The sky was overcast and fairly windless when I arrived at the Dam today but a light North-Wester rallied to get sailing underway. Though it never got much above about 3 knots it never really left us totally becalmed. After lunch the wind was more Westerly which does make setting a good course at the dam difficult but PRO Rod Jackman was equal to the task and all but the final race had upwind legs. Thanks for your great work and good humour today Rod.
 
Third place today was taken by Phil Jackman. It was a bit of a welcome back too for Phil as we haven’t seen him at the Dam since before Christmas.
 
Andrew Wardrop took second place today and well deserved with four podium finishes on the scorecard.
 
And, (drum-roll)…. Mat Grey wins again. Mat is just so consistent. Congratulations to all.
 
Mat is progressively beating us all down the handicap spectrum. If scratch skipper wins their handicap cannot go above 70, so what happens is that they remain on 70, the top third of the skippers all retain their handicap but the rest go down 10.
 
Coming up:
Sunday: Scratch racing for Marbleheads at Risdon Brook Dam (10:00 button). And beware of daylight savings changeover!
Next Wednesday: Handicap racing for DF95’s at Risdon Brook Dam (11:00 button).
 
John S

​A warm day with a very light northerly greeted us today at Montrose Bay for our first ranking event of the year, the IOM State Regatta.

A very high quality field of fourteen skippers competed today, not only RBRYC members, but also from Montrose Bay Yacht Club and North West Tasmania Radio Yacht Club.

Pro, Les Hanson had us starting right on time after a clear and succinct briefing regarding the expected behaviour of all sailors on the day. Clearly setting boundaries for us all.

The very light northerly wind made for quite difficult sailing, with those who could get out of the confused air within the fleets and that worked most effectively on keeping the wind in the sails doing very well.

With the wind dying completely just after 12, we retreated for lunch with four races completed. An interesting leaderboard with a four way tie at this stage, with Mat Gray, Kyle Stewart and John Cole-Cook all tied int he lead on just 6 points.

Lunch was extended with no racing till a bit after 1.30 when the breeze returned from the south to south east. This breeze extended towards the end of the day to around 10 knots, providing some excellent close sailing for everyone.

Unfortunately, the last race, race 9 was abandoned with an onset of weed through the course affecting many sailors. Given this was at 3.20pm, it was decided to call it a day. Just eight races completed, but the day was enjoyed by all.

In the end, Mat Gray was simply too consistent, winning the Regatta with just 10 points. Congratulations Mat for such a consistent Regatta, and well deserved. A 3 being your worst recorded score for the day.

In second on countback, was John Cole-Cook on 19 points. So very consistent as well, and was right on the pace early on.

Third place today, was taken out by Lisa Blackwood, also on 19 points with some fantastic sailing.

Of note also is the closeness of places beyond the first three, with second to fifth separated by just two points.

We also need to thank and congratulate our other club members, Ted Stevens, Ian Dickinson and Ricky Price, who came to compete with us today. Ricky sailing his own-built Wooden Equinox very well. His final result does not demonstrate how well he sailed today. Ted coming down to sail his new Britpop!, showing some great pace and learning a lot throughout the day, and Ian Dickinson, sailing his AKA for the first time in a ranking event. He picked up a lot of experience and confidence with his new yacht, and will surely be back for more ranking events down the track.

Big thanks today goes to our volunteer crew, Les Hanson (PRO), Anne Cole-Cook (Scoring), Ian Hey and Phil Turnbull (Observers). Without your help, a day like today would just not be possible or as enjoyable as it was.

Finally, I really do ahve to mention the conduct of all sailors today. We were obviously not without incidents on the water. One would have to think that a day without incident was perhaps not looked at close enough. That said, I cannot recall one instance today of anybody not ding a penalty turn, with so many apologies being heard when something did happen, as well as nice clear confirmations of penalties being completed for the sailors and observers to hear. Today was a real example to continue to aspire to. Results of this are readily apparent, with two serious enquiries on the day from people watching wanting to start RC Sailing.

A few other things to communicate to everyone.

Coming Up

Wednesday is IOM Mid Week Handicap, at the dam with button press at 11am

Next Sunday is RM Scratch - but note the new start time with daylight savings ending. We now start Sunday sailing at 10am (wind those clocks back everyone).

Secondly, we have another IOM about to hit the market. Michael Hickmans V10 is just about ready for sale. If you might be interested, give Michael or myself a call for further details. Once I have all the detail from him, I'll post it on our website.

Kyle

A gentle South Easterly  sea breeze arrived early on the Derwent and had already filtered through to Risdon Brook Dam when I arrived this morning. Although it was light it was a persistent; 1 - 4 knots and may even have increased a little after lunch.
 
Working the shifts was the way to do well today, and as the racing was close you paid for errors big time.
 
Kim Potter took on the PRO duties and did a great job too. Thanks Kim. Rod Jackman sailed Kim’s Boat today and claimed 4 podium finishes.
 
Third and second place were tied today and separated by countback. Rob Cooney took the third spot. Rob has fitted a new set of MG sails to his boat and re-tuned it setting the mast further astern. It was much quicker today.
 
Peter Turner took second spot by virtue of more race wins than Rob. Pete had a great morning gaining the podium on 4 out of the 5 pre-lunch races.
 
And today’s winner was Mat Gray (again!). Extremely well done too as it was otherwise a day for the longer handicapped boats. Mat spent much of the day on the maximum handicap of 90 seconds giving even his nearest competitor a 20 second start. Well done Mat.
 
Coming up - Plenty of great sailing!

Thursday evening A class sail at Montrose (Start around 4:00)

Sunday: IOM Southern Regatta. Venue is to be confirmed. Late entry is still possible (online through our site.) Briefing is at 10:15 for 10:30 button.

Next Wednesday: IOM handicap at Risdon Brook Dam (11:00 Button)
 
John S

​I was not able to be at the dam to sail today, so not much of a report on the day. From reports though, it was really challenging l;ight winds early, with the breeze strengthening a little later on.

Eight sailors turned up today for the DF scratch day.

Winner today was Stuart Dawes, clear ahead on just 14 points from the 10 races.

Second place was Mat Gray, on 22 points.

Richard Fisher took out ther third spot, with 24 points. This may be Richard's last hitout before travelling to  the DF95 Globals in Fleetwood, UK. If so, we wish you the best of luck over there, for surely an enjoyable event. The Australian team is very strong and I am confident will do very well.

On handicap today, Sturat Dawes took out first spot with two rank diff points. Well done on the double today.
In second place, we had Richard Fisher on 1 net point.
Tied for third place, with 0 net points, was Mat Gray, Lisa Blackwood, Ray Joyce, Phil Turnbull and Andrew Price.

On Wednesday, we will have our regular IOM Scratch at the dam, with button press at 11am.

Thursday afternoon will see the  Class yachts at MBYC, with the sheds opening at 4pm. Anyone is welcome to come have a sail - any class. We are also hoping to use the afternoon as a guide with the weed situation at Montrose, in order to best judge a possible move to the dam if needed for the IOM Ranking event next Sunday.

Next Sunday, 26th March is the IOM State Regatta, currently at MBYC, but may change if the weed situation is still too much of an issue. I will send out and email notifying of the change. If you are intending on competing, please get your entry in as "standard" entries close tonight, with "late" entries open till Friday. We currently have just 8 entered for the event.

Kyle

Not much to report today.

Top end of A Rig and B Rig conditions apparently, which would have accounted for some really good racing.

Well done to Ricky Price - winner on the day with 16 points.

Second place on countback was Kim Potter on 23 points.

Third place was Stuart Dawes, also on 23 points
Coming up:
Tomorrow - A Class sailing at Montrose Bay Yacht Club. Club opening from 4pm

Sunday is scratch racing for DF95's at Risdon Brook Dam (1:00 button press)
Also don’t forget the IOM State Regatta on Sunday 28th March. Enter for this online on our website under "Ranking Events"

​A good fleet of eight turned up to the dam today for the fourth round of the summer series.

A difficult breeze to get on top of, but mostly mid-B rig weather. One minute, it seemed lile those sailing further out were at a great advantage, then the sailors closer to shore would get a nice lift up to haul back the lost ground. At least the wind did give us some nice long beats today, allowing for some experimentation with different strategies.

Quite interesting to see that 6 of the 8 skippers got a win today, showing the competitiveness of all the sailors today.

Today, Ray Joyce was simply too good, coming out the victor on 17 points.

Just three points behind in second was Stuart Dawes, on 20.

Lisa Blackwood edged out John Hall by countback for third place, with both on 21 points.

On Handicap, John Hall cleaned up with some re-checked measurements on his rig geometry making a massive difference to his speed, winning on 4 net points.
Second was Stuart Dawes, on 3 net points.
Third on handicap was Andrew Wardrop with 1 net point.

Thanks - as always - to Les Hanson for his excellent work as PRO today.

Coming up

Tomorrow will have the A Class yachts sailing at MBYC - button press at 11am.

We have IOM Mid Week Handicap on Wednesday at the dam - button press at 11am.

Thursday will see a replay of A Class sailing - MBYC opening up at 4. Last week had four sailors there enjoying ideal sailing conditions. Feel free to come as well if you'd like a tuning session.

Next Sunday is DF95 Scratch at the dam - button press at 1pm

Kyle

The forecasted gale warning and rain was probably enough to keep a few of the skippers at home today. Only ten brave contestants fronted for today’s handicap event at the Dam and Kim Potter succumbed to radio problems during the warm-up races leaving a fleet of nine for the main event. 
The prevailing Northwester was very gusty and it fluctuated between 0 and 20 knots during every race making rig choice very difficult.  All skippers initially chose A-rigs but some heavy gusts during the warm-up made most change to B-rigs for the first of the handicap races. It was pretty clear after a couple of races that the A-rigged boats were at an advantage and all suited up again to A’s for the rest of the racing. A heavy gust scuttled the fleet during the last race and while most escaped without damage it was decided to finish racing early today.
Despite the conditions racing was hotly contested and the podium was well shared. Congratulations to Andrew Floyd who managed his boat through the maelstrom during the last race to take it out.
There was only one discard today as it was a six race series.
Andrew Wardrop took third place after putting two wins on the board early in the day’s racing. Second place went to Chris Wood and Mat Gray won the day again. There was only one point between each of the podium placings. Congratulations Andrew, Chris and Mat.
While it is always challenging and strangely fun to compete in difficult conditions we are hoping for better sailing conditions next time we meet.
Coming up:
Tomorrow - A Class sailing at Montrose Bay Yacht Club. Club opening from 4pm

Next Sunday scratch racing for Marbleheads - likely to be at Risdon Brook Dam (1:00 button). I'll send a message if MBYC is looking better with the current weed situation.

Monday - Public Holiday - A Class sailing at MBYC (11:00 button)
Next Wednesday IOM handicap at Risdon Brook Dam (11:00 button)
Also don’t forget the IOM State Regatta on Sunday 28th March. Enter for this online on our website under "Ranking Events"
John S

​A healthy fleet of 12 sailors today for the third round of the IOM Summer Series.

Unfortunately a winch drum issue crueled Martin's day, but to his credit, he hung around to watch the rest of the fleet sail. Yours truly missed the first 6 races with other commitments, but was quite happy to join in for the second half of the day.

Some very light wind early on, and it wasn't really until about race 8 where we had anything significant, which soon upended a few yachts.

Of note today was Ricky Price, in his home built Equinox almost taking home it's first race win with a fantastic race (I think no.9) but struggled to recover after some nosediving down the last run. He would have been real happy with two second places for the day though.

Same with Rod Marshall, taking out a win in race 6. Great to see - even after I congratulated him a lap too early.

The wind was very hard to read today, but we all had to sail the same stuff, and unsurprisingly, regular sailors topped the scores on the day.

Mat Gray came out in front on the day, winning with 14 points (six race wins!!) Well done Mat.

Ray Joyce was three points behind in second place, on 17 points. (3 race wins). Another very consistent day.

Lisa Blackwood took third place today, on 33 points.

On handicap, Ian Hey took out first place with 4 net points. Rod Marshall sailed very well for his second place with 3 net points, and we had a tie for third place, with Andrew Price and John Hall both on 1 net point. Well done all.

Thanks, as always, to Les Hanson, in getting the races going in good time for us all.

Coming up on Wednesday, is our regular IOM MId Week Handicap, button press 11am at the dam.

This Thursday hopefully will see the A Class yachts at MBYC - club opening up at 4pm. The last two weeks have been really enjoyable, so let's hope for similar enjoyment this Thursday.

Next Sunday is RM Scratch, initially shcedulled at MBYC, but we will assess the weed situation closer to the day and will let members know if we need to shift to Risdon Brook again.

Finally, next Monday (8hr Day Public Holiday) is schedulled A Class Scratch at MBYC, button press at 11am.

On a bit of sad news, David Jammy Jones has decided to retire from IOM sailing, and will be enjoying his DF sailing now at Puddleduck on Tuesdays. he has asked me to put the feelers out there if anyone is interested in buying a near new K2 yacht in absolutely immaculate condition - with all rigs, rig box etc. If you might be interested, either contact Jammy, or let me know and I'll get you on to him, hopefully before he lists it on the ARYA site.

Kyle

A blusterly Nor-Wester greeted us when we arrived at the Dam today. The dozen DF95 skippers that fronted today universally opted for A-rigs in the morning and this was a good choice as there were many large calm holes and the A-rig gave the boats a little momentum. The rig was a handful in the gusts though! 0 – 20 knots of swirling wind would be a fair assessment of the morning’s conditions and things did not improve after lunch.

As PRO Rod Marshall was ushering us back on the water after the break a considerable gust made us re-asses the conditions, and all skippers went for their B-rigs. A good thing too! The wind raised its game and the last couple of races were held in pretty much survival conditions with gusts of up to 35 knots. The skippers who could maintain steerage down-wind while others nose-dived, pitch-poled or were washed onto the bank took podium honors in the last couple of races.

Testimony to how durable these little boats are is the fact that while the conditions for sailing were testing, the rescue dinghy did not have to be used and there did not seem to be any gear breakage today.

A huge thanks to Rod for keeping the sailing happening today.

On a day where nearly all of the skippers managed to find the podium at some time, third spot in the overall standings went to Ray Joyce. Consistency is always the secret to doing well in series racing and it was the experienced hands that came up with the goods today.
Second place went to Richard Fisher. It was great to see Richard back on the water today. Richard will be shortly heading to the UK to sail in the world DF95 titles. We all wish you the best for a great trip Richard, and know that you will represent us gallantly.

Today’s winner was the irrepressible Wayne Behrens, with a win, three seconds and two thirds on the tally sheet. Congratulations to you Buzzy and credit to all who matched the trying conditions of the day.

Coming up:

​Thursday - MBYC opening up at 4pm for A Class (and anyone else) sailing for anyone interested. A great sail last Thursday.

Sunday scratch racing will be for IOM’s will now be at Risdon Brook Dam and at the summer start time of 1:00. NOTE CHANGE OF VENUE AND TIME!

Next Wednesday’s handicap will be for IOM’s at Risdon Brook Dam with button at 11:00.

John S

​A few of us turned up early today (and one a bit later than the first two....) to adjust the buoy markers and check the race course for weed as it has persisted the last few weeks.

Unfortunately, it was still about - quite likely after the extreme downpour we had early this morning - flushing out the rivulets.

A quick chat with the sailors on site and we agreed to alight to Risdon Brook Dam to sail - with the hope that the conditions there would be better. One of the massive advantages we have a as club with two venues to sail at.

After a quick adjustment, we got away fairly quickly, and without much time lost (only about 30mins).

Terrific B rig conditions prevailed throughout, with a lot of shifty breezes to keep everyone on their toes.

We got 11 races completed in the end, and apart from a few wet squalls coming through, I thnk everyone enjoyed the day.

At the completion of the eleven races, Ray Joyce was the sailor who came out on top, with 18 points. A masterclass in consistent sailing with four wins and worst counted score being a 4th place. Well done on such a great day Ray.

Second today was Kyle Stewart, on 24 points. Jumping out of the blocks early with 4 wins in the first five races, but losing touch with the wind shifts int he second half of the day.

Third place was taken out by John Cole-Cook, on 28 points.

On handicap today, Kyle Stewart came away with first place, on 1 net point, with Ray Joyce, Stuart Dawes, Rod Marshall, Andrew Wardrop and John Hall all tied in second on 0 net points. With so many on net 0, it shows the maths in behind the seeding is pretty robust (if I don't mind saying so myself).

Although the points scores look like there was a fair gap with the sailing results, the racing was actually very close, and apart fro a few where the lead boat got a jump into a different wind shift, everyone was within a minute of each other - mostly just a few boat lengths.

Big thanks today goes to Les Hanson. Always turning up to Pro for us and today was quite unpleasant with the squalls coming through, dampening things for us.

Coming up

We have DF95 Mid Week Handicap on Wednesday at the dam - button press at 11am.

Thursday will see a replay of A Class sailing - MBYC opening up at 4. Last week had four sailors there enjoying ideal sailing conditions. Feel free to come as well if you'd like a tuning session.

Next Sunday is IOM Scratch - adjusted to a 10am start to allow for the low tide later in the afternoon.

Kyle