We were met with a wonderful day at MBYC today, with a nice southerly 10-15 knot breeze throughout. 

Starting in A Rigs, most sailors got a start, but after the first race, many changed to B rigs, which was much better suited to the day.

Unfortunately, a fair rate of attrition occured for various reasons, which brought the great field of ten sailors down to six by the end of the day.

There was a fair spread of results today, but the final scores did not reflect the closeness of the racing throughout the day.

That said, Stuart Dawes thoroughly deserved his first place on the day, again showing that he is one of our best DF skippers, with just 16 points after 12 races. Of real note is that Stu only had one 3rd place counted as his worst score on the day.

Michael Hickman was 7 points adrift, and also sailed very consistently, with 3rd being the worst score as well on the day.

David Jones came in third today, just two behind Michael. With a slow start, he really turned it on, especially with that purple patch towards the end with four wins in a row!

Wednesday will see the second round of the DF95 Handicap Series, first race starting at 11am.

Next Sunday will be Long Distance Series Round 2, starting at 11am.

​During the lunch break at the Australia Day Regatta today, we revealed the Series and Award Winners for 2020. For the rest of the membership that couldn't make it today, the winners are all listed below. Be sure to congratulate them when you next see them.

2020 IOM Scratch Series
Champion - Lisa Blackwood
2nd Place - Stuart Dawes
3rd Place - Rod Jackman

2020 RM Scratch Series
Champion - Ray Joyce
2nd Place - Rod Marshall
3rd Place - John Cole-Cook

2020 IOM Handicap Series
Champion - Rod Marshall
2nd Place - John Hall
3rd Place - Kim Potter

2020 DF95 Handicap Series
Champion - Andrew Wardrop
2nd Place - David Jones
3rd Place - Phil Turnbull

2020 Long Distance Handicap Series
Champion - Andrew Wardrop
2nd Place - John Hall
3rd Place - Peter Sylvester

2020 Peter Clark Most Improved award - Rod Marshall
Rod is a very worthy recipient of the Most Improved award, with attendance at the 2020 RM Nationals, twice making A fleet amongst 39 sailors in an extremely high quality national field. He also  won the 2020 Handicap Series and placed 2nd in the Marblehead Scratch Series and finished 4th in the  RM State Regatta, 

Of particular note for the series results, was that we had 9 individual place getters for the 12 awards. A fantastic spread of achievement across the club.

The Australia Day Regatta was concluded today in some very interesting conditions to say the least.

One minute there is barely enough breeze for even an A Rig, and the next, we need to have the C's on. We even found some holes that had the wind swirling as if in a low speed whirlwind.

Les had the handicaps all sorted with his usual aplomb, with Anne Cole-Cook ably assisting, also assisted by Ken Dobbie at the start/finish line.

Four races were completed by lunch time, where we retired to the club for a BBQ lunch and 2020 presentations. An email will come out very shortly celebrating our 2020 winners. That said, lunch would not have been possible without the help of Andrew and Deb Wardrop and Rod and Carol Marshall.

Post lunch, we had a further four races, before calling the close of the day, seventeen races for the event.

Third place for the Regatta was John Hall, who sailed extremely well throughout with both his A Class and RM. A seventh being his worst counted score. Great consistency.

Second place, was one of our northern visitors, Andy Hamilton, with his Corby 6 Woodie. Andy was also extremely consistent, and has really dialed in his yacht, as well as getting on top of the often fickle and tidal conditions over the two days.

The winner of the inaugural Australia Day Regatta, was Ray Joyce, who sailed his Britpop superbly over the two days. He seemed to finish within the top 4 or five on most occasions. Congratulations Ray.

There has got to be some recognition for the volunteers over the event, as well as two of our travellers. Les Hanson, Anne Cole-Cook and Ken Dobbie for officiating across the event. Andrew and Deb Wardrop, and Rod and Carol Marshall for supplying us with a wonderful BBQ lunch and salads, and of course Montrose Bay Yacht Club (and Rod Marshall again) for supplying and renovating the Australia Day Handicap Shield. Also big thanks to Andy Hamilton and Ted Stevens for making the trip down to compete with us. It's always enjoyable to have you guys sail with us and look forward to not only having you back in the future, but also returning the favour and heading up north to sail with you as well.

Tomorrow's Mid Week Handicap has been cancelled for this week, given we have had three sail days in a row, but will be back to normal next week.

This Sunday is DF95 Scratch racing, starting from 1pm.

The first day of the Australia Day extra-long weekend sailing commenced today, with the Long DIstance Handicap.

Twelve sailors fronted, with a good mix of IOM and A Class yachts. We also welcomed the return of our northern visitors, Ted Stevens and Andy Hamilton for the long weekend.

Sailing started in very light conditions. Handicaps set by Les and results recorded by Anne Cole-Cook. Courses were very difficult with the Easterly winds, but we made do with the wind given to us. Course length was changed and handicaps altered to suit, which suited the fleet - well, mostly the IOM's in the lighter stuff.

However, after lunch, an unexpected southerly change came in, with a welcome 10kt breeze, and the A Classes were back in the thick of it, really pushing through the fleet as the IOM's were starting to struggle.

By the end of the day, we had nine races completed, and throughout, we had three sailors who were very consistent. Andy Hamilton, in his new Corby 6 Woodie came out on top with 18 points. Fantastic racing with a worst counted score of 4th

Second was Lisa Blackwood, with her Sister Blister (RA), two points behind, on 20.

Taking out the top three was Ray Joyce with his Britpop, a further 5 astern, on 25 points.

Of note also, 4th to 7th had only two points between them.

With Andy taking out the round, I think we will need to start charging an import duty for northeners....

The day was enjoyed by all, with some great sailing throughout, helped obviously with the great handicapping and course setting on the day by Les.
 
Tomorrow is the second day of our Australia Day Longer Weekend, with DF95's (and RG65's) sailing from 1pm to 4pm.

Tuesday will conclude the Longer Weekend sailing, with the Australia Day Handicap Shield, which this year, will be a combination of todays racing and Tuesdays handicap racing. 2020 award presentations will be presented during the BBQ lunch break. Sailing starts on Tuesday at 1030, and will conclude about 3.30pm, where we will retire to the bar and present the first winner of the Australia Day Handicap Shield.

A good fleet of 14 IOM’s fronted the starter for today's sailing.

Greeted with very light and sunny conditions that resulted in an early lunch whilst we waited for the sea breeze to slowly fill in. 

After lunch, the sea breeze was mid A rig, but the breeze built quickly and soon, a general rig change was called with those going to B reaping the rewards.

77 and 02 stayed with A rig, which proved not to be a good choice.

Peter Germein was sailing his new Ellipsis woody (tuned up by Rod Jackman) very well.

We had a number of withdrawals with minor breakdowns, as the sea breeze reached its peak - continuing a run of very strong sea breezes this summer.
 
More sailing this weekend ( see Kyle's email for details)
 
PS Thanks to my wife who supplied a baked chocolate cake, which disappeared very quickly.

This Sunday, we have Long Distance, commencing at 11am

Monday is a DF95 day (or what you have to sail), commencing at 1pm

Tuesday is our first "Australia Day Regatta" commencing at 1030 - which is a Long Distance Handicap event. 2020 awards to be given at the lunch time BBQ. Please let Kyle know that you are coming so we can cater for the day. We do have a small $10 fee for the Tuesday to help with the catering as well.

​Andrew

A difficult day today. All skippers opted for their C2 rigs from the outset, and before long, those with C3's suited up, with the wind increasing in strength - up to 30 knots today.

With this wind, the attrition got to the point where we abandoned the racing with just one yacht in racing condition. The last two races with just two yachts.

Very close at the end of the day for the top three places. Lisa Blackwood won the day, on countback to Rod Marshall - sailing very well in his Skalpel, with Ray Joyce just 0.7 of a point behind, in third.

This coming Wednesday is IOM Handicap, from 11am at MBYC, and next weekends sailing will be an extended opportunity for sailing. Sunday will be the normal Long Distance Handicap, starting at 11. Monday 25th will have a DF sail day from 1pm till 4 (standard sumer times), with a conclusion on Tuesday 26th with the first Australia Day Regatta - a fun day to sail whatever yacht you wish in a handicap format. Lunch time on the Regatta will also involve the presentations of the 2020 sailing Series. Further details for the weekend will be sent out very shortly.

A bit of a change this week, with little to no wind throughout, with just the seven races completed.

Phil Jackman came out on top today, with a very consistent day with his Idiom, finishing on 8 points.

David Jones came in second, on 12 points, with Rod Marshall in third, with 16 points

This Sunday, we have RM Scratch Summer Series Round 1, starting at 1pm

A great turnout of thirteen sailors today.

Wonderful conditions by the looks of it , with a good B rig breeze when I popped in for a look.

It did seem though, that the conditions caught a few yachts off guard, and some reliability issues had taken some sailors out during the day.

Great to see Mat Grey there today, sailing very well with his nice new Venti. A very fast yacht in the hands of a very good skipper. 

Dominating today's racing, was Ray Joyce, with a really consistent day - out in front with 20 points from the ten races.

Second place was John Cole-Cook on 27 points, showing the Topico is still as competitive as ever.

David Jones rounded out the top three, with 28 points - right on John's heels.

Wednesday is our regular IOM Handicap, from 10am, with RM Scratch Summer Series Round 1 next week.

As previously sent out, we are having an Australia Day Long Weekend sail weekend, with the normal scheduled Long Distance sailing on Sunday 24th, followed by a DF95 sail day on Monday 25th and then the RBRYC Australia Day Regatta day on Tuesday. We have a few northern visitors coming down for a sail on Sunday and Tuesday, so it would be fantastic to see a good turnout over the long weekend. We are planning on doing our 2020 presentations during that weekend as well, so come along, enjoy some great sailing and help celebrate the successes from a very "different" 2020.

After two cancellations over the past two months due to adverse weather, ten skippers fronted up this morning for some 95 handicap racing.

Before lunch, we got in only three races due to light breezes.

During our lunch break, the predicted strong SW breeze kicked in, with the fleet going to a mix of B and C rigs for some fast and challenging racing.

Unfortunately, the reliability gremlins kicked in and the fleet quickly diminished to the point that continuing was not viable

Hopefully we will have better luck on the first Wednesday next month.

This Sunday, we have IOM Scratch Summer Series Round 1, starting at 1pm

An addendum to the email sent out a few days ago in regards to the Australia Day weekend sailing activities (Sunday Long Distance Handicap, Monday DF95, Tuesday Handicap Regatta), we have already attracted interest from the north of the state, with two skippers confirmed to be coming down to sail. Looks to be a real enjoyable weekend for those who can make it.

​Contact Kyle if you need any information about the weekend at all.