​An enthusiastic group of 16 skippers fronted up to a mill pond dam this morning, however by the time 11 am rolled around there was just the hint of breeze so racing commenced.

Good to see Kim Potter back racing 90.

With our intrepid Wednesday coordinato,r John Short having a quick break in the Whitsunday's, Chris Wood brought along his brother Andrew ( the good looking of the pair) who kindly handled the finishing line for us.

It would be nice to report that sailing conditions improved but that was not really the case with light conditions continuing interspersed with plenty of holes. 

Nevertheless, we had some close racing & managed to compete 9 races.

John Murrell & Rob Cooney had 2 wins each. Their consistently good results earning them first and second today respectively (John on 24 points and Rob on 27 points). Coming in third was Ray Joyce, with 31 points.

Interesting to note that 3rd place to 10th was separated by just 8 points.

Sundays sailing is RM Winter Scratch (round 6), starting at 10am
 
Andrew Wardrop

​Firstly, on behalf of the committee, I'd like to apologise to the sailors today. The timing of the start today got a bit mixed up and some turned up for a 10am start, with the remainder for an 11am start. The cause of this was that today was initially schedulled as a Long Distance Day and as such, started at 11am. After the DF95 nationals were cancelled, we allotted that Sunday as the Long Distance Day and shifted the DF95 day forward to today. All well and good, but we didn't change the original start time to our normal winter start. Apologies again, and all good for future weeks.

Now to today.

A good field of 11 skippers today, with Les Hanson able to have a sail for the first time in 18 months. Good to have you back on the water competing Les. In Les' absence with the Pro Duties, ken Dobbie stepped in and ran the day for us. Thanks for your help, Ken.

We got 12 races completed today, and looking at the results, we had seven of our eleven skippers sharing the spoils of individual victories.

In the end, David Jones was too consistent, taking the honours on the day with 25 points.

Second place was the ever consistent Mathew Gray, 4 points behind on 29.

Third place today - by countback - was Stuart Dawes, on 32 points.

On handicap today, we had Mathew Gray taking out top position with 5 rank diff points (seeded 7th and finishing 2nd). David Jones came in equal second with 4 rank diff points (seeded 5th and finishing 1st) along with Richard Fisher (seeded 10th and finishing 6th).

Wednesday is our usual IOM Mid Week Handicap, followed by RM Scratch next Sunday (at 10am)

Kyle

​The dam provided a very blustery North-Westerly today. Gusts of up to 25 knots and lulls of total calm made the sailing frustrating for most. While some skippers chose their A rig for the warm-up scratch races, all settled for B rigs by the time the handicap event began. It was a wise choice as some of the wind squalls were quite severe.

It was great to warmly welcome back Kim Potter to the fleet today after a rest over the winter period. We hope to see more of you Kim. 

The course was one that is becoming a bit of a standard for IOM’s in a North Wester: From the start to buoy 8, then a figure eight around the top four buoys, then down to the leeward gate and back to the finish. I am still surprised by the great effect that the last little leg from the gate to the finish can have. Today’s racing was no exception to this.

It was a really tight points table today. Wayne Behrens and John Cole Cook tied on 21 points to enforce a count-back. Both of the skippers had one 1st place, two 2nd places and one 3rd place. So it was their 5th best race that decided that John was today’s winner with Wayne taking second. Congratulations to both.

Matt Grey who dominated the morning’s sailing came in third just a single point ahead of John Hall.

Next Wednesday’s handicap will be IOM’s at the dam, while Sunday’s racing will a scratch event forDF95’s  at Montrose.

John S

Day 1

​Well, a tough days sailing today.

Very light breeze indeed, from a strange direction to normal. Normally, the prevailing breeze is from the NW, and it decided that a SW was going to be in for much of the day.

With the light wind, we only got five races in until we called it a day. Some make up time in the morning for the resumption of sailing though, in what we hope to be a real exciting second half to the championship.

Everyone found the light conditions difficult, but as usual, the cream rose to the top, with Mat Gray in control on 9 points.

Richard Fisher close behind in second, on 12, with Stu Dawes taking out the third spot so far, on 16 points - by countback to Michael Hickman.

Day 2

Well, we were hoping for a better day today, after the light conditions yesterday saw a premature end to the sailing. Unfortunately, best laid plans went by the wayside, and the 0900 start didn't eventuate with the millpond conditions.

A small amount of wind did appear, of only a knott or two, but oscillated every five minutes to nothing and back again.

By 1030, we had re-set a smaller course and tried our first race of the day. With a few lulls in the wind, we did get it finished, but it was very difficult in the zero to next to zero wind conditions.

We had a pause, waiting for the expected light breeze to arrive, and attempted another race at 1140, which started with some promise. Unfortunately, it died out again and once all competitors completed, we decided to rest up for lunch and see what the afternoon would bring for us.

During the lunch break, we were delighted to meet up with George Fish's wife, Jill, along with Jeremy's wife, Emily and daughter, Maggie. Some great stories were shared about George.

At the end of the lunch break, a quick consensus was sougt and the rest of the day was called off. The drizzle was getting heavier and more regular, and good old willy weather was telling us that there was little to no chance of any wind arriving.

That meant that the championship this year was limited to just 7 races, but they were held in great spirit and some fantastic reconnections between sailing friends were made - some stretching back over 30 years. Yours truly even finding out the truth behind a story given when sailing just 38 years ago (damn water rats!!).

A quick tally up of the scores revealled some fantastic results as well.

Third place over the weekend went to John Hall, on 25 points. One of the most consistent weekends I have seen from John. The look on his face as he was heading to the second last mark, approx 50m in front of second place was nothing short of priceless. The absolute joy of getting that perfect race was great to see.

Second place overall, was Michael Hickman, on 23 points. Also so very consistent, even when he came ashore for weed removal. Never complained and just got stuck back in and the rewards came.

Winner of the George Fish Memorial DF95 Tasmanian Championship for 2021 is "new to RC Sailing" Richard Fisher. Richard is a very experienced hand in dinghy sailing and keel boat racing, but decided to try his hand at RC sailing earlier this year with the DF95 class. His speech, when accepting the trophy, was very humble and emotional, especially given his own ties to the Fish family as well. He thanked Lisa Blackwood for getting him into the RC sailing, as well as her very helpful tuning tips and biggest advice "Just don't sail yourself into trouble" - a mantra that will always help a sailor maximise their abilities on the water.

On behalf of the event organisers at NTRYC, I'd like to pass on a big thankyou to all the competitors for such friendly competiton in trying conditions, as well as a thankyou also to NWRYC for their help in providing the rescue dinghy and extra equipment which was put to use today.

On behalf of the sailors, I'd like to thank the NTRYC for hosting the event. Quite a stressful experience for them, given they have not hosted one so well attended in many, many years. The venue was fantastic, the extra work put in by the property owner for shelter (and BBQ) was really appreciated. Andy and Geoff put in a lot of work to get the event up and running and we really appreciate your efforts.

Ted Stevens also deserves our full praise, coming along on both days to provide assistance whenever required. From calling finishes, untangling yachts in the rescue dinghy, and all official duties required. Without people such as you, events just don't happen.

Again, thanks to everyone, and we look forward now to the 2022 installment back down south.

​A Southerly breeze of between 5 and 10 knots made for smooth water and fast sailing conditions at the dam today.

A big fleet of 18 skippers turned up and there was close racing all day. It is great to see some who are returning to Wednesday sailing after a break over winter.

Two guest skippers joined with us today. Martin Svensen, who has bought Lisa’s impressive olive green Katun 2, and Guy Skinner who was borrowing John Cole-Cook’s second boat. A warm welcome to you both.

Wayne Behrens cam out on top a tight table today winning with consistently high placings. Well done Wayne!

Our guest, Guy Skinner took second place. Guy’s results included an impressive win in the last race.

I managed to take the third podium spot today with my boat sailing much faster this week after some rigging problems last week.

Thanks as usual to PRO John Banks who set good courses and kept the event moving well. John is hoping to get his boat back on the water soon.

Quite a few skippers will be heading to the DF95 State Championships on the weekend. The best of luck to all.

Club sailing will continue at Montrose on Sunday with long distance racing.

Next Wednesday’s handicap will be for DF95’s.

John S

​A bit of a difficult day for most today, with C rig conditions early, blowing to a C2 and then on to a B2 for those who had them.

We moved the start line back towards marks 9 and 10 to get away from the glare, which worked quite well. 10 races were completed today, with many sailors missing multiple races due to various types of maintenance issues, which always seem to come out when the wind is stronger. Some intemittent comms issues and book breakage soon dropped the field down to 5, with another coming off hte water with a few races to go.

Very consistent pace today with his F-6, John Cole Cook came out the winner on the day, on 12 points - winning half the races.

Nipping at his heels, was Ray Joyce, on 14 points for second place. Very consistent when one of his drops is a second!!!

Third place today went to Lisa Blackwood, on 19 points, also a very consistent performance.

I was also there to see Andrew Wardrop take a very commanding win in race 7. The gremlins he has been deaing with now in the past (touch wood).

Handicap results today gave just rewards to John Hall, on 3 net points (seeded 7th, finishing 4th) for the handicap win today. John Cole-Cooks performance was noticed as well, coming in second on 2 net points (seeded 3rd, finished 1st). Reward also for Andrew Wardrop, taking third on handicap with 1 net point (seeded 6th, finishing 5th).

A few of us walking away today to lick some wounds, but nothing too serious and the yachts will be set and ready the next time the RM's hit the water.

This coming Wednesday is IOMHandicap, at Risdon Brook Dam, and next Sunday is Long Distance, from 11am at MBYC, while our DF sailors also head up to Launceston for the George Fish Memorial DF95 State Championship. Good luck to all competitors.

Kyle

A gusty North Westerly of between 10 and 20 knots proved both testing and frustrating in the early races at the dam  today.

If you carried the A rig knock-downs were often – but if you carried the B rig you were left wanting in the frequent light patches.

Many skippers did several rig changes throughout the morning only to find that they had re-rigged with a poorer choice. Coping with the conditions with whatever rig you had on seemed to be the secret to success during the morning.

During the lunch break conditions moderated considerably. It was A rig conditions with wind shifts around the compass for the last four races.

Chris Wood was the winner today with his new V11. It was the first time at the dam for this impressive boat. Chris had no finish worse than 6th even before discards. Well sailed Chris.

Second place went to the ever-consistent Wayne Behrens.

Third place was taken by Rod Marshall with another boat new to our fleet. Rod’s Red Ant Blitz looked really fast under both A and B rigs.

Thanks as always to our Wednesday PRO John Banks.

Sunday’s sailing is for Marbleheads (10:00 at Montrose). Next Wednesday will again be IOM handicap at the dam.

John S