Twelve skippers turned up today, in gloomy conditions and very light wind. Luckily the sky stayed gloomy, and did not rain on us, so we will take that as a win.

Four classes were represented, with the DF95's, IOM's, RM's and a 10R on the water throughout the day.

Welcome to Sunday racing to both Richard Fisher and Andrew Price. It looks like you both really enkoyed the day. Hopefully, we will be seeing much more of you both on the water in the weeks to come.

The handicapping today was a very difficult task, but our Pro, Les Hanson did a sterling job with it and getting us away for 11 races - especially since our lunch break was a bit extended with the hot savouries and scintillating conversation on offer.

We had regular groupings passing the finish line today. The DF's were given a reduced length course, but fought closely together as the larger classes tried to catch up to them a second time. The DF's did one full circuit of the long distance wcourse , and the other yachts had another smaller circuit added on. The larger classes got past them on the first circuit, but could not quite catch again while doing the second loop.

The IOM's all left fairly close together with their handicaps, with the RM's and 10R 1:40-2:00 behind at the start.

The final results don't do true justice to Les' handicap work but the people on site saw that it was regularly just 50m or so between the first and last yacht on many of the races, with the eception of the odd bonehead (yes, I am talking about me) hitting marks and getting stuck at times.

Winner today, with just 9 points from the 11 races (yes, he had to drop his two 2nd places....) was Richard Fisher. Close behind was our other new SUnday Sailor, Andrew Price, on 16 points. Third - the first IOM placing - was Peter Sylvester, on 40 points, Phil Turnbull 4th overall (2nd IOM) on 47 points. First of the RM's was Lisa Blackwood, 9th overall, on 63 points
 
Wednesday is the regular IOM Handicap, starting at 10 with some scratch racing, and the Handicap racing at 11am.

Sunday is the IOM MId Winter Challenge. We have some entries in so far, but are keen on getting as many as we can for the day. If you intend on sailing, please get your entry in as soon as possible. They close on Friday, however, for ranking events beyone next weekend, the entry close will be a week out from the event day.

Next Saturday, weather depending, we are intending on opening up MBYC for a DF sail day, from 10am. This is intended to give some extra sailing for the DF's in the leadup to the Nationals later in the year as well as get some good information back on possible courses, since we are gifted with three possible sail areas for the event.

Ten sailors came along for the third round of the winter series scratch today. Unfortunalely, we lost one for the day prior to the first race with burned out electrical connections. Easily fixed, just not at the water side.

An almost non-existant northerly for the first race made things very difficult, but it slowly increased as the morning wore on, to its maximum of around 8 knots by race 9. The tenth and final race, going around the long distance course saw the wind drop right off again.

Some wonderfully consistent sailors today, none more so than Rod Jackman, who won the day with 18 points. Not far behind, in second, was Lisa Blackwood, on 21 points and Mathew Gray rounded out the top three, on 25 points.

Thanks, as always to Les Hanson, doing the Pro work again for us along with Michael Hickman also helping with the observer duties.

Handicap results today saw John Hall enjoy a very well deserved first place (seeded 8, finish 5 for a Net of 3), with Rod Jackman coming in second (seeded 3, finish 1 for a Net of 2), tied with Mathew Gray (seeded 5, finishing 3rd for a Net also of 2).

Wednesday is the return of IOM Mid Week Handicap, starting at 10am for an hours scratch racing and then handicap racing from 11am

A cool northerly was blowing down the dam all day.

It was fresh at first - perhaps around 20 knots, and most skippers chose their C rig.

By lunch the wind had settled a little and the B rigs came out for the afternoon.

A couple of skippers were game enough to try A rigs after lunch but were a little overpowered for most of the afternoon’s racing.  The last race finished in much lighter conditions and the A rigged boats got some reward.

There were 11 skippers for today’s event with most enjoying some scratch racing before the start.

Visitor, Andrew Price also sailed a couple of races. A warm welcome to you Andrew.

Congratulations to Wayne Behrens for taking out today’s sailing with consistent high place finishes. Chris Wood and Michael Hickman claimed second and third respectively.

Again all skippers were able to reach the podium in at least one race showing that the handicap system is working well.

Huge thanks to Andrew Wardrop who did the job of PRO all day in some pretty cool conditions.
 
John Short

This Sunday, we have IOM Winter Scratch Series Round 3, starting at 10am at MBYC.

The new committee will meet for the first time this weekend, so if you have any issues or suggestions to bring up for the new committee to discuss, please email Kyle with them and he will ensure they are discussed.

What a day today. Leaving home, I thought only the A Swing Rig was going to come out - if there was any wind at all. Turn up at Montrose, and we weren't sure whether to use a C1 or C2 rig. The northerly Katabatic at its best.

We all got started on our C1 rigs, except for Lisa, who elected to use a new B3 rig with her brand new F-6 yacht. We didn't get much of a look at it today - the only thing we did see was the stern of the yacht.....

Our PRO, Les set a good windward/leeward course for us, but after timing a few races, we found that they were a little short in time, so extended the last few out to the long distance mark on the first lap, which was a really good change.

It soon showed that the real difference between most of us was not boat speed, but how many mistakes we made, and how we recovered. Yours truly had real issues getting stuck in irons while taking in the choppy conditions. The elite skippers in the club did not make those mistakes. Something for us to learn from.

Unfortunately, as the day wore on, we lost skippers through electrical and sheet failure issues, and finished the last few races with five competing. Still  very enjoyable though.

As mentioned earlier, Lisa had a real good day with her new F-6, winning 10 of the 13 races, so no surprise that she easily won the day, on 12 points. In second, was Kyle Stewart, on 25 points and Rod Marshall rounded out the top 3 on 39 points.

Of some note, the top three were also the only ones to complete every race.

On handicap today, the winner was Kyle Stewart, with a score of 4 (seeded 7 and finished 2nd), Rod Marshall (Seeded 5, finishing 3), Andrew Wardrop (seeded 6, finishing 4) and John Hall (seeded 8, finishing 6) all sharing second place on the handicap podium with a score of 2

Results at mysailingresults website

This coming Wednesday is DF95 Handicap, at Risdon Brook Dam. Handicap racing will start at 11am, but if there are enough there earlier, some scratch warmups may commence earlier.

Today the fleet was greeted by a blustery wind which frequently swirled from Northerly to South-Westerly and gusted between 0 and 25 knots. The choice of B rig was universal and made for good racing.

Rob Cooney returned to the club today after a break of about 18 months. Welcome back Rob.

It was great to see that many skippers were keen and organised to get some casual scratch racing going at 10:00 before the handicap event. These races are deliberately very short so that plenty of races can be held and they provide skippers with invaluable experience at starting in a fleet situation.

The course set for the handicap racing was initially an up-wind beat to buoy 8 followed by a figure-8 around the top four buoys then down to a leeward gate before heading to the finish. After lunch the wind was tending more to the West and so a course involving buoy 9 was used. PRO duties were shared between myself, Mike Hickman and Andrew Wardrop who suffered some gear failure during the day.

Well done to Lisa Blackwood who consistently placed at the head of the fleet and took out the day. Lisa was just a single point ahead of Matt Grey with Wayne Berhens taking out third spot.

It is really pleasing scanning the results to see that even though many skippers succumbed to gear failure, every skipper had at least one race where they featured on the podium. Looking at result sheets from previous weeks this is not unusual. I believe that this is a sign of a handicap system that is working very well.

Next sailing is Sunday’s RM Scratch round 10:00 at Montrose. Next week our Wednesday handicap will be for DF 95’s
​
 John Short

​Thirteen sailors came along for the second round of the winter series scratch today.

A very light NW breeze to start with, falling back to almost nothing at all by the end of the 9th race, calling the day a little short, which helped the set up for the AGM today.

Welcome today, to John Murrell and John Short, both sailing their first IOM Scratch day today. We do hope that you enjoyed the day and look forward to seeing you much more on Sundays.

Mathew Gray was dominant today, the Venti really sailing well under his control. A well deserved win today with just 11 points. Sailing almost equally as well,was Lisa Blackwood, in Second with 13 points.
Ray Joyce rounded out the top three with yet another great days sailing, with 22 points.

Thanks, as always to Les Hanson, doing the Pro work again for us.

Results at mysailingresults website

Handicap results today, resulted i a double for Mathew Gray, with a net 6pts on handicap. That will soon push his ranking to where it truly belongs. Second on handicap, was John Short, with a net 2pt differential. Well done, John. Third place was a three way tie, with Chris Wood, Kyle Stewart and John Hall all sharing a 1pt differential.

Well done to all competitors today. The light conditions can be a bit trying at times, and overall, I think the competition on the day was really competitive.

We also held our AGM today. Minutes will be out to members very soon. I'd firstly like to thank our outgoing committee members for their service to the club, not only over the last year, but over their time on the committee. So many would not know the amount of time and effort you have all put in over your tenure on the committee, and the club is in a better position because of these efforts.

Welcome also, to the committee for 2021/22. Office bearers are as below, but will also be in the minutes to be emailed out soon.
Commodore - Michael Hickman
Vice Commodore - John Hall
Rear Commodore - Andrew Wardrop
Secretary - Kyle Stewart
Treasurer - Les Hanson
Mid Week Co-ordinator - John Short
Property Officer - Ray Joyce
Committee - Rod Jackman
Committee - Jeff Byerley
Committee - Mathew Gray

Today started with a top of A rig breeze, but eased as the day went on with varying wind directions, making decisions on what side of the dam to sail difficult.

Andrew started the day as PRO But had to leave at lunch time. Thanks to the sailors who volunteered after lunch to do PRO Duties.

Winner today, is Chris Woods, on 25.2pts. Close behind in second, was Peter Darcey, on 28 points, with Mat Gray just one point further behind in third.

This weekend, we have IOM Scratch, starting at 10am. Following this, we have our AGM at MBYC (2pm start). We have had few nomination forms in to date, so if you are thinking of joining the committee in any sort of capacity, feel free to contact me. If positions are not nominated by the start of the AGM, nominations can be accepted at the meeting as per the constitution, but a vote for a position cannot be considered if there is just one nomination prior and someone else decides to nominate on the day.

Apologies can also be emailed to me if you cannot make it, and I'll ensure it is recorded appropriately.

​Day 2 of the A Class Championship certainly delivered. More skippers shared the glory, ensuring overnight leader, Lisa, was not going to have it as easy as yesterday. Saying that, she still only recorded a worst 3rd counted for the day.

Wind was variable to say the least. Consistent at least from the NNW to WNW direction, however ranging from 6 knots to over 30 knots at times, causing a few rushes to the lawn for rig changes. Personally, I changed three times throughout the day.

Unfortunately, we did have a level of attrition throughout the day with gear failure. The heavy weather always finds the weaknesses in the yachts. That said though, it was positive that the rescue dinghy, although deployed in case, wasn't required on either day across the 24 races.

In the end, as expected after yesterdays performance, Lisa came out on top to win the 2021 A Class Championship, with 29 points. John Cole-Cook got his Venom running great today and shot up into second place, on 58 points, with Ted Stevens also enjoying a nice rise up the field, to take home his first podium, in 3rd on 70 points.

Well done to all sailors for two days of fantastic sailing. Enjoyed also by quite a number of members, who turned up across both days to watch these graceful yachts strutting their stuff.

Special thanks must go to our support crew. Without the help provided, events such as these will never get off the ground. Thanks to Les Hanson, for his Pro duties, Anne Cole-Cook for the scoring, Ken Dobbie for also coming to help on the start/finish lines, and John Hall for also helping out after his day was finished early. Andrew Price and Ray Joyce also took some photos across the two days, so we will endeavour to get some published as son as we can.

Afterwards, five of us retired to Anna Purna for a "debrief session" which was enjoyed a lot. In future, we will advertise more obviously, rather than be an informal, on the spot decision, to see if we can get more sailors and partners along to enjoy some great company and the inevitable story afterwards.

Results at mysailingresults website

Wednesday is IOM Handicap racing at Risdon Brook, with handicap racing starting at 11am. This is getting extremely popular, and there is limited parking on the concrete apron. We need to give priority of parking to those that have mobility issues, so if fit and healthy, please use the overflow parking if possible, so that those that are a little more unsteady can park and comfortably set up their yachts for the race day.

Sorry, not much to report today as I was not there at the sailing.

It was A Rig weather thoughout though, and Lisa has certainly laid the base for a championship win if she continues her remarkable run of wins.

​Mike is not far behind though, ready to pounce if given the opportunity.

Championship to be concluded tomorrow. Racing starts at 1030