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Well, what a challenging day we had today Started in B Rig conditions, but the wind was all over the place on the water, and for many, it seemed that most tacks were into unseen headers. Very difficult conditions. A very low tide also made things difficult, with event he rescue dinghy finding issue with the lack of depth around stricken yachts. Just eight races were completed, as we had some extended breaks to move buoys out a bit further to reduce the casualty list with grounded yachts. That said, the cream, as always still rises to the top, and this week, Lisa Blackwood came out well on top with just 8 points from the 8 races. Ray Joyce came in in a rare second position on 15, and then we had a three way tie for third, with Rod Marshall on 27 points, taking the place on countback from John Hall and Les Hanson. Unfortunately, a hard day on the water, but we hope to have the championship course set up by next weekend, so when the conditions aren’t entirely favourable, we will have a choice of courses to use. Upcoming events this week
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A glorious day greeted the sailors for the fun sail day. A great turnout of eleven skippers, with three classes represented. We raced a handicap format per class, with the DF95’s on scratch, IOM’s on 1 minute, and RM’s on two minutes.
The handicapper’s decision on the times was very well calculated, and there were many close finishes on the single lap course. Initially, we had quite light, but consistent conditions from the NW, but decided to take a bit of a drink break (it was close to 30C out there), when the wind died right off, but a fresh, but still pretty light sea breeze pushed through and we sailed the rest of the afternoon off the back of that, eventually packing up a bit after 4pm. At a guess, there were 12-15 races in all. The day was enjoyed by all. Great to see a good mix of sailors, young and not so young, new members, regular members, and members who have not been able to turn up quite so much. On the back of this day, I am pretty sure we will do similar on other public holiday and long weekend Sundays maybe. Reminder RM’s sailing this Sunday. If you might be interested in having a sail, but don’t have an RM, I can have a Boogie RM ready to sail on the day. Just let me know so I can have it ready for you. We are also always on the lookout for assistance on the sail days, so if you’d like to have a go at PRO, observing, or rescue boat duties, please call out. A small fleet of 7 boats faced the starter today at 10 am, with a light & variable breeze from the north, slowly going went west until a strong sea breeze came in after lunch. The first hour was scratch racing until 11am, when the handicap series got under way. Picking the shifts was the name of the game during the scratch racing. Good to see Kim Potter back racing, and having success with his V9. Also good to see Paul Jewell sailing his black Pikanto. The bright sunshine and a warm today was very welcome.  With the forward forecast from yesterday, it looked to be a challenging day for the regatta, and it proved to be the case. B Rig was the call for the day, but the gusts did come through very strong. Wind in excess of 18 Knots and gusts getting around the 30 Knot mark. That said, everyone had to sail in the same conditions, so it proved to be a great test for the regatta’s competitors. The day started out as any well drilled regatta should. A tinker with the marks to make sure they were in as close to ideal position as possible, as well as a thorough debrief by PRO Rod Marshall prior to the yachts hitting the water. Call for the day being a single race, yacht check, then groups of three races with a break after. Due to everyone knowing exactly how the races were going to play out, we got 19 races in for the day, which was a wonderful effort by all. Personally, I feel that it was also as much to do with the wonderful help by the many volunteers for the day. Not many local regatta’s of late have had such a great turnout of both competitors and volunteers. On that note, it important to acknowledge the volunteers for the day. Firstly, Rod Marshall, for his control of the day as PRO. Something to be modelled by for future events. Rod’s able assistants, Ken Dobbie and Les Hansen (after he retired racing for the day) as observers and finish sequence observers, Phil Turnbull for his observing as well as dedicated rescue boat handler, and even out to John Cole-Cook, who retired early due to electrical breakdown – and hung around to help out on the rescue boat too. We did have an amount of retirements today, and credit to each of those skippers, they all stayed till the conclusion of the racing, to watch and support their fellow sailors. As a general observer for the day, I felt that showed where the club should be. There must also be a big thanks to all the competitors. The conditions were challenging, and we were not without incident, and losing control of yachts, but the respect and temperament towards each other is a real model for how we aspire to sail at the club. A first for some time with the IOM Class, thanks to Ted Stevens, for making the trip south to compete against us. I have heard that he is already booked in for the State Championship, and is really looking forward to it, so the club is moving in the right direction with out-of-club competitors so keen to return. I know it was mentioned above, but I think it is really important for it to be acknowledged. Today is the first time that I can remember for some time, where we had volunteers for everything, which allowed the competitors to concentrate on their sailing only. PRO and observers all accounting well for themselves, and the multiple rescues were all handled by volunteers and not a competitor switching tasks. I really feel that added a layer of enjoyment for all the sailors involved. On to the results. At lunch time, Rod Jackman held a 2 point lead over Lisa Blackwood, with John Cole-Cook and Wayne Behrens in close pursuit. I tallied up the results with three races to go, and Lisa had jumped out to be two in front of Rod, and Wayne jumping to third. By the end of the day, those positions remained, with Lisa recording a comfortable regatta win on 45 Points, with Rod second, on 60 and Wayne third on 63 Points. Just to show the competitiveness on the day, 4th to 7th place were also within 9 points of each other. And we also had 9 of our 11 competitors record a win. I was ably assisted today with my apprentice, and between us, we got quite a few photos of the days sailing. Once processed, I will post them on the website. On another note, of late, we have had a few of our members going through, or been through some tough situations/times. Your fellow members are thinking of you all and if there is anything we can do, individually or collectively, please call out. We are keen to help out wherever we can. This week, John Cole-Cook departs to compete in the IOM World Championship. As a club, we wish John all the best for the Championship and look forward to seeing the results as they come through. Upcoming events this week
 Today’s healthy IOM fleet of 10 started racing in a cold northerly breeze in top of A rig on the course in front of the clubhouse. The 10 skippers present agreed to scratch racing today and 9 races were completed. The strong early breeze slowly abated until just before lunch, when the breeze failed. But of course, as soon as the boats came ashore for lunch, the breeze picked up again. After lunch the breeze swung more to the east and the slop flattened, making for some interesting course setting and racing. Good to see Phil Jackman sailing with his beautiful woody. We had a visit from Rob Gavin on his Ebike. We haven't seen Rob for some months as he has unfortunately been battling with a cancer. He certainly has lost a lot of weight but now that he is back on his bike, I am sure recovery is on its way. Just a reminder that on show day next week we will be holding the IOM Woody’s Cup, all woody's are of course welcome. As mentioned last week, DF95’s are also invited to sail as well, and if you don’t have either, then bring what you have got or give us a call and we’ll find something for you. We are planning a BBQ at the end of the Woody Cup, so come along and help us all enjoy hopefully the start of a new annual social tradition.  A nice breeze welcomed the RBRYC sailors as they arrived for the opening of the MBYC sailing calendar. RBRYC was well represented and we had some speeches by MBYC Commodore and RBRYC Committee Member Rod Marshall, followed by the official opening speech by club patron Adriana Taylor. A BBQ lunch followed, which was enjoyed by all. Unfortunately, as we were eating lunch, the breeze we had decided to go to lunch as well. It was great to see David Murfet and Peter Sylvester on deck today, not yet racing, but along to support both yacht clubs. It really was good to see you guys. We soon got to the water after lunch and had just two races before we called a small break to wait for some more wind to arrive. It did return, albeit quite a light one. It soon shifted from the North West to a southerly sea breeze, but still very light. We only got six races in before time was called at 4pm. Mike Hickman again was the standout performer on the day, with three wins in the six races. A score of 8 for the day easily took out first place, with John Cole-Cook second on 21 points and David jones taking out 3rd on 21 points. At the end of the day, there were some discussion around structuring the DF95’s possibly every few weeks at MBYC from around 10am through till lunch at 12, then resuming at 1pm for the IOM/RM classes as per normal. If there is enough interest for this, we can easily put this in to place with enough support from our membership. Upcoming events this week
 A bit of a different day today for us. Started late due to a real lack of wind, and only got one race completed before the lunch break. Once that was done, the sky had turned ominously dark and it was only a matter of time before the thunder rolled through. We took a break during the first storm, and was soon out again afterwards. A further 6 races were completed in the afternoon session, before an early finish with a re-run of the earlier storm rolling through again. There were a few difficulties with weed, but nothing too much, and looked like the races that we did get in were enjoyed by all. A welcome to Justin Rogers, who sailed for the first time with us. It was great hearing the help afforded to him by the other members to get him on the water and sailing amongst everyone else. That’s what clubs should be about and great we are following this great example. Justin’s brother, Paul, was also along. Both have signed up as members, so please make them as welcome as they felt today when you meet them. Great also to see Stuart Dawes along sailing. Looking forward to seeing you at more DF events down the track. Some extremely close racing overall, with final positions very close amongst a number of our sailors – including a tied first place. Top three within two points, and fourth to sixth also within just a few points. In the end, Wayne Behrens came away as winner of the regatta, by countback from Lisa Blackwood, with Michael Hickman in third place. Thanks again to Les Hanson and John Hall for helping out with official duties today – as well as the setup and packup crews. Your help, although not always said, is really appreciated. Thanks also to those who helped MBYC with their working bee today. It was great to see the clubs working together to make our facilities better for all users. Hopefully the concrete paths will now remain clearer of the pebbles that are constantly washed over them from the ferries. Upcoming events
There is more information to come after our committee meeting this afternoon, but I’ll send that separately for you all.  A good day for sailing today, with light winds and no weed to speak of. Nine sailors greeted the starters, and for the most part, it looked like quite close racing. With the exception of breakout winner Phil Turnbull (Great job there Phil, but the handicapper has now spoken), it was very close, with 2nd to 7th just 5 points apart. Thanks to Cliff and Richard, for making the trip from the Huon area. It’s always appreciated when you guys come up to keep us all honest. As already mentioned, Phil was a standout winner today on just 1 point, with Cliff Eaves second on 14, and Chris Wood beating Richard Barwick by countback in third, both on 16 points. From the looks of it, a really enjoyable day at MBYC. A reminder also for the DF95 sailors, that the 42 Degrees South Regatta is on this coming Sunday. NoR and Entry form on our website. Looking forward to a good turnout on Sunday.  |