So, we are now a week and a couple of days out of the back of the epic event that was the DF95 Global Championship at Fleetwood MYPBC, and I think my head has just about recovered enough to write a short report.
It started on the 10th May really with a quick jaunt up to the NW of England and the historic town of Fleetwood. Arriving fashionably late I met up with Derek, Chuck and Brig who hurried me to a pub (there’s a theme here) and made me drink Gin and Tonic and then more people arrived and we went for some food.
Thursday was a busy day at the club with lots of setup going on and more competitors arriving from all corners of the globe via various means of transport. There was lots of activity on the water with boat tuning and messing about but by the time we got to the official club racing there were very few takers as the pub was, once again, calling. Plenty of us then descended on the popular Italian, Pacino’s, where we ate lovely food and drank lovely wine.
Friday was a pretty similar affair even down to the choice of restaurant, food and wine!
Saturday was a continuation of Friday with registration and measurement continuing to ensure everyone’s boat and rigs were compliant. There were a couple of issues which were sorted quickly and easily thanks to competitors compliance and the useful RC Yachts outlet that was based on site.
The evening was splendid, the wind dropped off nicely and after a brief opening of Timmy’s beer truck we were treated to the opening ceremony for the event. The club commodore gave a welcome speech as did MYA President Derek Priestley, we also had an introduction to PRO Peter Baldwin and judge Gordon Davies. This was followed by each country presenting the club with their National flag. This was followed by an International buffet, food from around the world, an amazing feat by each country to provide a speciality of the country for the rest of the world to try. There may have been some beer and wine, we may have retired to the pub…….
The next morning it was time for most of the fleet to get serious and start the racing. I started the day with a bacon sandwich, some coffee and some left over rum punch from Team Bermuda, and that set the tone for my week!
Seeding races were held, these were a little longer than the normal races to allow the cream to rise to the top should it have had a poor start. Predictably the races were won by good skippers, Craig Richards, John Tush, Mark Golison and David Potter.
Race two saw Potter take a second spot from DF95 designer Mark Dicks with Craig Richards in third spot, an all GBR podium. Race three saw USA take the top two spots with Golison and Sean Fidler with Tush third.
Tush and Craig were one two in race four with Swede Thomas Enwall taking the bottom step. The top two steps were reversed for race five with Thomas in third. He did better in race six and took the win from Peter Feldman with Craig in third.
Swede Michael Collberg took race seven from Tush with Craig posting another third spot. Craig bettered this in race eight with a bullet from Swede Magnus Bood with Golison in third spot. Feldman took race ten from Enwall with collberg on the bottom step.
Craig, Tush and Golison made the race ten podium, Feldman, Craig and Enwall were winners in eleven. Collberg, Tush and Feldman in twelve. Craig, Tush and Golison in thirteen.
Fourteen saw USA skipper Sean Fidler hit his stride to take the win from Aussie Chris Dance with Enwall in third spot.
Fifteen saw Craig Feldman and Tush on the podium. Sixteen saw Fidler at the top with Dance and Craig below him on the podium.
Seventeen and eighteen were all about Chris Dance, epic sailing and clean roundings saw him take both races, not to be outdone too much Craig to second spot in both races too, with Dicks and Fidler in third spots.
We are now getting to the nub end of the Championship and whilst there are some significant gaps at the top of the table it doesn’t take much to close them.
Tush’s bullet and Craig’s 21st spot in race 19 made the point well for me, Collberg and Golison were second and third.
Craig soon bounced back and posted the win in 20 from Fidler and Feldman.
The final two races were Collberg with two bullets, Tush with two second and Craig with two third spots to round out the championship.
All down the board there were close battles between all of the 78 skippers, it was as hard to get out of D fleet as it was to stay in A fleet, or so I was told!
Every skipper I spoke with enjoyed the event immensely but felt they could have done better with the sailing. There was only one person that couldn’t have done better with his sailing and that was Craig Richards. Over the 22 races he counted nothing higher than a seventh place finish and he had six wins over the course of the week, a true champions race and ever so well deserved.
Tush finished second but was 19 points adrift, Feldman was a distant third with 102 points.
So, lets focus a bit on the social side of things, Sunday was a free night and after a tough day’s racing it was well taken and a quiet evening was had. Monday saw a Fleetood fish and chip night at the club with one of Derek’s famous quizzes, followed by a trip to The Mount pub.
Tuesday and Wednesday I dipped out of due to some family commitments I had to take care of, however, Wednesday was a lay day from the racing so many people went off and did many things, some ended up in Blackpool, some in the Lakes, some went and played golf whilst Mike Weston saw the beach at Fleetwood for the first time and then promptly fell over!
Thursday evening saw some of us eat at the Trafalgar fish restaurant, always a treat and the food was sublime.
Finally, Friday, and if you were still strapped in this was the big one. I started early after the racing and managed a fine session whilst enjoying the closing ceremony for the event at The North Euston Hotel. Speeches were made, thanks were offered and Craig was presented with his Championship trophy.
Over the course of the ten days we spent at Fleetwood I think we all made new friends and cemented friendships made at previous events. The racing was fair, the competition was tough, the attitude of all the competitors was amicable and fair. There were protests, of course there were, but they were handled quickly and fairly by Gordon and it was rare that they held up the racing.
So, now we need to thank some people, well, quite a few people really. Firstly to everyone involved, competitors, organisers, race team, club members and galley crew I’d like to offer my heartfelt thanks for an absolutely fantastically epic week. For you all to give up your time to come and help or race in such great numbers is really rather a cool thing. Right, that’s covered everyone so if I forget anyone please refer to the above!
Derek Priestley, David Rose and the Fleetwood MYPBC. Without your initial interest in running this event 18 months ago we’d be a poorer class right now. Your desire to run this event and run it so well is a credit to you and your club. The fact you have one of the best and most historic venues in the world just made it better!
Peter, Judith, Damian, Gordon and everyone else in the race team. Your dedication to getting us the best racing we could possibly have and the most number of races with the least amount of faff is amazing. Here in the UK we are lucky to have Peter and Judith offering their race team services on a regular basis, but for Peter to offer his time when he really should have raced is testament to his dedication. Thank you.
Galley crew, we couldn’t eat and drink without you, from a bacon butty first thing to a bit of cherry pie as a mid afternoon pick me up, you had it all. Maureen and Elaine as the backbone of the crew with daily helpers kept the fleet marching on.
Peter Isles – Boatman extraordinaire. Keeping the course right, rescuing boats and resetting marks, a whole week of being in that rescue boat is no mean feat, thank you.
Eric and the facilities team, there before you got out of bed to put up flags, there after you’d left to take them down and everything else you guys did to make the event colourful and fun, thank you.
Skippers, without you lot it wouldn’t have been much of an event. You travelled from all corners of the globe to Fleetwood so that we could have a bit of a yacht race, wow, thank you so much for making the commitment to take part.
If I have forgotten to thank anyone I apologise.
So, in closing, we had some yacht racing, Craig won it, we all had lots of fun but many of us could have done better.
DF65’s next year in Sweden if you fancy it…….
Timmy out x
Pictures and many more words than I’ve written on the DF95 globals 2023 facebook page.
DF Racing World Information Site 