Summer at last! It has taken until the week before Christmas for us to get a nice warm day with a sea-breeze. A lovely day for IOM handicap racing at ‘the dam’!
 
Lovely day doesn’t mean easy sailing conditions though. It took a while for the sea-breeze to brew. It only really came in for the last three races and until then it was fighting a light Northerly and flickering between both directions.
 
The duties of PRO were shared around today until Rod Jackman turned up. Rod has been on a major touring trip in Northern Australia and it is great to welcome him home. We are looking forward to seeing his new K2 IOM on the water early in the new year. Thanks Rod for doing the duties today.
 
The nice day brought a few other old faces out too. It is always great to see Darcy on the water and he sailed well today too scoring two race win .
 
Third place overall today went to Peter Turner who won the first two races straight off the bat. Second went to Mat Gray who spent most of the day giving the whole fleet 30 or 40 seconds of handicap. Today’s winner was Ian Hey who really performed well in the afternoon’s racing. Congratulations to all.
 
Next Sunday is of course Christmas – so no sailing! I am guessing that many will be heading away over the Christmas and New Year period. We have however scheduled handicap racing (IOM’s) for the Wednesday following Christmas for those who are available and keen.
 
Wishing all club members a Merry Christmas.
 
John S

​An overcast, but otherwise warm day today. Looked to be top end of A rig as we set up, but soon changed to B before the first race, and stayed there throughout.

We had a few new yachts launched today, with Any Hamilton coming down from Launceston with his new Atlas and my new Britpop making its first appearance.

Unfortunately, Andy started to feel unwell, and returned home - but I have since been in touch and he is feeling much better and is safely back home. Hope to see you down here again soon Andy.

Anyway, we got under way and got 8 races in for the day, before calling it a bit early with weed coming in on us again. Some think it may be from the excaations from the Bridgewater Bridge upgrade - who knows. Hopefully it will be somewhere else next week.

Had a slight incident when a sailor was using his transmiter mit without the lanyard attached. The skipper went to pick his yacht up from the water and grabbed with his second hand and heard a splash. Wondering whose transmitter hit the water, then realising his own one was not secured. Oops. A quick trip home for me to get the spare out.......

By the time I got back, we had some issues with Cooky and Rods yachts, affecting their results a fair bit. 

Many of the races I managed to see were very closely contested.

That said, usual suspect, Mat Gray came away with the round win on 8 points - showing his usual ultra consistency.

Second today, was Ray Joyce, on 18 points, edging out Lisa Blackwood on 19 on countback from Stuart Dawes.

On handicap today, we had a three way tie in first place, with Ray Joyce, John Short and John Hall all on 3 net points.

Thanks to Les today for his usual high quality PRO work, and to Ken Dobbie for his observing thrroughout.

Wednesday will see the return of IOM Handicap at the dam, button press at 11am.

Next Sunday is a general sail day, which will include a BBQ lunch and presentation of Series Winners certificates. I believe some will be bringing their A Class yachts along and there could be a new one hitting the water for the first time maybe.

We will start sailing at 11am with a BBQ lunch at about 1230 and return to sail till we have had enough.

If you can let Lisa or Kyle know if you are attending, it would be appreciated, so we can make sure there is enough set aside for catering for all.

Kyle

It was a fine and warm day for handicap racing at Risdon Brook Dam. Eleven skippers turned up for today’s DF95 event.
 
We welcomed visitor Mike Geeves who has just purchased a DF95 but has not yet put it together. Mike sailed Wayne’s boat this morning.  Mike was only able to stay for the morning’s races but in that time showed that he can sail around the course quite well.
 
A sea breeze was always on the cards today. It filled in at the day proceeded and was at its best for the final races. Skippers encouraged PRO Andrew Wardrop to keep us sailing late into the afternoon so that we could complete ten races and enjoy the best of the wind.
 
There was a surprisingly high attrition rate today with quite a few of the boats not seeing the day out.
 
Working the shifts proved to be the key to success today and to do it consistently was the feature that sorted out the overall place getters. The scratch markers were hard to beat with Ray taking out first place overall with a tally of just 4 points. Stuart Dawes took second place with two race wins in his tally. Lisa Blackwood who was always near the front of the fleet was third overall.
 
There will be scratch racing for IOM’s this Sunday at Montrose. (Button-press 1:00.) And next week’s Wednesday handicap at the dam will also be for IOM’s. (Button-press 11:00)
 
John S

​Day two of the championship started similar to day 1, with a light breeze welcoming us. A Rigs again all day, with wind up to around 10 knots maximum for short periods.

Under way nicely again with a further 11 races sailed today, making 22 for the championship.
A few reliability issues for some, but on the main - everyone was able to get a lot of time on the course.

By lunch time, Andrew Reid had established possibly an undefeatable posiiton, but the spots behind him were all up for grabs with racing being so close.

Unfortunately, some weed spoiled the party at the end of the day and we called time about 10 minutes early, with the disruption being too great to sail meaningful races. That said, 22 was a pretty good effort over the two days.

As expected from lunch time, Andrew Reid came away a well deserved winner of the 2022 Tasmanian RM Championship on just 49 points..

Rob Nowak took his chances and bolted into second position. Again, well deserved after a such a consistent two days sailing, finishing on 85.6 points.

Stuart Dawes took out third place. A surprise to him after slipping a bit late, but reaped the rewards of such a consistent set of results prior, effectively wiping his later struggles - finishing on 96 points.

Of big note though - showing the strength and closeness of much of the two days, third place to 8th place was separated by just 8 points! For those who have been away from school too long, just 9 points separating 6 skippers.

Thanks must be extended to our friends from Victoria, NSW and ACT. You ahve really made the championship a highlight for us and hopefully stamps it on the calendar for mainland entries into the future as well. please pass on to your sailing friends about the experiences here (hopefully all positive) and we are also keen on feedback as well, to become better as we move forward.

Big thanks goes to our volunteer contingent this weekend. Without you, the weekend would not be anywhere near as successful as it was. Ted Stevens, who travelled down from Launceston to help out, as well as our locals, Les Hanson, Ken Dobbie, Phil Turnbull, Mat Gray, Michael Hickman, Anne Cole-Cook, Chris Wood, Ricky Price. If I missed anyone at all, I sincerely apologise.

In the coming weeks for RBRYC ...

Wednesday will be DF95 Mid Week Handicap at the dam, button press at 11am

Next Sunday, 11th December is the last of our IOM Scratch Series for 2022, which is also the conclusion of scratch racing for the year.

The following Sunday, 18th December, will be a "Come and Sail Day" at MBYC. Not class specific, but one to come and enjoy having a sail prior to christmas. We will be having a BBQ lunch on the day, as well as celebrating our Series Winners for 2022. More on this to come shortly.

Kyle

​Summer has finally arrived for us here, and we were greeted with a beautiful day, albeit with quite light winds.

Unfortunately, we had two competitors unable to make it today with Covid setbacks, but our field of 12 sailors was still one of the strongest we have had in the last two years.

After a brief briefing, our PRO, Michael Hickman had us under way.

Six races were completed to lunch time, and things looked pretty good for Andrew Reid. In fromt by 4 points to Ray Joyce and then Stuart Dawes.

After lunch, we got another five races in, with a 45 minute delay towards the end while the wind decided whether it was going to join us or stay away. Fortunately, it came back and we got our last two in for the day.

At the half way point, Andrew Reid is the clubhouse leader, on 24 points. Stuart Dawes has made a bit of a challenge, now in second on 29 points, with Ray Joyce not far behind in third on 33 points.

We were planning a bit of a social gathering afterwards at the bar, but understandibly, our friends fromt he mainland did not want to create any risks with the Covid scare, and instead headed back to their accomodation to work on their boats and rest up.

Tomorrow, we plan to put on a BBQ in an outside environment at the close of the championship, while the locals get things all packed up and scores talled for the championship.

Big thanks - as always - to our support crew today. Michael Hickman, Les Hanson, Mathew Gray, Ted Stevens, Chris Wood, Ken Dobbie and Anne Cole-Cook all volunteering their time for the event today. Thanks everyone.

Sailing resumes tomorrow at 1030.