It was a brisk but sunny morning for todays IOM handicap at Risdon Brook Dam where a shifty, gusty, Westerly wind of about 5 - 10 knots welcomed 11 skippers. Westerly wind always makes course setting difficult at the dam but Lisa Blackwood, who generously offered taking on the PRO duties for the day, set some different and challenging courses that worked really well. Thanks for your work today Lisa.
It looked like Andrew Wardrop was going to have a ‘day out’ after starting the event with two 1st places and a 3rd place. Unfortunately electronics failure caused an early finish to Andrew’s day. Third place overall today was a tie between John Hall and Ian Hey with John nudging Bodge from the podium on count-back due to a nice win in race 2. Second place went to Ray Joyce whose boat-speed today was unmatched. And the winner was Wayne Behrens with lots of podium finishes in his tally. Congratulations Buzzy, Ray and John. Coming up: WORKING BEE! This Saturday at Montrose 10:00 for buoy maintenance. All volunteers are welcome. On Sunday the Marblehead State Regatta will be held at Risdon Brook Dam. 10:15 briefing for a 10:30 button press. Late entries only now on-line. Next Wednesday, being the first Wednesday in the month, handicap racing will be for DF95’s at the dam. (11:00 button press.) John S
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A light N-NW of just 4 knots max today at the dam for the IOM Mid Winter Challenge.
16 sailors turned up for a very well contested day, with close racing throughout in amongst the different groups that formed across the races. Great to see that we had three entries from outside the club, with Montrose Bay Yacht Club and North West Radio Yacht Club members competing today. Thanks for supporting us again. It's really appreciated, and we hope you enjoyed the sailing - albeit in very light conditions. Unfortunately for us, not long after lunch, the wind decided to go somewhere else, and we finished an hour early. A few of us stayed behind to have a chat, and by the scheduled 3.30pm finish time, the wind had yet to reappear, so even though it was a bit sad finishing early, it was certainly the right decision. Just 7 races completed for the day with some very close scoring. Just one point separated 1sta nd 2nd, and same 1 point separating 3rd and 4th. Even further down the list, 3 points separating 9th to 12th. The winner of the IOM Mid Winter Challenge was Michael Hickman, on 12 points. Ray Joyce took second (very happy back in his Britpop!) one behind on 13. Mathew Gray rounded out the top 3 on 20 points, one clear of Lisa Blackwood, on 21. We decided to run a handicap at this event as well. With so many entries, I did run a bit of a critical eye over it and felt that there could have been 6 sailors in the hunt for the top 3 positions, and having had a chat with another sailor last week who entered after seeing that there were others around his ability entered, decided to compete as well. I felt the handicap gave these sailors somehting to aim for in regards to their sailing performance on the day. This handicap system was simple - I looked up the ARYA rankings and seeded sailors based on that, with the one exception who did not have a ranking, so I looked at our own club rankings and seeded him alongside the sailors he was next to in our rankings. The winner of handicap was the one who had the best net result based ont he difference between their seeding position and final position. That said, the handicap winner today was John Short, who finished on a net score of 5. Unfortunately, with my laptop having a fit shoreside today and having to manually calculate everythng, I made a mistake on the rest of the handicap scoring, and we have a slight difference in reality. Equal second place on Handicap, was a 4 way tie between Iam Dickinson, Peter Sylvester, Ray Joyce and Kyle Stewart - all on a net score of 3. I'll get some more certificates made up and get them out to you all. My apologies on that. Big thanks to Jeff Byerley for taking on the PRO duties and to our volunteers for making Jeff's job much easier. Your work is really appreciated. Coming Up Wednesday is IOM Mid Week Handicap, at the dam with button press at 11am Next Sunday is the RM State Regatta, held at Risdon Brook. If you are considering sailing, please get your entry in as soon as possible as official entries close tonight, and late entries on Friday. Kyle My car has a warning light on the dashboard that gives alert to icy conditions when the external temperature drops below 3o, and today the warning light appeared just as I entered the gates to Risdon Park. A Northerly katabatic of about 10 knots only added a chill factor to the conditions. Still we shouldn’t be surprised that it was cool as today marked the winter solstice – the shortest day.
A digger was excavating holes for the new safety fencing throughout the morning. The operator generously allowed us to continue sailing as long as we kept out of his way and could have our racing finished by 1:00 as a concrete truck would be arriving soon after. With this in mind we decided to sail races back-to-back and take no lunch break. We were able to complete 8 races and so 2 discards were allowed for in the race tally. Ray Joyce finished 3rd overall today racing his Britpop again, and straight back to his old form! A great result considering it was pretty much a day for the longer handicapped boats. Pete Sylvester took 2nd place - again showing good boat speed in the orange K2. Pete’s had earned himself a favorable handicap over the past couple of months while sailing a borrowed classic (Ice), but has dashed all that with strong performances with his new boat over the last two weeks. And today’s winner was Andrew Floyd who had plenty of trips to the podium today. There was only a single point separating the three place-getters. Congratulations Andrew, Pete and Ray! Coming up: Sunday we will be hosting the IOM winter challenge at Risdon Brook Dam. There is already a good entry list for this including a couple of Northerners coming down for the event. Late entries only now online. Briefing at 10:15 and button at 10:30 Next Wednesday’s handicap at the dam will be for IOM’s (11:00 button). Again a reminder for those who have not paid their club registration that they are now due. The annual fee is $80 and can be paid by direct deposit Account details are BSB 807009 Acct No. 60108441 John S Welcome to visitor to the club, neil bennell - who travelled 2hrs to sail with us today from Hastings. He has had a lifetime on the water, and has started to sail with our friends down at Southern Tasmania Radio Yacht Club. We hope you enjoyed the day and tuning tips.
Well done today, to Stuart Dawes. A solid win with 10 points. Second place was Lisa Blackwood, with 14 points. Ray Joyce rounded out the top 3 with 17 points. On handicap, John Short took the honours with three net points, followed by Ray Joyce with 2 net points, and Stuart Dawes, Lisa Blackwood, John Hall and Andrew Price tied for third on 1 net point. Thanks to Les Hanson and Rod Marshall for their Pro duties today. Always very appreciated. On Wednesday, we have our regular IOM Mid Week Handicap, button press at 11am Next Sunday, we have the IOM Mid Winter Challenge. "Normal" entries have closed, with late entries accepted up to Friday, so if you are intending on sailing, please get those entries in as soon as possible. The link to the entry form is in the normal spot on our Ranking Events page. Kyle A winter katabatic suits sailing at Risdon Brook Dam and that is what we had today. It was pretty much straight down the dam and possibly 12 knots when we arrived but it settled throughout the day.
Lisa dusted off her TS-2 and gave it an outing. These are such beautiful yachts but it was out-paced today by the newer designs in the fleet. While race winners came from across the handicap spectrum, Graeme Cooksey deserves a special mention for claiming two race wins. I managed to claim a hotly contested third spot overall. Less than 5 points separated 3rd, 4th, 5 th and 6th overall today. Bodge was always at the pointy end today and had 5 podium finishes in his tally to claim 2nd place. The winner overall was Pete Sylvester. Pete was sailing his brand new bright orange Katun 2 – first time on the water. If this is what he does with the un-tuned boat then we had all better watch out! We raced well into the afternoon to get the ten races completed and the breeze held right until the end. When putting the dinghy away I looked back at the dam to see full mirror reflections on its surface. That’s what I call making the most of the day! Coming up: Sunday: A double DF day! DF65’s in the morning (10:00 button) then DF95’s in the afternoon (12:30 button) Next Wednesday: IOM handicap sailing at the dam. (11:00 button) And don’t forget the upcoming IOM Mid-Winter Challenge regatta on Sunday June 25th Entries can be made on-line through our site. One last note - we are now inot our new financial year of sailing, so all subs are now due ($80). It would ebe appreciated if subs could be paid as soon as possible - please put your name on the comments if paid via bank deposit so we can identify who you are. Invoices will be sent out when Les returns from his holiday. John S I was getting ready to ‘bag out’ Ray as a silly sausage for bringing his DF95 on an IOM day when I found that all the other skippers had also brought their DF95’s. It was in fact a DF95 day and I was the sausage for bringing an IOM. A quick dash home to get the right boat and eventually all six skippers were ready for racing. Nearly ready anyway – I had forgotten to seal down my hatch cover. (No damage!
The wind was swirling and light throughout the day – always below about 3 knots – and at times reflections on the surface of the dam. It was the kind of day that you needed a bit of luck, and luck could just as easily deal you a cruel hand as a good one. Ray was often on the unlucky side. Snared by weed in three races and then in race 6 he was on three different occasions half a leg ahead only to be caught by the fleet cruising up with a following wind. Despite the element of fortune racing was very close with many races featuring tight finishes. With just 6 races sailed today only one discard was allowed. Ian Hey and John Hall were tied today for 1st and 2nd place with Bodge getting the win on count-back by virtue on more second places. Third place went to Buzzy Behrens just 3 points behind. Congratulations to all. And to make my day of bungle-ups complete I think that we sailed the day using IOM handicaps! (Remember that I thought it an IOM day!). My appologies to all. For this reason we will keep the previous DF95 handicaps unaltered for our next DF95 meet. Coming up: Sunday: A working bee at the Risdon Brook shed. Starts at 11:00, with BBQ after and some sailing Monday (Kings Birthday Holiday) - A Class (or anything you want as well) at MBYC from 1100 Next Wednesday: It will be IOM’s! – 11:00 button. John S Sorry (not sorry) but up in the Sunny Sinshine Coast, so not fully aware of the events today apart from the results. I did hear, however, how it was a crisp 3C on arrival.
Looks like Michael Hickman had a great day, winning on 16 points, with Stu Dawes close behind in second on 21 and Ricky Price in third (well done Ricky) with 30 points. On handicap, Rod Marshall won with 2 net points, with John Hall second with 1 net point and a tie between Michael, Stuart, Ricky and Andrew on 0 net points. Coming up Wednesday is DF95 Mid Week Handicap at the dam, button press at 11 Next Sunday, is normally Long Distance, however with the lack of support the last few times, we have decided to turn it into a working bee and BBQ, followed by some sailing (whatever yacht you want). We will start the working bee at Risdon Brook at 11am. What is needed is a thorough shed cleanout, Solar panel install and then a service of our buoys. BBQ will follow, compliments of the club. Lastly - on other news, the club was represented very well on the Sunshine Coast in the DF65 National Championships with Les, Lisa, Mat and Kyle sailing Very well. Lisa finished the championship in 5th place, and was tied for 3rd prior to the start of the last, but a receiver failure caused a retirement). Kyle finished in 7th, Mat in 8th and Les in 33rd - a great result with Les only just resuming his sailing a month ago. Results for those interested can be seen on the ARYA Results page and Video of most races can be seen on the Qld Radio Yachting Youtube page. Kyle |
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