A great turnout today, with twelve skippers at the dam for some fun racing. Extremely light conditions apparently.
 
Great to see that Chris Wood and Geoff Matthews have returned for some action after some well earned time away.
 
Looks like Phil Turnbull has evaded the handicappers pen with a fantastic win on 15 points, with Chris Wood also in the handicappers spotlight next week, coming second on 18 points. Lost nothing during the break, Chris. Geoff Matthews came in third, on 27 points.
 
From conversations at the committee meeting tonight, the day was a very enjoyable one, with some fantastic racing.
 
We wont have racing this Sunday, being Fathers Day, so enjoy time with your families, and we hope to see you at the dam next Wednesday, for the September DF95 racing day. Please note – if you do not have a DF95, please still feel welcome to come and sail your yacht. We do want to club to be as inclusive as possible for all of our sailors as much as we can.

What a great day for the last round of the IOM Winter Series. Mid to top end of B rig for much of the day. We had 7 sailors turn up for the day, with David graciously pulling out to do the PRO job for the day, which was done in a typical no-nonsense and efficient manner. Eleven races were held, and of the six on the water, four took wins, so it was a good spread amongst the sailors. That said, John Cole-Cook shone with his consistency, with one of his throwouts being a 3rd place, so it was no surprise in the end that he won the round on 16 points. John was followed by Tony Brewer on 21, and Kyle Stewart in 3rd (on countback from Ray Joyce) on 23 points.

In all, a really enjoyable day. Next IOM “series” event will be the resumption of the Summer Series at MBYC, but we have quite an amount of sailing still at the dam before then. IOM Winter Series results will be published following our Christmas function and presentation lunch. As a tease, only 3 points separated 1st and 3rd place for the Winter series!!!!
 
This coming Wednesday is the usual Mid Week Handicap day, but next weekend is a weekend off to spend time with family for Fathers day, then Sunday racing will resume with the last round of the RM Scratch Winter Series on 9th September.
 
Looking forward to a great turnout this coming Wednesday.

​It was very pleasing to get back to some sailing today after a couple of weeks of very poor weather. Twelve skippers were greeted by a top of A rig northerly breeze that held in during the early scratch racing and then began to fade as morning progressed, nevertheless we enjoyed some excellent and close racing with the handicapper working hard to even out the results.
Good to see Wayne Behrens back sailing with some rusty tactics and also good to see Scott Rappl sailing with his IOM which usually sails at Lauderdale on Sundays. He put in some sound performances. 
By the end of the handicap series Kim Potter had outsmarted the handicapper & his opponents to (again) claim the bottle of wine.
A very pleasant mornings sailing.

​It was a cold & blustery day that greeted 8 skippers who fronted the dam on Wednesday.
Only 6 decided to compete in winds that to put it mildly were difficult with at times violent gusts & then holes with no wind.
Rod's V8 & Rays BP were clearly superior in the conditions.
At lunch time the wind dropped out so we decided to call it a day. We shall try again next Wednesday 

A small, but keen contingent of sailors turned up today for round 5 of the RM Winter Series. They were greeted with mild and very calm conditions. With just enough wind to get around the course – sometimes a bit less. Four races were completed until a slightly early lunch was called due to the lack of pressure on the water. After lunch, the same continued, until finally, a good breeze settled in from the north, and the skippers very quickly changed from their A rigs to C/C2 rigs to complete the last two races with some fantastic conditions. Some weed was evident, and most of the skippers were fouled up at some stage, but overall it was a very enjoyable day. Final results had John Cole-Cook edge out Ray Joyce by just one point, with Andrew Wardrop just one point further back in 3rd.
Welcome back to the Dam John Cole-Cook, who has returned from a trip to the mainland, and a big thanks to David Murfet, who again came along to help out with the Pro duties.

​A good day at the dam today with 13 skippers fronting up to the starter to begin half hour of teams racing.
The fleet was divided into 4 with each of the 3 team skippers allocated a starting position. The first race was a little long so the next two races were shortened which made racing much quicker and as everyone got into the swing of the concept some close action was enjoyed.
The breeze was from the north, then boxed the compass and lightened off as the morning progressed. Not sure which team won as the recording of the finishes left a bit to be desired - it will improve next time.
 
At 11 am the handicap series with a few scratch races thrown in commenced . Seven races were completed in some trying conditions. In the second last race, Wayne Turner came around the gate with a commanding lead, and tacked inshore for the line & then came to a stop, whilst the rest of the fleet stayed in the middle and passed him. But if you think that’s frustrating Wayne, look at the faces of the golfers in the club who have a constant look of frustration and pain on their faces.
 
In the end, the day was taken out by a very consistent Richard Barwick (watch out for the handicappers pen next month) on 16 points, with Wayne Behrens in second (24), closely followed by Col Johnson on 27 points.
 
A quick, informal meeting was held at the end of the lunch break, advising all skippers that the DF95 sailing on the first Wednesday of each month has been such a success, that the committee has resolved to continue the same pattern for the summer months as well, so DF95’s are now established on the first Wednesday of each month. Summer time to be sailed at Montrose
 
Rob Gavin was taking photos, and no doubt will post them on the website in due course.