After a year plus absence, RBRYC returned to the dam for our monthly mid week DF95 event.
A bit chilly earlier, until the sun came from behind the hills with the temperature getting up to a balmy 24 deg by lunch time.
The breeze was from the north in mid A conditions until lunch, and then lightened off. Nine races were completed with a solid fleet of 14 boats supporting the event. 
John Hall had his new 95 going very well, achieving three wins and two seconds.
The new concrete parking area was much appreciated.
The courses set by our guest Queensmanian PRO Peter Germein were either one or two laps of the box depending on the strength of breeze.
The back markers struggled a bit today to get through the fleet but as we know in handicap racing - every dog has its day eventually. 
Many thanks to PG for his PRO duties and to the core of members who gave their time to get the dam race ready.
 
A very enjoyable day.

Chocolates this week, go to John Hall, with 3 net points, with Ray Joyce in second, on 11 and Rod Jackman in third, with 13 points.

This weekend is the Marine Models and Wooden Boat Show, on both Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th April. Open between 10am and 3pm. If you have the time on the weekend, it would be really appreciated if you could come along and have a look at the exhibition, in support of not only RBRYC, but also MBYC, Wooden Boat Guild Tasmania and Marine Modellers Association of Tasmania.

On Sunday, we also have round 1 of the RM Winter Scratch Series, this week starting at 11am, as advertised on the RBRYC website calendar, to coincide a bit better with the above show.

​Fifteen IOM skippers enjoyed a day of excellent racing in superb A rig conditions today with a moderate northerly.

A mixture of long and short races saw 10 races achieved including a bonus scratch race at the end, which was won by the ever consistent Ray who's Brit pop was displaying its usual excellent boat speed.

PRO duties were carried out by a different skipper each race, who will get average points for the race missed.

Two wins today to Chris Wood and Rod Marshall, who were both sailing well.

Overall winner today though, was Ray Joyce, on 11.63pts. Chris Wood followed in second, on 17.25pts wit Peter Sylvester taking out third, on 21.13pts.

Next Wednesday is DF95 racing which will probably be held at the dam - that will be confirmed early next week.

In the meantime, have a good Easter & don't go too heavy on the chocolate. 

For those that feel they'd like a sail over the Easter break, a few sailors ahev expressed interest in having a social sail on Monday. Looking at winds and tides, it looks like a 1pm sail would be the best time on the day. If you are interested in having a sail, please contact me and after I get 5 interested sailors, I'll put out an email to confirm. Needing 5 to get the rescue dinghy in and out etc.

Similar conditions met us today as compared to yesterday, with a light breeze bringing out the A Rigs for everyone.
Fourteen competitors sailed today, in what was a very good test for the 2021 Nationals as far as more congested start lines and course distances.
We got 8 races in before lunch break, and with a quick tally up,we saw that Lisa Blackwood and Mat Gray were tied for the lead, with Mike Hickman just one point off in third.
Following lunch, the wind increased and there was a change to B rig for all competitors, with some great racing ensuing. Great fun surfing the waves downwind and getting used to when to time the tacks into the wind. Some made the transition on controlling a fun yacht that had little momentum with it, and others paid dearly throughout the day as their skills were tested.
Although not in the top three at lunch time, Stu Dawes was not far away, and following lunch, he put in a masterful display to pass all those in front of him to run out the 2021 winner of the 42 Degrees South Regatta, on 33 points. Those who were in front before lunch, struggled a bit more after, but Lisa Blackwood was able to hold second place, with 47 points, with Mike Hickman taking third on 54 points.

Thanks to all the competitors. A trying day for some, but an enjoyable days sailing overall.

A big thanks must go to the people who helped the day happen, our Pro and officials. Les, for again takin the time to Pro the day for us (second day in a row), Rod Marshall for providing fantastic assistance to Les, and Peter Sylvester for his help in the afternoon.

Great work to all the competitors over the last two days. Two long days sailing and all the yachts presented in such condition that the rescue dinghy was not required once. Correct yacht maintenance goes a long way.

​A bit of an overcast day today, with some showers interrupting a few times over. We had 8 skippers sailing today and the course looked fantastic with the A Classes on the water.
Northern invader, Ted Stevens, showed how to sail the course early, with a win out of the blocks, and remaining amongst the first group of yachts for much of the day.

The biggest display of consistency today though, was Mike Hickman - who had to throw out a 4th place with the drops. Finishing strongly on 19 points to take out the Herb Tyson Memorial. Lisa Blackwood, kept Mike in check, coming second on 21 points, with John Cole-Cook in third, on 37 points.

A big thanks to Les Hanson and Stu Dawes for the Pro duties, as well as Anne Cole-Cook, who helped out with the scoring.

Thanks to all the competitors. A very enjoyable  days sailing.

Another great day greeted us today. Quite light Northerly breeze to start with. All 9 sailors electing their A Rigs to start with. Pro on the day, Les, tried as hard as he could for the courses, but after the breeze swung to the NE, things became very difficult for setting an ideal course. We persevered though, and enjoyed some spectacular sailing.

After seven races, a rig change was called, and most went to their B rigs. From memory, three stayed on their A setups, Stu being immediately rewarded for hanging on to his A with a win in race 8.

At the end of the day, Ray Joyce was too consistent for us, easily running out the winner, on 11 points. Kyle Stewart finished the day in Second on 22 points, with Rod Marshall taking out the top three on 31 points.

There may be a bit of separation with the points, but that does not give full justice to the close racing today, often with groups of four yachts hitting the finish line very close to each other.

As with the IOM's last week, we have applied our proprietary software to the scratch results, for the handicap winners for today.
The handicap system tracks results back to the start of 2019, and applies a weighting to all results. A skipper winning amongst 10 is weighted higher than one winning amongst 5 for example. Each skippers last five result weightings are averaged for the handicap weighting. This weighting is then applied to the skippers present and a seeding is allocated to the skippers. The difference between the seeding and final scratch results becomes the handicap, which is the difference in the two rankings (seeding and final result).

So, today, the handicap winner is Kyle, with a score of 4 (seeded 6 and finished 2nd), with Ray Joyce in second on 2 points (seeded 3, finished 1) on countback to Rod Marshall in 3rd (seeded 5th, finished 3rd) also on countback to John Hall in 4th (seeded 7th, finished 5th)

This coming Wednesday is IOM Handicap, from 11am at MBYC, and next weekends sailing a double header with the Herb Tyson Memorial for A Class on Saturday 27th and 42 Degrees South Regatta for DF95 on Sunday 28th. Please get your entries in as soon as possible.

A perfect Autumn day at Montrose this morning. Couldn't be better, except that the wind died at lunch time (again) so there was no sailing after lunch.

Twelve skippers sailing in a light to mid A rig northerly, with two laps of the windward/leeward course - our new buoy setup working very well.

John Short sailed his new (to him) Corby 5, which he had going very well, recording one win and two seconds.

Phil Turnbull also recorded two wins today.

There were a lot of very close finishes with the six races sailed.

Great sailing again. We just needed the breeze to hang around a little bit longer.

Winner today, was John Short, on 5 points, with Kim Potter taking second spot with 14 points, and John Hall in third, a further two astern on 16.

Sad to see the Italians (and Australian) go down in the AC in Auckland, after a valiant effort. The Kiwi's (and Australian) just had boat speed advantage, and it's hard to beat that.

This Sunday, we have RM Summer Scratch Series Round 3, starting at 1pm.

An early reminder that we have a double header weekend the week after, with the Herb Tyson Memorial for A Class on Saturday 27th March, and the 42 Degrees South Regatta for D95 on Sunday 28th March. Entries close Friday 26th March so get them in as soon as possible. Entries can be put in on our Club and Ranking Events page.

​A fleet of nine sailors came along today for a great days sailing.

Initially starting with mid to high A rig conditions, we soon made the change to B rigs for the rest of the day.

The new course layout was an absolute winner, with  a lot less congestion at the marks and skippers, on many occasions, chose both buoys at the gate marks. A very welcomed change.

The end results do not really show the competitiveness of the field today, with seven of the nine yachts winning at least one race

The woodies of Chris Wood and Stuart Dawes were very competitive, quite often at the head of the field. 

At the end of the day, Rod Jackman was too consistent, a clear winner on the day with 25 points.

Coming second, on countback, was Lisa Blackwood, on 35 points, with Stuart Dawes in third on the same 35.

​As mentioned with the last IOM Scratch results, we have developed a handicap system to use in order to give skippers that aren't necessarily at the head of the field, some incentive as well on the day. Today is the first day for the implementation of this, and we hope to use this for all of our scratch days.

In short, a skippers previous finishing results are weighted against amount of competitors in those events, and then averaged to create a "ranking" amongst the skippers. This ranking is then used as a seeding for the current round, depending on the skippers sailing on the day.

With all that being said, Rod Jackman came out on top of the handicap results today, with a differential of 2 between his finishing result and his seeding.
Kyle Stewart came in second, on countback, and Stuart Dawes came in third for the day.

If anyone would like a more in depth explanation of the handicap system, please contact me and I'll try to break it down for you.

We must give a big thank you to John Short, for developing the spreadsheet for this, which has made the results confirmation a very simple process.

​This Wednesday is IOM Handicap from 11am, followed up with RM Scratch Summer Series Round 3 next Sunday, from 1pm.

Another great day at Montrose today with a fantastic fleet of 15 IOM’s sailing in very light A Rig conditions.

Unfortunately, due to the light winds, we only completed seven races, but it was a good call to close the day out after the seven, as the bay turned into glass very soon afterwards.

Many races were very close with placings not really reflecting how close it may have been between 6 spots in the particular race.

Chocolates today go to Mat Gray, on 26 points. Making a habit already of placing towards the top of the fleet again. Just one point astern, in second,  was David Jones, with Rod Jackman taking out third place, a further two points behind, on 29
 
As usual, thanks to John Short's PRO efforts - not easy running a fleet of 17. Hopefully John will be sailing his own boat shortly.

This Sunday, we have IOM Summer Scratch Series Round 3, starting at 1pm.

Eleven skippers sailed today - another good turnout. Light winds early, freshening with a nice sea breeze by around 1pm.

Sounds like it was a very enjoyable day on the new course.

Interesting seeing 6 of the 11 skippers taking a win.

Rod Jackman came away with the win today, on 21 points, followed closely by Mat Gray on 23 points in second, on countback to Ray Joyce in third.

Wednesday is the regular IOM Handicap, starting at 11, followed by IOM Scratch next Sunday, from 1pm.

Other Results

There was also sailing today at Puddleduck, for the Annual Peter Smith memorial trophy. Hotly contested with 10 sailors. Lisa Blackwood, Phil Jackman and Phil Turnbull represented from RBRYC. All three sailors had a a fantastic days sailing. Phil Turnbull finishing 5th overall, Phil Jackman a very well deserved 3rd and Lisa successfully defended her title to make it three in a row, albeit with just 1 point margin this year. Congratulations to Lisa, Phil and Phil on your efforts today, both with the on-water results, and the fantastic representation of RBRYC. With any luck, this great event will continue into the future.
From reports passed on about the Peter Smith Memorial day. It was an extremely well run day and congratulations should go to all the organisers on the day.

By all accounts, it was a very pleasant day's sailing today for the DF95 Mid Week Handicap.

A few regulars away this week, but we still fielded a real good fleet of nine sailors.

A fair range of wind on the course, from very light A Rig to heavy B Rig from what I have been told.

A fantastic result today, for John Short, taking out four races in all, and finishing on -3 net points.

Second place was Lisa Blackwood, with three wins, on 9 points.

Third was Phil Jackman, another six points adrift, on 15 points.

A very quick analysis of the places this year shows that we have had eight different sailors in the top three placings. This, in my opinion, shows that the skippers placing are given appropriate enough handicaps for their great sailing on that particular week to allow other sailors to have their time in the sun as well - rather than the same people most weeks.

A big thanks also needs to go out to John Short, who checked out my handicap spreadsheet and added some fantastic "behind the scenes" magic, to make things apart from race data entry fully automated, which removes any human error, which has crept in from time to time. Your assistance is really appreciated, John.

This Sunday, we have Long Distance Series Round 3, starting at 11am. There are also some members who are competing in the Peter Smith Memorial for DF65 class at Puddleduck on Sunday. On behalf of the club, we wish you the best of luck for the day, and look forward to seeing the results when they become available.