A fine summers day with a variable norwesterly breeze to top end A rig with northerly and westerly shifts and plenty of holes on the Brook today, pretty much the usual stuff. Ten skippers turned up for todays racing but alas the rostered PRO did not, so with plenty of experience around we ran things ourselves. Stu Harris and Matt Gray were sailing borrowed boats and Michael Hickman with his new V9 making more than half the fleet Vickers' design. Racing was close all day with plenty of passing lanes, a few unfortunate incidences and a leader board that was also dominated by the V's. Michael Hickman won the first race and Races 5 and 6. Matt Gray won Race 2 , 7 and 12, Rod Jackman won Races 3 8 and 13, David Jones winning Races 10, 11 and 14 and yours truly winning Races 4 and 9. The final results saw Rod Jackman take the win with 33 points, 2 points clear of David Jones in second on countback from yours truly on 35 points.

Next Sunday is the final day of racing for the year with Long Distance and BBQ, racing from 11:00 AM. Racing resumes in the New Year on January 10th which is a combined classes handicap day.

Wishing you all a happy Christmas and safe New Year.

Stuart Dawes

A day of NW to West winds greeted a fleet of 11 skippers who braved a rather chilly start to the day with very gusty winds with rather a lot of holes. RO Stu Harris set the best possible courses considering the difficult conditions with most of the fleet carrying A rigs before lunch which then went t B rigs after lunch. The first race was won by the Trojan(60) from Roddy (0) & Darce (5). In the second race drama struck the fleet when Dennis Lees blue V9 became entangled in mark 5 after a collision. The boat was dragged partly under the water with the main hatch popping off & by the time the dinghy reached it only air in the bow kept it slightly above water. Fortunately it was retrieved just as it started to go under the waves, after being emptied of water & allowed to dry out a little the electrics were found to be working. After an early lunch the racing recommenced under B rigs 2 races won by Wayne  Turner who went on to win from the Trojan with Rod Jackman 3rd. All in all a challenging & interesting day . Next Sunday is a IOM teams event starting at 11.00 am

Grey and overcast but mild with a light to gentle breeze mainly out of the west at 5 to 8 knots until the forecast southerly came in at a little stronger 8 to 10 knots around 1:30 PM. With the westerly wind not favouring any windward/leeward courses, it was around the bouys with at least one of the legs being a decent windward beat. The wind was up and down and reasonably shifty making conditions a little tricky to say the least. Twelve skippers turned up for the day's racing and as the schedule was for handicap racing only, the initial handicaps were: David Murfet off scratch, Peter Germein and Les Hanson off 20 seconds, Peter Sylvester, John Hall and a late arriving Alan Furmage off 40 seconds, and the rest of us off 1 minute. The usual 30, 20 10 second handicap penalty for 1st, 2nd and 3rd in each race. The number in brackets after a skipper is their handicap for that race.

Race 1 was a battle of the Vickers with yours truly taking line honours from Rod Jackman and David Jones in third, all off 60 seconds. Race 2 was pretty much the same thing with Rod (1:20) taking the win from myself (1:30) and Michael Hickman (60) with his new V9 coming third. Ray Joyce (60) tried to put a stop to the Vickers domination with a win in Race 3 but was chased to the finish by David Jones (1:10) and Michael Hickman (1:10) and their V9's. Peter Sylvester (40) took the gun in Race 4 followed in by Les Hanson (20) and John Hall (40). After the first drop, I led the fleet with 8 points, I point ahead of Rod Jackman, 1 point ahead of Ray Joyce and David Jones, both on 10 points, John Hall on 11 points and Peter Sylvester on 12 points. The Race 5 podium was a carbon copy of Race 4 with Peter (1:10) taking the win from Les (40) and John (50). The Commodore David Murfet managed to get away off scratch and notch up a win in Race 6 with Dave Jones (1:30) pressing for second place and Rod Jackman (1:50) hot on his transom. Yet another winner in Race 7 with Andrew Wardrop (60) taking the gun from John Hall (60) and David Jones (1:50) sailing consistently in third. Race 8 and Peter Sylvester (1:40) was the only skipper to win 3 races for the day, taking line honours from myself (1:50) and Rod Jackman (2:00). Alan Furmage (40) tacked on all the right shifts to win Race 9 from Andrew Wardrop (1:30) in second place and John Hall (1:20) in third. John (1:30) won the last race of the day Race 10  with Andrew Wardrop (1:50) coming second and Peter Germein (20) stepping onto the podium in third place.

Final results and first place was tied and went to countback between John Hall and myself, my two seconds being enough to win the day on 26 points, John Hall second on 26 points as well. Third place was a three way countback between Peter Sylvester, Andrew Wardrop and Rod Jackman, Peter's three wins securing him third place overall.

Next Sunday is a Teams Trophy Handicap and Scratch Day starting at 11:00 AM. Not sure what it is all about, maybe Michael Hickman could email members with some information.

Till then, wet sails.

Stuart Dawes.