DF95 Open at Rudyard Lake SC race report.

The forecast for the days racing indicated a westerly wind however at Rudyard this often translates into a northerly wind running pretty much down the lake and that’s how it turned out to be.

The Club had limited entry to a maximum of 20 boats and cancellations, compensated by reserve entries, resulted in a fleet of 19 skippers on the day from a number of clubs from both the Midlands and Northern Districts.

The briefing commenced at 9.45am following a very lively rain shower about 20 minutes before which settled down to serious drizzle by the time the first race started at 10am.

The OOD, Simon Cornes from the host club, had indicated that there would be a short break after race 1 to allow skippers to tweak and generally adjust their boats before we got into some serious racing. At this point the breeze was around 12 knots but gusting to over 20 and all skippers had chosen to use A rigs. In the following 40 minutes or so a further 3 races were completed with the wind gradually increasing in speed. A standard course of a windward mark taken to port followed by a reach to a wing mark, again taken to port followed by a run to a leeward gate and repeated for a second lap proved to be adequately challenging with most skippers starting on a starboard tack with a daring few going off on port and beating through the chop to meet the starboard tack lay line and hoping to judge it nicely to drop onto the windward mark – and some succeeded better than others!

The original intention was to have a short break at 11am but as the drizzle had pretty much stopped by then and the breeze was allowing fairly quick races – maybe 12-13 minutes – and no one objected, racing continued up to lunch at mid-day by which time 7 races had been completed.

There was a 45-minute lunch break during which most skippers who hadn’t already done so changed down into B rig, ready for the afternoons challenge. The afternoons racing proceeded on schedule and the wind speed gradually increased to the mid-teens but with significant gusts which were visible as bands moving across the water on a generally North North Easterly heading resulting in missed tacks for some and the waves building up with white caps visible frequently so that the racing began to become a real fight. Especially so for those who didn’t have a full bag of sails when C rigs became very fashionable, but who just got on with making the best of what they had in challenging conditions.

There were no significant breaks between races – a few begged for a few minutes to grab a swig of something before the next race and this was allowed but the racing generally progressed relentlessly with the occasional gear failure and the need to despatch the rescue boat to sort out entanglements but the event continued with excellent boat handling skills on display and very clean racing. It was noticeable that care was increasingly taken at the starts due to the chop to ensure that boats weren’t over the line ahead of the gun as jumped starts resulted in boats having to return to the pre-start side of the line via the ends.

All of a sudden, the OOD announced that it was 3.50pm and 19 races had been completed. Did the fleet fancy one more race, bearing in mind that the conditions were pretty sporty and putting demands on battery levels and with the wind showing no signs of abating? Everyone was game for one last hurrah and so it was and a very respectable 20 races for the day was completed.

The organisers were on the ball with race results and, after a respectable break for everyone to catch their breath and to put their boats away positions were announced in reverse order leaving the host club’s Rear Commodore, Jane Hill to announce the top three places.

1st Peter Baldwin – Birkenhead RS & PC

2nd John Brierley – Birkenhead RS & PC

3rd Paul Middleton – Fleetwood MY & PBC

A full set of race results is here: RLSC DF95 MYA Open Meeting 04-09-2026

At the Skippers briefing, seemingly a long time ago, the OOD had announced that a benefit of a limited entry was a lot of racing and indeed plenty was undertaken throughout the day which probably resulted in some tired skippers and equally tired boats.

The race team at Rudyard Lake Sailing Club thoroughly enjoyed hosting the event and all worked hard throughout the day. We would like to be known as a club where racing is the name of the game, whether it be with Open events such as this or just Club events where all levels of experience are welcome. But it is the Open event where the skill levels of skippers are put to the test and where most learning can be gained. For those who had not taken part in an Open before this was a real eye opener, but we hope that everyone enjoyed the experience, no matter what their level of experience.

Rudyard intends to run more events like this.

Race report by Simon Cornes.