DF65 Eastern District Championship 1 – 28/06/2026

Round 1 of the Eastern District Championship was hosted by Coalhouse Fort Radio Yacht Club on 28th June 2026.

4 Skippers from Coalhouse were joined by a skipper from Chelmsford Model Boat Club. Skippers were treated by blue skies, occasional clouds passing through and a fresh South Westerly breeze ~12 knots gusting to ~25 knots. The breeze kept the temperature within a comfortable range.

4 Skippers opted for B rigs, while Toby used his A rig. A standard windward, spreader and downwind gate course was set, and remained unchanged throughout the day.  Despite the lower than ideal water level, Race 1 got underway shortly after 10am, but racing had to pause after this race as Ian managed to snag a crab line, which was attached to another crab line, which in turn was attached to our recently placed windward mark. With the lines removed and the mark reset, racing continued.

A quick pause to rehydrate was had after race 3. During races 5 & 6 John started emptying a lot of water out of his boat between each race. A quick check reviewed a slipped deck patch was the culprit, thankfully nothing worse.  Lunch was called after race 9. Another 5 races were completed before the final rehydration stop of the day after race 14. During race 14 another crab line was discovered, this time by John.  After race 15, the wind gusts increased further. Toby withdrew from the final 4 races as he didn’t have a B rig available. Glenn also changed down to a C rig during the last 2 races. Buzz suffered with some radio issues during the day leading to swapping out receivers regularly. Unfortunately one such incident led to a trip to the dark side during race 16.

The racing was close all day, with no clear leader before lunch, and only a few points between each place. Everyone took turns at finishing a race leading the fleet, and trailing the fleet. On the water discipline was exceptional, with only a couple of boat contacts and a handful of mark contacts throughout the whole event. Contacts were often called by the infringing boat with turns done promptly before the race team could call out.

Congratulations to Buzz [12] who won this round of the Championship. Also well done to Glenn [59] who took second place, and Ian [687] completing the top three.

Thank you to all the skippers for making this event a very easy one to run, and to Toby for making the trip down from Chelmsford. Thank you to the Coalhouse team who assisted with getting things organised and set up for today, in particular Glenn for manning the rescue boat and setting the racing marks; Vernon for observing and recording finishes; and Andy for making a special trip this morning to collect and deliver the race marks, dinghy and outboard.

Phillip Hadaway – PRO