Another excellent days sailing at the dam with a mid A rig breeze staying with the fleet all morning allowing seven handicap races for the series plus a number of scratch races to break up the day.
A bit chilly at 9.15 at around five degrees, but improved as the morning went on.
Good to see Chris Wood back after a long absence with his newly painted Britpop, he leaves on Friday for two months overseas.
Wayne Turner was also back as an observer after a cruise to SE Asia.
Wayne Behrens took ownership of his new blue IOM and kept the V8, V9, V10 & Britpop under pressure with excellent boat speed in the scratch racing.
Peter Sylvester had a collision problem & Tony Brewer had a mast problem, but all in all, a great days sailing, with a number of boats at the pointy end.
Congratulations to Stuart Harris, who won the day on a countback from Kim Potter, with Rod Jackman 3rd, just one point behind. Very close racing.
The walking track beyond the gate is currently closed due to flood damage but we will find a solution on Sunday for the Long Distance sailing.
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Next to no wind greeted the 11 sailors for the Mid Winter Challenge, and with the variable directions of what was there, setting a course was always going to be difficult. After the initial debrief, which set the tone for the day with the expected behaviour of all sailors (championing a high standard amongst our peers), Pro Jeff Byerley set about making something of the conditions, and with his able assistant (Rod), they set a course for us to get started.
After just one race (I think), we had to have a break to wait for some semblance of wind, and then another change of buoys to get something useful for us. Again, the wind was a real issue and we broke for lunch early to hopefully wait it out and for something to return a bit later.
Fortunately, some breeze did return and we were able to continue sailing after lunch unimpeded, in the end, completing 11 races before the allotted time was almost up.
We had four sailors who dominated most of the day, showing great consistency in fairly ordinary wind conditions. Mike Hickman taking out the event on 17 points, well clear of Lisa Blackwood (25), who was closely followed by John Cole-Cook (28) and Rod Jackman (30).
A big thanks to Jeff Byerley for his efforts as Pro for the day - a pretty thankless task, Wayne Behrens, for helping Jeff with scoring, and to the volunteers who helped set up and put away the dinghy, ramp etc.

Next up is our normal Mid Week IOM Handicap on Wednesday , and Long Distance Day incl. BBQ and general club meeting on Sunday.
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Sorry for the delay in posting. Although King Island has Australia's No.1 and No.10 ranked public golf courses, it is ranked somewhat below rural Kazakhstan in internet connection speed.
A pleasant start to the day at Risdon dam in mid A rig conditions. 12 skippers turned up for the racing but Peter Darcey dropped out early with “lack of maintenance" problems so after some closely fought scratch racing the handicap racing started with 11 boats in idea northerly conditions. PRO Wayne B set a complicated course & Rob Gavin did well in the first 2 races before fading in the next two. Geoff Mathews also had 2 good early races. As the morning went on the breeze began to fade & by the lunch break it was very light & then disappeared completely so only 4 handicap races were completed. A good morning never the less.
Next sailing is this coming Sunday with the RBRYC IOM Mid Winter Challenge, button press at 10am. Late entries accepted.
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It was a great days sailing at the dam today with the DF95 fleet returning after a long absence. Strong support from club members plus other Df95 owners from outside the club. Thank you all for your support & good humour which combined with a steady northerly breeze in top A rig conditions made for a very pleasant day. Racing was conducted in both scratch & handicap with only the handicap results being used to determine the bottle of plonk winners. 
Pleasing to see how much some of the skippers have improved their sailing skills since I last sailed with them. Geoff Mathews is continuing his good form in the IOMs & others to impress were Richard, Tony, Don, Col J & Phil. Rod Jackman borrowed Kim’s boat for a race & then wouldn't give it back & was going very well in the scratch racing, Ray was also enjoying success in the 95 fleet. 
There were 16 95’s today with 14 racing.
We shall do it again in 4 weeks time & no doubt the weather will cooperate.
 
Andrew Wardrop – Mid Week Co-Ordinator

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​Well after looking at the forecast last night, I prepared my Grunge for the rebuilt A swing rig after breaking the main boom early on in the Southern Championship. However on arrival at the dam today it was clear that I’d not be using it.  The temp was 5 degrees and a solid 15 knot katabatic driven northerly was steaming down the dam.
 
We were in for some great RM racing.  Some of the crew went to B rigs and a few including yours truly went with the C rig.  My first race was over before the start due to the main sheet line turning block strop chaffing off.  Quickly fitted a new block with a shackle got G7 back on the water.  The rest of the day G7 stayed with C rig, and the Grunge ate up the course. It is a testament to Brad Gibson’s ability to design such a superb RM radio yacht and make the sails that have now claimed four consecutive World Championships.
Lisa had her F 5 going well with her C rig, however a full break at the vang fitting in race 4 caused her to change up to the B rig for the rest of the day.
Rod Marshall tenaciously kept working out the Scalpel intricacies, and finally paid dividends towards the later races.  It was great to see him making inroads within the fleet.
Our warm thanks goes to Roddy Jackman for taking on the PRO duties, he did a great job in bitter conditions, and kept us all on our toes.  Thanks again Rod.
 
Ray

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