A taste of warmer days to come at the Brook today for the Mid Week Series with temperatures in the high teens, sunny conditions and a fairly steady NNW'er averaging maybe 6-8 knots with the odd stronger puff to maybe 10 or so knots. Quite a good fleet turning up with 12 IOM's and 4 DF95's including new member and Commodore of Montrose, Rod Marshal getting his new acquisition on the water, George Fish down from Launceston on business (with both his IOM and DF95, as you would do on a business trip) and the return of a few skippers from their winter walkabout to warmer climes. Stu Harris took control of the mob and advised IOM handicaps with no surprises, and the DF's racing off scratch behind the backmarking IOM's. Course for the first few races was start between 1and 2, up to 5 and out to 6, run down to the gate and finish between 1 and 2. From Race 4 the IOM's changed course; start at the usual place, up to 5, tight reach out to the wing mark 9, shy reach down to the outside gate mark and finish between 1 and 2. The DF's sailing the same course they sailed in the first few races. Race 1 line honours went to John Banks with John Smith second and Kim Potter third. In the DF's, I took line honours from David Jones second and Anthony Castray third. John Smith notched up a win in Race 2 with Denis Lees sailing well and a second and John Banks on the podium in third spot. Another win for yours truly in the DF's with Anthony beating Jammy for second and third respectively. Race 3 saw Rod Marshal's first ever win at the Brook on his first day of radio sailing with Alan McKenzie sailing well into second place and Denis Lees sailing well into third place as well. Anthony took a close win from Jammy with yours truly clearing out some more weed and a distant third place. Race 4 saw a double for Rod Marshal with John Banks second and David Murfet third. Anthony scored a double from myself in second and Jammy third in the DF race. Race 5 and Bruce Rose sailed well from backmarker position to take the win from fellow backmarker Andrew Wardrop and Chris Wood also sailing well to take third place. George swapped boats and classes and took the win in the DF's with myself second, Jammy third and Anthony fourth. The final race for the series went to Denis Lees with Bruce on the podium again in second place and Chris Wood with a second podium for the day in third place. Anthony took the gun in the DF's with Jammy second, myself third and George fourth. Final results for the day saw the IOM Plonk Trophy go to JB with 14 points from second place Denis Lees with 18 points and third placed Bruce Rose with 22 points on countback from Chris Wood. I managed a win in the DF's with 9 points, on countback from Anthony in second and Jammy third with 12 points. No sailing this Sunday as it is Father's Day as you well know. Next Wednesday is purely IOM Handicap and the following Sunday is the final round of the IOM Winter Series, Round 6, with racing from 11:00 AM. Till then, wet sails. Stuart Dawes.
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Another pleasant late winter's day at the Brook for Round 5 of the Marblehead Winter Series. Sailing conditions on the dam were far from ideal to say the least with frustratingly variable winds in both direction and strength from calm to B Rig at times, coming from the NNW through to the WSW, the calm periods resulting of the raising of the "AP flag" at times. With those wind conditions, setting a course was a challenge, but we ended up switching between two courses depending on the Brook's mood at the time. The course for the first couple of races with the wind coming form the dam wall direction was start between 1 and 2, tight reaching port start up to 3 for a close to windward leg out to the wing mark 9, run down to mark 1, a second lap with a shy reach down to the outside gate mark after the wing mark, then a shortish leg to finish between 1 and 2: definitely an around the bouys track. When the wind was in the more usual "down the dam" direction and more conducive to windward/leeward, the course was Course 2 in the Course Book, start between 1 and 2, windward leg up to 6 into 5, cross over run down to 4 and into 3, back up to 6 and 5 then run down to the gate and finish between 1 and 2. Race 1 line honours went to John Hall, pipping yours truly for second with Ray Joyce ever competitive in third spot. Race 2 saw Peter Sylvester return from his winter escape to take the win from Ray in second place and John on the podium again in third place. Race 3 and a course change saw my only highlight of the day after rounding the last mark in 6th position, splitting from the fleet out to the west and hooking up with a timely westerly to take the win from Andrew Wardrop and John Hall in second and third respectively. Race 4 saw another win for John, a second for Wayne Behrens and a third for Ray. After the first drop, John led the fleet with 5 points, myself in second 8 points, Ray third with 8 points as well, Andrew fourth with11 points and Peter rounding out the top five with 13 points. Wayne Behrens took the gun in Race 5 with myself second and Ray third. Peter sailed well again in Race 6 to take the gun from John Hall second and myself on the podium as well. Race 7 saw a win for Michael Hickman with Peter backing up his previous win with a second place and John Hall sailing consistently with another podium having only missed the podium in one of the previous races. Race 8 and Peter continued with his good form to take the win from John Hall and Ray Joyce. After the second drop, John Hall still led the fleet with 12 points, a handy 5 points ahead of second placed Peter Sylvester who leap frogged from fifth position after the first drop, with 17 points, Ray in third place with 18 points, myself in fourth on 19 points and Andrew Wardrop rounding out the five with 24 points. Race 9 line honours went to Ray Joyce with Peter "on fire" in second place and the F3 of yours truly in third place. Race 10 saw a second win for Michael Hickman with Wayne Behrens in second place and Peter backing up his previous results with another podium in third spot. The final race for the day, Race 11 went to Peter with Michael second and Ray third. Final results and a solid afternoon's performance saw overall victory go to Peter Sylvester with 23 points from second placed John Hall just 1 point in arrears and third place going to Ray Joyce with 27 points. Next Sunday is Father's Day and there is no official racing. This coming Wednesday, racing is for both IOM's (usual handicap series) and DF95's (scratch series). The following Sunday is the final round of the IOM Winter Series with racing from 11:00 AM. Till then, wet sails. Stuart Dawes.
Forecast for the day was north to northwesterly 10 to 20 knots tending west to northwesterly during the morning although at the Brook it was the other way round with a fairly consistent NNW breeze of around 10 knots during the morning, lightening around noon and tending westerly in the afternoon. Eleven skippers fronted for Round 5 of the IOM Scratch Series and conceded to the B Rig for the start of racing. PRO duties were allocated via the skippers list method with all bar one of the skippers having done their duty during Round 4, leaving Peter Darcy to get the show on the road. Course was set to the standard Course 1; start between 1 and 2, windward beat up to 6 and into 5, cross over down to 4 and into 3, back up to 6 and 5 before a final run down to the gate and short windward beat to finish between 1 and 2. Race 1 line honours went to Lisa Blackwood with Ray Joyce second and yours truly third. After a rather ordinary result in the first race, Race 2 saw one of the Brook's masters, Michael Hickman take the win from Lisa again on the podium, as too Ray with second and third place finishes respectively. Race 3 saw a double for Michael with myself second and David Jones on the podium in third place. Race 4 and a hat trick to Michael with Ray up for a second podium and Lisa her third podium in 4 races. With the breeze fading, lunch was called a little earlier and after the first drop, Michael led the fleet with 3 points from Lisa on 5 points, third place was Ray one point behind with 6 points, fourth was yours truly with 9.3 points and Peter Darcy rounding out the top five with 13.7 points. Racing resumed with skippers changing up to the A Rig and with the westerly shift, the course was changed to start between 1 and 2, up to 6 and into 5, a windward beat of a tack or two out to the wing mark 9, shy reach down to the bottom mark 7 of the gate, 2 laps finish between 1 and 2. Race 5 and another win from Michael with Lisa keeping him honest in second and Matt Gray finally turning up and on the water to take the third spot. Race 6 and the form continued for Michael with yet another bullet for five in a row, Lisa still on his tail with a double in second place and a minor podium for Wasabi. With Michael in the PRO's seat for Race 7, Wayne Behrens took advantage to take the gun from Matt and yours truly in second and third spot. Race 8 and the form continued with another win for Michael with the Silver Fox in second place and Ray in third. After the second drop, no prizes for guessing the leader; Michael leading comfortably with 6 points, Lisa second with 13.6 points, Ray third with 15.6 points, myself fourth with 20 points and Darcy rounding out the top five with 24.7 points. Race 9 and a bit of drama with no. 35 sailing off to Clarkies Bay on its own accord forcing Lisa to DNF and miss several races. The wind had swung back to the right and the course was changed back to the morning's Course 1. Ray took the gun from Michael in an unusual second spot with Matt finishing in third place. Lisa's DNF dropped her to third spot in the fleet with Ray now in second place overall. Race 10 saw another win for Wayne Behrens with John Hall making his only podium for the day in second place and Ray sailing consistently well into third place. After Race 10, Lisa had dropped to fourth with Wasabi now in third place. Race 11 and the domination continued with another win from Michael with Matt finishing second and Darcy third. With Lisa still off the water, she dropped to fifth place on the leader board. Race 12 was the final race for the day and with no. 35 back on the water, some "damage control" was sought, however Lisa wasn't able to hold off Wayne Behrens taking line honours from herself in second and Michael slightly off song with a third place. Wayne's win meant he was the only skipper other than Michael to have multiple wins for the day. Final results and a complete schooling of the fleet in how to master the Brook's enigma's saw Michael Hickman slaughter the fleet to win with 14.2 points, streets ahead of second place Ray Joyce with 35.3 points and third place going to yours truly with 37.9 points. Next Sunday is Round 5 of the Winter Series for Marbleheads with racing from 11:00 AM. Till then, wet sails. Stuart Dawes.
A cold and light, funky southerly kept skippers on their toes today for the mid-week series. A relatively small fleet of 8 IOMs and 3 DF95s fronted for the day's racing with Wayne Behrens in the PRO's seat. Course for the day was start between 3 and 4, up to 1 and out to 2, run down to either 6 and 5 or the 0 mark dependant on the class, and finish between 3 and 4. Handicaps were the usual deal for the IOM's while the DF95's started on "scratch" 30 seconds after the last IOM backmarker was off. Race 1 went to Wayne Turner off scratch with John Smith also off scratch in second place and 30 second starter John Banks filling the top three. Race 2 saw the Silver Fox Peter Darcy show cunning to take line honours from 1:30 with David Murfet off scratch second and backmarker Ray Joyce third. Race 3 and Jammy Jones stole the show from the back to take the gun from Darcy starting off 2 minutes in second place and Ray Joyce on the podium again starting from 1:40. Race 4 and Jammy notched up a double from the back of the starting list with Darcy also overhauling the fleet to take second spot and Stuart Harris taking third place from a 1:30 start. Race 5 went to front marker John Smith off 20 seconds with Ray Joyce off 1:50 and David Jones off 2:30 finishing in second and third spot respectively. The final race of the day went to John Smith for his second win of the day with Stu Harris second and Ray filling the minor podium place. Final results for the IOMs saw Peter Darcy take the win by 1 point from John Smith in second, on countback from Ray Joyce for third, both on 15 points. In the DF95s, number 39 had 5 wins and a second to take the series from second place Andrew Wardrop on countback from Anthony Castray third, both with 11.5 points. Sunday is Round 5 of the IOM Winter Scratch Series with racing from 11:00 AM. Till then, wet sails. Stuart Dawes
A fine and mild late winters day at the Brook for the August Long Distance Series with forecast north westerlies at 15 to 20 knots for the greater Derwent Estuary. Winds on the brook were not as strong or "north westerly" as modelled by the BOM, but the prevailing wind strength for todays long distance racing was B rig most of the time and a brave skipper that thought about A rig. The ten skippers that fronted all rigged with the number 2 rig and average speed would have been 8 knots with faster puffs to maybe 12+ knots at times, and a few softer patches, dependant on which course we sailed, where the A rig would have been better, but... To keep things interesting with the long distance series we sailed alternating courses between the normal long distance course using the bottom gate and finish at the starting line, and a two lap circuit of all the bouys of the regular sailing area; Start between 1 and 2 up to the 0 mark off the second ramp, broad running reach out side the wing mark 9, gybing down to the outside gate mark 8, all bouys to port, 2 laps and beat to finish at the starting line. Add to that the handicaps; David Murfet, John Banks and Les Hanson were all on the gun off scratch and the rest of the fleet were off 1 minute, the podium for each race getting the usual handicap adjustments. Race 1 and it was the bouys course to start with that allowed inform skipper Rod Jackman, starting with the 1 minute handicap, to out sail the fleet and take the gun and another 30 seconds, from the Silver Fox, Peter Darcy, also off 60, in second place with fellow backmarker Ray Joyce sailing well as usual into third place. Race 2 saw Stuart Harris off 60 seconds, beat the fleet around the bouys with Les Hanson doing well sailing into second place and "Sir" Rodney on the podium again from a 90 second handicap. Race 3 was sailed on the normal long distance course which suited Ray Joyce with a commanding win from Bruce Rose, both off 60 seconds, and the Silver Fox on the podium from 1:20 behind in third place. Race 4 was back around the bouys and starting off 1 minute, I managed to pick the "right" way to get round them taking the gun, but only just from Ray Joyce who started at the back on 1:40 in second place, and Andrew Wardrop also off 60 showing good boat speed to take out third place. At the lunch break and the first drop, Ray Joyce led the fleet with 6 points from Rod Jackman in second with 8 points, yours truly third with 10 points, Darcy 1 point back in fourth place and Bruce Rose rounding out the top five with 13 points. A hearty sav or two was enjoyed by those that were willing! The afternoon session got under way with Race 5 up to the Bay mark and The Silver fox bolted from 1:30 to win by a very comfortable margin from second place scratch marker John Banks, and yours truly off 1:30 as well, filling the minor podium position. Race 6 around the bouys saw the only double win of the day with Darcy, now starting last off 2 minutes, give another lesson in long distance sailing and take line honours from Stu Harris sailing well off 90 seconds, as too was Bruce Rose finishing in third place. Race 7 was the final "long" course for the day and John Banks off 20 seconds connected all the shifts to get the gun from Wasabi off 1:40 in second place after a good battle with Andrew Wardrop in third place. With one race to go the fleet was led by the Silver Fox, Peter Darcy with 18 points, second was Ray with 19 points, myself 3 points behind in third place, Andrew and Stu Harris rounding out the top five with 25 and 29 points. Race 8 was the last race for the day and back around the bouys. Rod clawed back most of the fleet off 2:10 to take the final gun from another ding dong battle between myself and Andrew in second and third place respectively. Final results and an unexpected win for Wasabi with 17 points by 1 point from Peter Darcy in second place, with Ray Joyce another 1 point behind in third place overall. Weed was still a bit of a headache, particularly for Rod who DNF'ed in three races and the final results may have been different had that not been the case, but that's the luck of the day! All skippers enjoyed the variety of course for the long distance format and we will carry this forward for future long distance days. Wednesday is the usual handicap series and with all the positive feed back of the last IOM/DF95 format, with Stu's permission of course, I invite DF95 skippers to bring their boats this Wednesday. Sunday is Round 5 of the IOM Winter Series with racing from 11:00 AM. Till then, wet sails. Stuart Dawes.
Another pleasant winter's day at the Brook for the usual Wednesday Handicap Series with a BOM forecast of north to north westerly winds between 10 and 15 knots and that was pretty much bang on for the relatively small number of 8 skippers that fronted for the day's racing. Anthony Castray kindly offered his services as PRO and after administering the handicaps, got the racing underway with Race 1. Course was the usual one lap affair; start between 1 and 2, windward beat up to 6 then into 5, run down to the bottom gate and beat to finish between 1 and 2. Wind speed for the first race was around 5 to 8 knots with the odd puff burying the IOM's noses and testing the skippers boat handling skills on the run. John Banks took the gun from Wayne Banks in second and yours truly finishing third. Race 2 went to David Murfet with Stuart Harris second and Andrew Wardrop rounding out the podium. With the wind building to 10 to 12 knots and a lot more "ballet" on the run of Race 2, skippers changed to B Rig for Race 3 with line honours going to "Sir" Rodney Jackman with Andrew Wardrop second and myself also on the podium in third place. Race 4 saw another win to Rod with Stuart Harris second and Dave Murfet finishing in third place. What was to be the final race of the day, Race 5 saw David Jones first to cross the finish line with myself second and Rod crossing in third place. Despite a few minor equipment failures and the odd piece of weed causing a nuisance, racing was close and an enjoyable day was had by all skippers. Final results and the "Plonk" Trophy went to Rod Jackman with 9 points from second placed Stuart Harris on 12 points and third placed David Murfet on 16 points, on countback from John Banks. Next Sunday is Long Distance with racing from 11:00 AM. Til then, wet sails. Stuart Dawes.
Round 4 of the Marblehead Winter Series and rather calm conditions greeted the six skippers that fronted for the days' racing. While the BOM forecast was for west to northwest winds of 5 to 15 knots, turning to the east-northeast by midday then turning northerly by evening, the Brook offered 1 to 4 knots maybe, initially from the prevailing NNW but swinging to the west then southwest and easing to almost calm conditions for the last few races. Apart from that, the day turned out quite pleasant and sunny after a rather cool start to the morning. Dave Murfet and Stu Harris also turned up to exercise their "club spirit" and as Dave was going to be around for the day to do PRO duties, Stu was "dismissed" and assigned to spectator status. Rod Jackman and Anthony Castray also turned up later, Anthony to shoot some video of Ray Joyce's new Katana design Marblehead that is proving to live up to it's two wheeled namesake, the Suzuki GSX1100R. Great bike in it's day, but I digress. New member and Commodore of Montrose Bay YC, Rod Marshall also turned up to sort out some "bits and pieces" for his newly acquired trio of IOM's from the late (and missed) Alan Furmage collection. We also had a visit from a gentleman, a seasoned skipper with a Sydney to Hobart or two under his belt who's name I can't recall, enquiring about membership and options on which class to start with. With the late morning breeze being fairly steady from the NNW, the course was set to Course 1; start between 1and 2, up to 6 then 5, short run down to 4 and into 3, back up to 6 and 5, then the standard run down to the gate and finish between 1 and 2. Race 1 and first up line honours went to John Hall, yours truly second and Wayne Behrens, sailing Alan's old Marblehead, third. A win for the F3 in Race 2 with Ray Joyce getting in the mix with a second and Andrew Wardrop on the podium as well in third place. With more breeze in the top half of the course, the course was changed with the start between 3 and 4, up to 6 and 5, back to 4 and 3, two laps, finish on the run between 3 and 4. Race 3 and a second win for John Hall, Wayne Behrens with a second and a another podium for the F3 taking out third place. Race 4 and I took the gun from Wayne in second and Ray warming up with his second podium and a third. After the first drop, I held a 1 point lead from John Hall on 5 points, Wayne Behrens 2 points adrift with 7 points, Ray Joyce in fourth with 9 points, Andrew Wardrop fifth with 14 points and Les Hanson rounding out the fleet with 17 points. With the breeze waning after Race 4, lunch was called. Conditions after lunch were even lighter and the course was shortened to just the one lap up to 6 and 5, then down to 2 and 1 then back to the finish. Race 5 line honours went to Wayne with Ray sailing into second place and Andrew sailing into third. Race 6 saw John's third win for the day with Ray Joyce notching up another 2 points in second and Wayne with another third place. A double for John in Race 7 and a hat trick of seconds for Ray, with Wayne making up the podium as well. The final few races saw another course change with the wind now more from the SW and a course from the start between 3 and 4, up to 2 and into 1, run down to 6 and 5 then finish between 3 and 4. Race 8 and Ray had come to grips with his new racer with the first of a hat trick of wins, John second and myself third. After the second drop, John held a small but comfortable lead considering the size of the fleet with 9 points, Ray had jumped up the leader board from fourth after Race 4 to second place with 12 points, yours truly sliding down the board to third place on 14 points, Wayne 1 point in arrears in fourth place, Andrew fifth with 28 points and Les Hanson sixth with 31 points. Race 9 and Ray tightened the screws with another win from the F3 in second and John sailing consistently well into third place. The final race for the day, Race 11 saw Ray notch up the hat trick with Wayne finishing second and John rounding out the podium. Final results for the day and an impressive domination of the very light conditions of the afternoon, with a hat trick of seconds followed by a hat trick of wins saw Ray Joyce win the day by 1 point from John Hall in second place on 15 points and yours truly third with 20 points. Ray's steed, with it's impressive "gold" bulb, has an incredible pointing ability and I see it as being the boat to beat in future Marblehead racing at RBRYC. Next Sunday is Long Distance with racing from 11:00 AM and either a BBQ or Saveloy lunch, which ever takes the fancy of our culinary chef and Rear Commodore, John Banks. Till then, wet sails. Stuart Dawes.
BOM forecast was for 10 to 15 knots from the south/southwest tuning westerly by mid-day but in reality was out by a factor of 10 with 1 to 1.5 knots on average, building to 5 to 8 knots around mid-day, from a roughly southerly direction. Add to that the topographical effects of the Brook and variations from east to west were experience by the thirteen skippers that fronted for the midweek series. Seven skippers brought their IOM's and 6 skippers brought their DF95's including the addition of David Jones' and Wayne Behrens' new Dragon Flites. Ray Joyce took control of the mob as PRO and many thanks go to him. With the new 1 + 5 minute handicap start sequence in use, handicaps for the IOM's were allocated with no real surprises. Alan McKenzie was off scratch, John Smith and Wayne Turner off 30 seconds, David Murfet and John Banks off 1 minute and the two backmarkers, Stuart Harris and Bruce Rose off 1 minute 30. The DF95's all started "off scratch" starting after the IOM's on the 3 minute mark. Course for the one lap races was start between 3 and 4, up to 1 and out to 2, run down to 6 and into 5 and a moderate beat back up to finish between 3 and 4. With the westerly swing later on, the top marks were reversed with a cross over down to 6, keeping the start line to starboard. Race1 saw John Banks take the win in the IOM's from Stuart Harris in second and Wayne Turner third. In the DF's, line honours went to yours truly with Chris Wood second and Anthony Castray third. Race 2 saw the previous top three IOM's mix it up with Stuart Harris beating Wayne Turner in second and John Banks all on the podium again. In the DF95's, Anthony Castray took the gun from myself in second and Jammy taking the first podium with his new boat in third. Bruce Rose took line honours for the IOM's in Race 3 with Stu Harris grabbing another second and John Smith rounding out the top three. Chris Wood got the judges nod in the Dragon Flites with myself second and Anthony third. After lunch, racing resumed with the Commodore taking the win from Wayne Turner and Stu Harris third in the IOM's. I grabbed another win in the DF95's with Andrew Wardrop finally getting on the podium in second and David Jones notching up another third place. Race 5 IOM winner was Stu Harris on the podium every race so far followed home by David Murfet and Alan McKenzie sailing well into third spot. A double for yours truly with Chris Wood second and Andrew Wardrop third in the DF's. The final race of the series saw Bruce Rose grab a second win from second placed Wayne Turner and third placed John Smith on the podium again. In the DF fleet, I took a hat trick from Anthony Castray second and Chris Wood third. Winner of the Plonk Trophy in the IOM's was Stuart Harris with a comfortable 5 point win from Bruce Rose on 14 points and scratch marker John Smith taking third place on countback from Wayne Turner both on 16 points. A comfortable win also for number 39 in the DF's with 6 points from second place Chris Wood on 12 points, 1 point ahead of third placed Anthony Castray on 13 points. The mixed fleet racing worked very well, I must say. One small negative for the day was when an infrequent skipper turned up. After the Commodore informed him of the ring road entry requirements for vehicles, David was subsequently told where to go and the person drove off again. With that attitude, people like that are NOT welcome at RBRYC. Sunday sees Round 4 of the Marblehead Winter Series with racing from 11:00 AM. Til then, wet sails. Stuart Dawes.
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