The ten DF95 sailors who turned up today were rewarded with a fantastic day. Some good sun and nice breeze. Although we all used our B Rigs for the day, there were times when an A could have been used, but the gusts that were coming through on a regular basis.
 
Les Hanson expertly set out courses for us, with quite a few adjustments made with the wind having multiple personalities throughout. Good close racing ensued throughout the day - a little too close at times at that first mark. We had a mix of five winners today, all the top five places. That said, the racing was really close, with one race having about 40m between the first and last yacht. Many times, a yacht would break out from the pack, only to be hunted down soon before the race was over.
 
At the end of the day, Lisa Blackwood was just too consistent, running away as a clear winner on 23 points. Stuart Dawes finished i second on 31 points, with David Jones a further 8 points back on 39 points in third. Michael Hickman just 3 points further back, on 42 points in fourth.
 
A great days sailing, with some great sun and wind. Spring is here.
 
This coming Wednesday is IOM Handicap, starting at 11am for those that can make it.
 
A reminder, that next Sunday is the start of Daylight Savings, so sailing will be starting from 1pm. There will be a committee prior to the sailing, and it is quite likely that the Summer Scratch Series will resume again from next week, concluding the winter scratch sailing for 2020, of which the Series was cancelled due to Covid.
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​Not much to report from the day. Mid to high B Rig conditions, with 5 heats completed to lunch time.
 
Unfortunately, failures on the yachts caused many to pull out, with just 5 of the 9 competing in that last race.
 
The decision was made to call it a day early after lunch with so few able to sail the afternoon session.

A mid strength B rig breeze greeted the seven sailors who could make it today, which only intensified as the day wore on.

Unfortunately, as happens on days like this, we had quite an attrition rate, as yachts exposed their weakest links. One, a rudder servo failure, another popped its hatch cover and wanted to sail half full of water, another with the side stays parting from the mast and a fourth also with rigging failure. All good to happen now though, so we can make sure everything is just right for the IOM Regatta in a months time.

Back to the sailing, and we had some really good, close racing amongst those on the water. In the end though, consistency again won the day with Ray's Britpop sailing very well in the conditions, also a testament to the hours of work put in to making sure the yacht is ready week after week.

John Hall was also very consistent with his sailing, thoroughly deserving his second place, with Mathew Gray coming in third. He would have been much closer with John, had he not have volunteered his yacht to Stu for the last two races.

I had a close look at Stu's recently completed Goth Woody and he has done a fantastic job building it. Certainly looks a professionally built yacht.

​At 9 am this morning, there was a solid northerly. But, by the time we started at 11, A rigs were the go and we had a number of races prior to lunch in quite light conditions. However, two races before lunch saw a sudden southerly change where boats were spinning and overwhelmed.

Stu Dawes had his new Goth sailing quite well, but as with any one off boat, more development time will be needed.

An excellent fleet of 14 changed down to B rigs for the post lunch racing, with Stu joining John Banks as PRO - thanks to both.

Winner today, was John Cole-Cook on 17 points, again very hard to beat with his Topico. Andrew Wardrop came in second, on 22 points on countback to Wayne Behrens. John Hall, hot on their heels, just one point back in fourth. Nice close racing.
 
A great day again at Montrose

This coming weekend, we have the State A Class Championship in Devonport. We will be ably represented by five of our members, Mike Hickman, Lisa Blackwood, Rod Marshall, Andrew Wardrop and John Cole-Cook. On behalf of the club, we wish you all the best of luck up there.

For the rest of us, we have IOM Scratch on Sunday, commencing at 11am.

​A pleasant day’s sailing for all sailors.
 
Started the day with IOM’s on A rigs, but by the fourth race, the wind came in and we took an early lunch to change to B rigs. We also had two A Class yachts sailing today, with John and Rod doing a tune up for next week’s A Class State Championship.
 
Great to see the Peter’s here today (Sylvester and Darcey), both with their V10’s sailing well.
 
Ray Joyce had an ultra-consistent day, with only 1’s and 2’s counting, giving him the win with just 14 points from the 12 races.
 
Rod Marshall came in second with his Venom A Class, on 30 points
 
Peter Sylvester came in third, on 38 points. Good to see Peter and his V10 communicating with each other a bit better as the day progressed.
 
Interestingly, just 6 points covered 3rd to 7th place today, indicating the closeness of the day’s sailing.