and David? Can current Harken Youth Series leader Tom Southwell build on his lead too as well as mix it with the front of the fleet?

There are 2 sailors who will be sailing the D-Zero competitively for the first time too. Rob Lennox, who is an unknown quantity but seems to have shown some form in Lasers and RS400’s (according to internet research) and Christian Smart, current Solution Inland Champion and former Blaze sailor where he was always near the sharp end. Can either of these 2 trouble leaders and give them something to think about?

With the weekend forecast looking fresh to fruity (but luckily nowhere near last year at present) sailing smart rather than going for outright speed could be the way forward.

Current D-Zero Winter Series Result are here (NB Round 2 at Grafham was not sailed).

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