​ Overcast and humid conditions greeted the seven skippers who turned up for today’s racing. The winds which were extremely light with many windless holes allowed only 4 races, before we called it a day at lunch time when the breeze disappeared completely just prior to the rain commencing. Nevertheless, we had some close racing or drifting with all seven being at the pointy end at some stage. 
 
Thanks to those who made the effort. A positive was that we think we recruited a new member and a Mercury photographer turned up to take some photos.  

​Thanks to Andrew Wardrop and Phil Turnbull, who helped run the day today. The efforts are appreciated. Good close tustle between Mike Hickman and Rod Jackman for the day, with Mike (16 points) just edging Rod (17 points) out, with Wayne Behrens (21 points) just beating Ray Joyce (22 points) in for third position. 

Today was a great day of racing at the dam with a solid A rig southerly providing some keen & close racing. Kim Potter bought along his new (to Kim) V9 which was going very well until the winch failed - ask for a refund Kim! and Geoff Mathews was also going well until he fell to a jib swivel failure. Wayne Behrens had the Trojan wound up which proves I shouldn't have sold it to him and the two woodies had an intense tussle which I am sorry to say was won(just) by 88.
Nine handicap races were held after an hour of good scratch racing again using the Kawana Waters handicap system which again worked well. Unfortunately Jammy decided to fall over himself & suffered some unsightly facial damage which left a fair amount of Jammy blood at the dam but as a former footballer I am sure he is used to spilling blood. Speedy recovery Jammy. 
Thanks to Rob Gavin - he has a new flash German ebike & also John Banks for helping out with PRO duties to allow the usual PRO to compete in a few races.

​And Leaderboard after two (Kawana Waters Handicap System) Rounds

​Sorry, not much on the actual report today, as I was only there for the first two races and last two, but on all accounts, a very enjoyable day was had by all competitors. Sounds like a small amount of week affected most skippers at some point, and a few had mini disasters with equipment failing at just the wrong moment – but that’s sailing for you. The lunch break was extended quite a bit, with a lull in the gentle northerly breeze, with about 2hrs lost, so in the end, it was quite a creditable job by all to finish with ten races for the day.
                Thanks to our Pro on the day, Mike Hickman, as well as Les Hansen, for making all the financials were done and for scoring the entre day in some quite hot sunshine.
 
Congrats to Chris Wood, putting in a superbly consistent day, easily winning on 20 points, with David Jones storming back at the end of the day to finish in second, on 29 points, further on to Peter Darcey (31 points) in third spot by countback to Ray Joyce.

​A great turnout of 15 yachts today for the monthly Handicap racing. For the second week, we used the system from Kawana Waters in Qld, and also warmed up with some team racing.
Great to see the numbers at the dam today. Looking forward to seeing it continue.
That said, congrats to Chris Wood, winning the day on countback to Cliff Eaves, with David Jones in third place.
Thanks to be extended to Andrew Wardrop, for sacrificing his sailing day again to Pro for the day.
Thanks also to David Jones, for the setup of this handicap system. It will be interesting to see how it turns out after an amount of events in comparison to systems used in the past.

​Thirteen skippers were at the dam today in sunny pleasant conditions but with very little wind, and as a consequence, racing was slow and a bit painful at times. However, we did manage to complete seven handicap races using the Kawana Waters handicap system that David Jones bought back from Qld. This system uses a designed spreadsheet to calculate results, and seemed to work quite well today and should settle down after a few weeks - we shall see.
Good to see Graham Lane sailing today in his new Blitz which is certainly different from the previous model and seemed to be very quick.

​Nine skippers braved a very average forecast this morning. BOM’s forecast of northerly through westerly & a sudden SW change at midday with rain & hail was spot on. By the time our racing started the top of A rig northerly had started to slowly fade. Stu Harris was the PRO & had boats starting off one of 4 handicaps with little change during the morning - the system worked well.
 
Chris Wood opted to sail Stu’s woody(Corby 5) in place of his injured BP & was rewarded for his consistent sailing with a resounding win, no doubt the Britpop will now be consigned to the bin.
 
When the SW thumped in Wayne Behren’s Trojan lit the afterburners & took off taking him into a tight tussle with Wayne Turner, who came away with second place. Kim Potter was just one point further back, with rod Jackman, just one point behind Kim.
 
One race after lunch & then racing was abandoned. An enjoyable day’s sailing

​A solid A rig top end breeze today, mostly from the north, however a few times it went west and then for want of anything better to say, it went awol!  A good time was had by all, with the weed again having some input into the finish positions. Les and Chris hooked up at the start of race 4 and sadly 19 sustained a damaged mast so was a spectator thereafter.
David Murfet took on the PRO duties today and we thank you kindly for keeping the day rolling. Ten races were held with six different skippers getting the gong.  At times the finishing was very tight with places lost or gained after passing the gate buoys and the beat to the finish.  Noticeable performance was Andrew with his 112 woody Corbie 5.
Overall it was most enjoyable close IOM racing at its best, and I’m sure the results will indicate just how close the racing was.
Thank you all for making the day.
 
Next Sunday it is the Long Distance Day, with Rod Jackman managing you all in my absence. Remember we are trialing set handicaps for the day, and Roddy (his call) can make an adjustment should a boat clearly require an adjustment after a number of races.
 
As no member has offered to take on the Rear Commodore role there will be no BBQ happening on the day, so please bring your own lunch.
 
Ray.

​What a great day for sailing today. Good breeze, mostly from the north, with B though to C2 rigs used on the day.
As previously emailed to the RM skippers, we had two rounds today. The normal scheduled round 7 for the first half of the day, and then a re-run of the cancelled (due to severe weather warning) round 6.
Given that it was a much longer sail day, there was some attrition with the skippers, but on all accounts, we had some very good, close racing.
 
Round 7 was taken out be ever-consistent Ray Joyce, winning an impressive 7 out of 10 races. The Grunge was on rails. A very hard yacht to beat. The downwind performance of the Grunge is something to behold, and it certainly shows the difference in design thoughts in comparison to the older yachts (Boogie for example – by the same designer). John Cole-Cook comfortably took out second place, with Lisa Blackwood coming in third.

​Round 6 commenced after a lunch break, in rather difficult conditions. The wind didn’t know if it was northerly, westerly or southerly – and if that didn’t make things hard enough, we also went from C2 conditions to close enough to A conditions within the same race. It was real interesting seeing which tactics came to the fore during the races. The winner of the round was Lisa Blackwood, getting the F-5 going nicely, on countback from Ray Joyce, with John Cole-Cook not far off in third.

I'd also like to personally acknowledge the efforts of our PRO today. As many of us know, David isn't too mobile at the moment, and to run the day for its entirety is a big effort for someone who can get about easily, but even more so when still recovering from an injury. Your efforts today are really appreciated. The way you kept us going was a big reason why we managed to get 19 races in for the day