It was mirror calm on the Derwent when I drove over the bridge and so I was surprised to find a gentle Northerly on the dam. This breeze strengthened throughout the morning and shifted pretty much around the compass throughout the day which kept us on our toes. Rain threatened after lunch but not more than a few drops which was good seeing that the city experienced a real downpour.
 
We welcomed guest skipper Fred Barratt who was testing a new self built design. Not Fred’s first rodeo this. He was the architect of some of the yachts in our fleet and has worked for Sparkman and Stephens in the past. Many club members will remember Fred’s uncle, Ron Barratt, a former member of our club. We hope to see you regularly Fred.
 
The podium was well shared around today. Buzzy, Ray and myself all had race wins but shared tail end honors in the overall standings!
 
Third place overall went to John Hall who stole the spot on count-back after a tie on points with Rob Cooney. Today was John’s last race for a while as he will be spending the next month holidaying in Europe with his wife. All the best for a great trip John!
 
Second went to Commodore Rod Marshall again sailing his woody.
 
And it was a woody taking overall honors too as it  Rick Price won the day 5 points clear ahead of Rod. Congratulations Ricky, Rod and John.

Club Shirts - Rod has been very busy investigating club shirts for us and has found asupplier of quality shirts, both long sleeve and short sleeve, embroidered with the RBRYC logo on them. They are going to cost around $35. A number of members ahve tried some samples on and have given an initial order to Rod. If you would like a shirt, please contact Rod for further detail and options. The sizes are from S to 4XL. As an indication, Rod is in a L, and Kyle is 2XL.
 
Coming Up
Sunday: IOM Scratch at the dam - button press at 10:00

Next Wednesday: It will be DF95 handicap at the dam - 11:00 button
 
John S

​Risdon Brook hosted the 2023 installment of the Tasmanian A Class State Championship ove this last weekend.

A total of just 12 races this year, with yesterday being completely glassed out after lunch and only 3 completed on the first day, meaning another 9 got completed today. Luckily, we thought that the day was going to repeat itslef with a 90 minute lunch break once the river turned to glass. Not much hope of continuing, but a wonderful 8 knot sea breeze filled in and we finished the afternoon today with another 3 races in absolute champagne conditions.

Unfortunately, along with the very still conditions yesterday, we were cruelled with an amount of weed on the course, so today we decided to sail in front of the MBYC clubrooms, which provided a much improved area to sail in the very light conditions.

After lunch, the sea breeze threatened for a while and finally made it in to us, with a wonderful 8 knot southerly blowing through. We went back tot he original course and had three great races to finish the day off.

Although a lot of luck helped yesterday, consistency was the key today, with the podioum winnner all staying amongst the top 6 throughout the event.

Ted Stevens, our regular northener, took out third position for the championship. Very well deserved with three race wins over the weekend. Finishing on 34 points.

Second was Michael Hickman on 26 points. Cruelled a few times with weed, but never complained and just got stuck in to sailing the best race with whatever came at him.

The winner of the championship this year, was Kyle Stewart, on 21 points. Very consistent throughout and the yacht was set up just nicely for the conditions.

Big thanks to Les for the PRO work throughout the weekend. Thanks also to Stu dawes and Ray Joyce who came to help out today as well.

Also, thanks to Ian Dickinsona nd Ted Stevens for travelling down to compete in the event. I am sure you guys really enjoyed the weekend, and we look forward to reciprocating soon.

Coming Up

Wednesday is IOM Mid Week Handicap, at the dam with button press at 11am

Next Sunday is IOM Scratch at the dam, button press at 10am.

Kyle

There was a nice Northerly of 10-15 knots blowing down the dam when we arrived this morning, but as the day proceeded it became variable and gusty. The prevailing Northerly dropped to less than 4 knots, sometimes nothing at all but often it was punctuated with gusts of up to 15 knots from the North-West and South-West together with sprinkles of rain. On days like today you need both skill and luck, and both in good measure.
 
Race 5 saw a blanket finish when a light Southerly swept the back of the fleet up to the leaders right at the finish line. It was just as well that both Lisa and Graeme were vigilant and on the finish line to sort out the finishing order. Lisa had her new A-class in action again today. It looked beautiful on the water- A-Class yachts do. She should be ready for the weekend’s championship.
 
It was good to have Peter Webberley and Andrew Price joining the Wednesday group today. Both scored race wins too!
 
As far as the overall positions went; Ray Joyce finished third today. Not a bad result too, as his handicap meant that he began the day giving even his nearest competitor 20 seconds head-start.
 
I managed second place – the two discards helped my cause quite a lot.
 
And it was Wayne Behrens who stole the day with consistent sailing and a couple of race wins in the mix. Congratulations Buzzy!
 
COMING UP:
 
Saturday and Sunday: A-Class State Championships Montrose. Saturday briefing at 10:15 for a 10:30 button. Helpers and spectators are welcome!
Next Wednesday: IOM handicap racing at the dam. 11:00 button.
 
John S

​Wasn't on site today - so no report as such.

From the results, Stu Dawes had another really good day, taking out first place with 13.7 points.

Ray Joyce took second, on 16pts.

Lisa Blackwood rounded out the top three on 19.4pts.

On handicap, Ray Joyce took the honouirs with 3 net points, with Michael Hickman and Phil Turnbull sharing second on 2 net points.

On Wednesday, we have IOM Handicap at Risdon Dam, button press at 11am.

Next week is the A Class State Championships, at Montrose on Saturday and Sunday. Button press for first race on both days is 1030, with registration etc starting from 0900. If you have yet to put in your entry, please get it in as soon as possible. We do have 10 entries, but it would be great to get some more.


Kyle

The dam welcomed skippers with a lovely sunny day and a cool Northerly of about 12 knots. Pretty well perfect conditions for IOM yachts so I was a little surprised that we didn’t have a bigger turn-out today. The wind died just a little throughout the day but we were able to complete a full complement of 10 races.
 
It was good to see the replacement of buoy-8 which gave us greater choice when it came to setting courses.
 
Good sailing conditions leads to a high race completion rate, and today we had pretty close to all boats finishing all races. It was close racing too and in most races the entire fleet finished within one minute.
 
Third overall today was Rod Jackman who stole the position from Andrew Wardrop, after a count-back due to a tie on points.
 
Peter Turner took second place with two race wins on his score-sheet.
 
And today’s winner was John Hall. A welcome return to the winner’s circle for John after a few fairly lean weeks – and well deserved too as the result was achieved with consistent placings. Well done Rod, Peter and John.
 
COMING UP!
 
Saturday: There will be a working bee starting at 10am to complete the much needed maintenance on the buoys at Montrose.  Please come if you can make it.
 
Sunday: DF95 scratch racing at Risdon Brook Dam - 10:00 button
 
Next Wednesday: IOM handicap sailing at Risdon Brook Dam - 11:00 button.

The following weekend, 26th and 27th August is A Class State Championship at Montrose. Please get your entries in as soon as possible, with entries closing this Sunday and late entries the following Friday.
 
John S

​A cool and still day greeted the six sailors who could make it today.

Very difficult to set courses with the wind not wanting to play the game with us, but we managed to get the courses in as best we could int he circumstances. 

Just the ten races were completed today, with some delays throughout while waiting for a breeze to set in somewhere.

Given the difficulty of the conditions, it was remarkable that our winner of the day, Stuart Dawes, was able to maintain such consistency where he had to drop a 2nd place for one of his drops!!! Luck in those conditions gets you somewhere sometimes, but to be this consistent shows the skill level required to be always in the first few. A very well deserved win today on just 12 points.

Second place today was Ray Joyce on 21 points, closely followed by Kyle Stewart in third, on 23 points.

It needs to be noted that there was a lot of close racing today, with just 5 points separating 2nd and 5th place overall today. A very good standard of competition.

Big thanks to Les, for his efforts as Pro today. The wind certainly made things difficult for him today.

This coming Wednesday will see the IOM's at Risdon Dam for their regular IOM Mid Week Handicap - button press at 11am.

On Saturday, we will be having another working bee - to get the buoys set at Montrose in preparation for the following weeks A Class State Championship. We will be opening up from 1030 and hope nott o be too long. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Next Sunday is DF95 Scratch at the dam, starting at 10am. Following this, we plan to have a sail of the A Class yachts as well, but at Montrose from 2pm for anyone interested.

Kyle

The conditions for todays IOM handicap event were sunny but cool with a nice 12 knot katabatic blowing straight down Risdon Brook dam. The breeze gradually died throughout the day but only in the last race were we left without wind.
A good turnout of 16 skippers fronted for racing today but unfortunately Pete Sylvester succumbed to winch problems in the warm-up scratch events.
A nice feature of today’s racing was seeing the ‘woodies’ excel in races 7 and 8. In both of these races the woodies took the first four places.
And it was the woodies holding the podium in overall positions too! Rod Marshall took 3rd spot sailing his wooden Blitz 5 this week. Ricky Price was second - doubling up on the same position he took last week. And Phil Jackman took out the day, just 1.5 points ahead. Congratulations Rod, Ricky and Trout!
One of the helpful packer-uppers has left a blue jacket in the dinghy today. If it is yours, it is still there, so you can collect it next time and shiver in the cold meanwhile!


Coming up!
Saturday: The A Class yachts are coming out at MBYC for a sail. If you have an "A" and are free on the day, please come down to enjoy some relaxing sailing. A few members are testing their yachts in preparation for the upcoming A States. If you'd like to have a sail but don't ahve one, let Kyle know as there are a few spare complete yachts, ready to sail. Sailing starts at 10:30

Sunday: Marblehead Southern Championships at Risdon Brook Dam - 10:30 button
Next Wednesday: IOM handicap at Risdon Brook Dam - 11:00 button


John S

​Fickle and light N-NW mixed with a bit from the south and east today for the 14 skippers who fronted for the 5th round of the IOM IWnter Scratch Series.

Very difficult conditions to master, with there being multiple occasions where a front running yacht after one lap was spat out the back by the end of the race. I think we all were tinged with a hint of good fortune on some occasions and harsh fortune on others - such is sailing.

The light conditions had us sailing a few less races than normal - even though Les tried his hardest to push through the races as effieicntly as possible.

Two skippers debuted their yachts for Sunday competiton, with Rod Jackmans new K-2 showing real promise, winning a few races today, and Andrew Price having his first sail of his V10, taking a 3rd spot during the day and showing some real good speed.

Ten races were completed bythe close oft he days sailing, with some really close finishes, both in the individual races, and overall at the end of the day.

Mat Gray was most consistent today, with 5 race wins, taking him to the top of the leaderboard with 19 points.

Michael Hickman was equally as consistent - no race wins but a worst counted score of just 3 to take out second spot, just one behind on 20.

Lisa Blackwood was a further two points in arrears, holding third spot with 22 points.

On handicap today, Rod Marshall took out first place with 4 net points, with John Cole Cook in second with 3 net points and Andrew Price rounding out the top 3 with 2 net points.

Wednesday sees IOM Mid Week handicap at the dam, with button press at 11am.

Next Sunday is the RM Southern Championship at the dam. Registraton from 0930 and briefing at 1015. If you intend on sailing, please get your entry in as they close tonight.

Kyle