As today was Australia Day, we planned for an extensive day of racing with IOM handicap racing in the morning followed by A Class and IOM Scratch sailing in the afternoon. Unfortunately the wind was not kind to us and did not exceed 5 knots all day. As races took longer than usual to complete the best that we could do was an 8-race handicap series. While racing was slow, it was tight, and with the Australia Day shield at stake, skippers were keen to do well.

Many thanks to Andrew Wardrop and Rod Marshall for organising a delicious sausage sizzle luncheon which made the day special. A lunchtime meeting was a profitable way to discuss a couple of club issues. Thanks also to Rod, Andrew and Kyle for the work that they have been putting into planning for improved launching facilities at Montrose.
Race 6 caused some chaos. Some skippers believed that they had completed the course and finished the race while others thought that there was a lap to go and kept sailing. There was no other way to resolve the impasse caused other than to re-sail the race.
Although some of the long handicapped skippers did well in some races today it was generally a day for the back-markers who had plenty of time to catch up with the longer races.

The winner today, and recipient of the Australia Day Sheild was Ray Joyce who finished the day on just 7 points well ahead of his nearest opposition. Ray also won the shield last year. Second and third positions were filled by Mat Gray and Lisa Blackwood.

With our handicap system it is usual for skippers in the top third of the fleet to extend their handicap by 10 seconds while skippers in the bottom third reduces their handicap. But (as has happened this week) when a scratch skipper wins the day there is a ‘shakedown’ of handicaps and those skippers in the top third of the fleet retain their handicap and all others have their handicap reduced. 

Next Sunday’s sailing is  for  Marbleheads starting at 1:00 at Risdon Brook Dam.

Next Wednesday’s handicap at the Dam, being the first Wednesday in February, will be for DF95’s

John S

A transfer to the dam today.

Congrats to ray Joyce, taking the win today, with 23 points.

Chris Wood was two behind in second, with 25 points and Lisa Blackwood rounded out the three, a further 8 behind, on 33 points.

Some notes for the day, places 3 to 7 were separated by just 7 points, showing the closeness of the field.

One of our newer members, Andrew Price, picked aup a second in the 9th race, a highlight of the day for him. Well done. Hopefully there will be many more great placings to come.

On handicap, Lisa Blackwood won the day with 4 net points, with John Hall coming in second with 2 net points, with Chris Wood taking third place with 1 net points.

We also had 5 sailors on 0 net points, showing the robustness of the maths behind the handicap.

Wednesday, as emailed earlier last week, is a combination day at Risdon Brook dam, with the IOM Handicap starting early at  1030, hopefully for 8 races for the Australia Day Handicap Shield, followed by a BBQ lunch break and club meeting to discuss options for the Montrose launching area, and then for a scratch race afternoon for IOM and A Class yachts after the meeting.

Kyle

It was a gorgeous day at Risdon Brook Dam today - a sunny 21 degrees C, the sea breeze filled in early for our 11:00 start and provided A rig conditions throughout the day.

12 skippers showed for the morning’s racing. Unfortunately Mat Gray’s driveway was blocked by road-works and he did not arrive until after lunch.

The podium was well shared throughout the day resulting in a close tally table with Phil Jackman taking the honors followed by Lisa Blackwood and Peter Darcey. Congratulations to all.

One important housekeeping point to mention is that skippers do need to remember to close the gate after they enter in the morning (unless you are absolutely certain that there is another skipper right behind you). TAS water have asked us to do this as, if it is left open, members of the public will see our vehicles and presume that it is OK for them to enter and drive around the dam. As we are TAS water’s guests it is important to maintain good standing with them by following their requirements. So close the gate and drive very slowly with your hazard lights turned on!

Next week mid-week sailing will fall on Australia Day (26th January). RBRYC normally has a special event on this day, inviting our friends from Northern clubs and racing for the Australia Day Shield. So next week’s racing will still be at the Dam, we will start a little earlier at 10:30 and the morning’s racing will be a short handicap series (maximum 8 races) for IOM yachts.

The winner of this series will claim the Australia Day Shield.

After lunch we will have scratch series racing for any class yacht finishing about 3:30. Indications from today and from previous chats are that we are very likely to ahve both IOM and A Class yachts racing for the afternoon. If you wish to sail another class yacht, you are welcome to come and sail too.

There will be a sausage sizzle at lunch-time. During lunch, we will be holding an informal club meeting or chat. This is to hear where the committee has gone to as far as Montrose upgrades, and hopefully, where we can also ask the club members for input and assistance in where to go from here. In short, we have again missed out on grants that have been publicised, and we need member input for where we head from this point. We are still 100% focused on better launch facilities over at the point where we sail, so launching/retrieval and tuning can all be done much closer to the sail area. Member input from here is very important for the clubs next direction, so please come along if you are able to.

Overall, as far as sailing goes, next Wednesday sounds like a fun day to me!

John S

It was fairly calm this morning with the wind undecided about whether or not a sea breeze would be worth its trouble and so we spent the first few races picking our way around the buoys with a shifting breeze. By lunch-time a lightish sea breeze came through. It had just a touch of Easterly in it so that the wind was gusting from both across the dam entrance and down the gully from the picnic area. Picking the shifts was a valuable skill for the up-wing legs in the afternoons racing and I did notice that some of the older experienced skippers seamed to know how to manage this wind well.
 
Today’s winner was Peter Darcey whose tally included three race wins. Ian Hey  and Buzzy Behrens took out second and third place respectively. Both skippers posted results that were consistently in the top half of the fleet. Congratulations to all.
 
Sunday’s racing will be IOM scratch racing 1:00 at Montrose and next Wednesday IOM’s again at the dam.
 
John S

​Sounded like a very still day today at Montrose, with the wind not really filling in til about 2pm.

Unfortunately for our six sailors, only six races were completed in the allotted time.

With the Long DIstance sailing this year, we are splitting out the A Class results also for the A Class Scratch Series, so we have two sets of results today.

For the Long DIstance Round 1 though, Andrew Wardrop came through with the win, on just 9 points. The Blitz 6 sailing very well. In second place, Lisa Blackwood prevailed with her newly aquired (sort of) A Class Sweet 6, on 14 points. John Cole-Cook was just one point behind in third place, with 15 points with his A Class Venom.

In the A Class Scratch Series, interestingly, John Cole-Cook beat Lisa to the round win, on 8 points, with Lisa one point behind in second, on 9, with Michael Hickman in third place.

This coming Wednesday is our regular IOM Handicap at the dam, followed by IOM Scratch Round 1 next Sunday

Kyle