​A glorious spring morning was laid on at Risdon Brook Dam for the DF95 skippers attending today’s handicap racing and a strong fleet of 19 turned up. The wind was a bit variable, mostly from the South-West but sometimes a gust would come through from the South-East. Its strength was generally less than 3 knots with calmer patches but we were never totally becalmed. 
 
We had both Andrew Wardrop and Phil Jackman officiating as PRO today. Thanks for your work today boys. I am not sure weather it was Andrew or Trout who set courses featuring “Andrew’s corner” but  I do know that Andrew has an affection for that area (around buoys 1 and 2). Actually is was in fact the best place to be sailing today as it seemed to have more wind than the rest of the dam. The other curious thing about the wind today was that while you could see a rippled patch of wind on the water extending from in front of the dam over to the West, it generally paid to work the East today. Even though the water close to shore was often glassy it carried good wind and race winners were often those who chose to stay East.
 
An honourable mention today goes to guest Will Short who doesn’t get to do much radio sailing but borrowed one of his dad’s boats and finished the day with a 2nd place and a 4th place on his score sheet. He even quite sensibly had the grace to let his father beat him overall so that he will get invited back!
 
Third place overall went to Phil Mackey who was the only skipper to win two races today. Chris Wood took second place and I think was quite surprised with the result but with a large field all you really have to do is be consistently up there and that was how he sailed it. It was Ray Joyce who was consistently the best though with five podium finishes from the nine races and a clear points margin winner. Congratulations Ray, Chris and Phil.
 
An IOM mast ram was found in the upper bushland rigging area by Phil Turnbull. So if you rig there please check that you have not lost one. I have it at the moment if its yours.
 
We are nearly ready to start using the refurbished ramp. This ramp should improve the safety of launching by removing the danger of falling on the steep slippery gravel which leads to the current ramp. We do yet have to clear weed from in front of the launching area and we hope to do this on Friday afternoon from 2:00 pm. Anyone help with this would be thoroughly appreciated - just turn up.
 
Coming up:
 
Sunday: IOM Statewide Regatta at Montrose. Entry must be made online and paid for by 5:00 Friday.
 
9:15 Measure and inspection
10:15 Briefing
10:30 Button press
 
Next Wednesday: IOM Handicap Shield racing at Risdon Brook Dam. 10:30 button press
 
Shorty

Start of the Summer season for our sailing, and the second half of the Summer Series (sort of).

A mild day for us with about 6 knots on the water. Concerningly, while we were setting up, the breeze went from all points except East, but by the time we were sailing at 2pm, the breeze had settled down to a fairly consistent SSE, gusting up to around 10 knots, but all withing A rig for the day today.

Pro for the day, Peter Sylvester had us under was early, with everyone ready to go 5 minutes prior, so why not. An initial race and quick check, then stanzas of 3 races with a break thereafter. No waiting on stragglers with the button press as soon as the break period timed out. The big advantage of this was that we got 11 races in for the day. The initial one was two laps, with Peter increasing it to 3 after the first break. Standard 6-7 then to 2/3 gate and return for all but the last race, which swapped to 7 then 6 offset.

Some fantastic racing throughout the day with some real close battles throughout. There ended up being a bit of a pattern for the day with a top 5  becoming fairly clear – very close racing amongst them and then the next 4 all very close as well. That said, there were 5 individual race winners on the day, who all placed in the top 6.

We did have a little weed in the middle of the session which affected a few races, but it soon went away again and we were treated to some fine light wind racing in the last hour. The last race especially enjoyable to be in and for observers to watch – a very close tactical race with no less than 5 lead changes throughout. Picking lanes and lifts absolutely critical and part of the awesome nature of sailing at Montrose.

As the day wore on, it was pretty clear that Gary and Stuart were going to be quite close, with Gary being that bit more consistent, winning the round with 18 points from the 11 races.

Stu was 5 points behind in second on 23 points.

Our Nomad, Rod Jackman – recently returned form his road trip on the big island – came in third, a further 6 behind on 29 points.

Just the two Silver Fleet sailors today, with Andrew taking the chocolates on 9 points to John’s 16.

An excellent day’s sailing, and big thanks to Peter for coming along to Pro the day for us. It’s really appreciated.

On an aside, your committee has been hard at work, refurbishing the second launch ramp at Risdon Brook, and it has now been put in place on the southern side of the current one. Big thanks to the volunteers who have helped get this project completed. It is surely going to help launch and retrieval for all of us at the dam.


Coming up
Wednesday is DF95 Mid Week Handicap at the dam from 1030

Next Sunday is the IOM State Regatta at Montrose button press at 1030. We are very short on numbers (only 4) at the moment, so please get your entries in as soon as possible to avoid the event being cancelled on Friday.​

Kyle

The wind strength exceeded the forecast today and while we were expecting it to be a bit blowy we weren’t expecting it to be whitecaps on the dam and dust willy-wars in the car-park. A couple of skippers braved the B-rig but most opted for their C and by lunch time C-rigs were the only ones left on the water.  Those that had them enjoyed some thrilling sailing conditions and some great racing.
 
Thanks to PRO Phil Jackman and assistant David Woolley for getting us through a 6-race handicap series in the morning and then a 6-race scratch series in the afternoon. It was really efficient work given the conditions and a slightly late start this morning as we needed to organise the alternative rescue dinghy (‘Kermit’) as the RIB was being repaired. It was probably fortunate that we didn’t need to have a rescue today as I reckon that we would not have had a whole lot of volunteers putting their hand up for a cruise in Kermit.
 
An honourable mention goes to our new IOM skipper, Ant Mountain, who handled his B-rigged boat beautifully given it was well overpowered and won the second race of the day. Unfortunately Ant’s day ended early with a broken shroud. 
 
Third place in the morning’s handicap series went to Rod Jackman though the dais position was hotly contested with 4 skippers within a single point of the spot. Second place went to Al Short who sailed with good boat-speed. I managed to win the handicap series today. It was my first time sailing with a C-rig on the IOM and the Venti really loved it.
 
The wind did settle a knot or two for the afternoon session and was also not as gusty but the C-rig was still definitely the order of the day. You expect the cream to rise when scratch racing especially in demanding conditions and the results confirm it. Gary took third place and certainly was a contender for the overall win with two race wins a second and a third in the first four races but could not contest the last races today with gear failure. John Penman showed his class finishing the day strongly after having made some rigging errors with his boat in the morning. Ray Joyce won the scratch series. Ray’s boat-speed in heavy conditions is something to behold. I always love to watch Ray sailing up-wind with his sheets out and the Britpop tracking higher than most others. 
 
Coming up
 
Sunday: IOM scratch racing at Montrose NOTE SUMMER TIME SAILING TIMES.  2:00 button press.
Next Wednesday: DF95 handicap racing at Risdon Brook Dam. 10:30 button press.
 
Shorty

​Mixed conditions for the fleet today with a nice steady B Rig breeze to start with, dropping off to maybe 6 knots a bit before lunch. Rig change called for which brought on the lunch break and then A Rigs for the remainder of the day until we closed a little early at 3pm after the Rib sustained some unfortunate damage from a runaway trailer (Doh!!).
 
7 Skippers turned up and we completed 10 races in all.
 
First 4 races established a bit of a pattern at the top of the leaderboard, with Ray winning them all, Ted taking second on them all and Kyle third in them all…. An early set up for the rest of the day.
 
That said, 5 of the 7 skippers made it to the podium today which in itself was a really good effort. Some rig/setup issues hurt Lisa, Rod and John though the day, but with those being identified, I am sure they will be right to go when the Marbleheads are back on the water. Personally, after the bow plate fractured last time, almost sinking the boat, it was nice to complete the day with a bone dry hull.
 
Phil Jackman volunteered for Pro today, and was given a tricky task. Not so much in the morning session with the course being pretty standard, but after lunch especially, the breeze became quite variable from most points on the compass, but he still managed to get us some good, meaningful courses. The end of the day though, whatever breeze we had left turned very light and got somewhat frustrating at times, working in to a pretty good position only to be cruelled by getting parked while other lanes opened up, seemingly from nowhere. That said, we all had the same course to sail on so we made best with what we could.
 
Ray bookended the regatta today with two wins to finish off, paired with his four at the start, to run away a convincing winner on 12 points. Congrats on a really consistent day today Ray.
 
Second place was Ted, pretty sure it is just the third time he has sailed the F-6 and sailed it really well. Excellent acceleration in the little puffs. Well deserved second place on 18 points.
 
Kyle rounded out the top 3 – a bit inconsistent overall, but enough good races to register 22 points for the day.
 
Well sailed everyone today. Some testing conditions, and as mentioned by Trout, some fantastic starts, encouraged by the fantastic behaviour with the boats all lined up so close to each other – keeping in your lane and not playing silly games. Top stuff.
 
Big thanks to Phil Jackman today for taking time out for us to sail. It was really appreciated.
 
Coming up
 
Wednesday is IOM Super Wednesday at the Dam, button press ay 1030
Sunday is the resumption of Montrose Bay Sailing with IOM Summer Scratch – Please Note new start time due to daylight savings and approach to the committee to take advantage of afternoon sea Breezes.
NEW START TIME for Summer Sailing is 2pm through to 5pm
 
Kyle

​A lovely Northerly of around 10 knots greeted the skippers for todays IOM Classics event at Risdon Brook Dam. As there were six Classic boats we decided to run the Classics and the Modern boats as two seperate event.s The Classics all started the day on 0 handicap (with race penalties of 5 and 10 seconds) while the modern boats started 60 seconds later and had their own penalties in operation. This system worked very well as skippers felt confident that you were racing boats of similar speed. We will probably use this organisation as a template for future Wednesday Classics and Woodies events. It was important to have a dedicated PRO though as the boats needed sorting into their fleet results as they finished. So it was great that we had two officials in Phil Jackman and David Woolley invigilating today. Thanks for your work Trout and Sheep.
 
It was so good to have Rod Jackman back in the fleet today after a long absence adventure travelling in outback Western Australia. Rod was in good form straight away both with his sailing and his trade mark humour. He was always at the head of the fleet before having to leave early for an appointment. Welcome back Rod.
 
We also welcomed Ant Mountain to the IOM fleet. Ant has been sailing DF 95’s and 65’s around the different venues for a couple of years now but today tried out the club IOM. I could tell by how tightly he was gripping the transmitter and the smile on his face that we weren’t going to get the boat back from him and sure enough at the end of the day he was arranging to lease the boat for the rest of the season. Ant sailed really well for a first day out and proved how competitive are will be by winning race #9. Congratulations on your efforts today Ant and welcome to the IOM fleet.
 
The winner of the Classics fleet was Peter Webberley racing that shiney gold TS2. Peter won three races today and took the top spot from Andrew Wardrop and Rob Cooney who finished 2nd and 3rd respectively.
 
Jammy Jones took out the Modern fleet division. It was a really good effort especially seeing that we all started the day on the same handicap. Gary McCarthy took second spot and Ian Hey third in a tightly contested scoreboard.
 
A feature of the results today was that every skipper (in both divisions) had at a race win. Today its congratulations to all!
 
The wind did lighten a bit as the day proceeded but held nicely for us to complete 11 races. On the way home I noticed that a light sea breeze had made its way up as far as the bridge. I don’t think that it would have made it to the dam today but it was definitely a sign of some great summer sailing ahead.
 
Coming up;
Saturday: John Emms Memorial for Marblehead. Button press at 1030. If you have not yet entered, please get it in as they close on Friday at 5.30pm
Next Wednesday: IOM Super Wednesday at Risdon Brook Dam (Handicap morning/ Scratch afternoon). 10:30 button press
 
Shorty

 
John Penman finished in third place overall nudging out the rapidly improving Al Short on count back. JP told me that he likes shifting flukey conditions, describing them as a ‘land of opportunity’! He made the most of that opportunity today with two race wins on his score sheet. Other skippers to win multiple races were the unstoppable Ray Joyce and Buzzy Behrens. 
 
Club Commodore Rod Marshall finished in second place with a very consistent scoresheet. It was always Andrew Wardrop’s day though. Andrew had a blinder of a morning session and was good enough to defend his lead after lunch even though he had blown his handicap to match the gun skippers.
 
Next week we did have  scheduled a ‘woodies and classics week’ on the calendar but we have decided to make it a CLASSICS special so that we get a stronger representation from that group. Other IOM’s can sail and we will have special handicaps in operation. (All classics to start the day on 0 handicap other IOM’s off 30 sec - and 15, 10, 5 sec penalties for 1st, 2nd and third place.) So if you have a classic in the garage dust it off for next week.
 
All the best to those travelling to Port Sorell for the DF95 State Championships this weekend.
 
Coming up:
 
Saturday and Sunday 
DF95 State Championship at Brookfield Dam - Port Sorell.
Saturday Measurement 9:30, 10:45 briefing, 11:00 button press.
Sunday 9:45 briefing, 10:00 button press.
 
Next Wednesday Classics (and other IOM) at Risdon Brook Dam 10:30 button press.
 
Cheers Shorty

​An overcast and mild day today at the Brook, with hardly any evidence of breeze when I first turned up.
 
Just the 7 sailors turned up today – we had 9 enter, but two needed to pull out with other commitments.
 
Very difficult for our Pro, Stuart Dawes to set courses today. The first few races being similar to that of a traditional DF course. Race 3 still had us closing in on 30 minutes to completion and full 5 minutes afterwards to score boats on water.
 
We pushed through to lunch time with what little we had on the water – often there was some real promise in patches, then dropping to near nothing. The importance of the boat being able to move regardless of direction it was heading became very important. 4 Races were completed at this stage, so we still needed one more to make an official event result.
 
There was a little promise after lunch and we moved course down the dam somewhat, with a start at 7/8, sailing to 9, back to 7/8, up to 9 and then to finish between 3/4 which worked pretty well.
 
Unfortunately, after race 6 the wind died right off, with the small bit of promise soon disappearing again. We waited for about an hour for something to come that was somewhat consistent and made the call at that stage to call the day off.
 
For those that left as the wind did return, I did hang around for a while chatting with a few other competitors and can confirm that the nice little breeze that came in over the wall soon disappeared to nothing as well.
 
Today, Ray had his light winds tactics going beautifully – the 10+ year old BG Sails showing no issue at all. Three wins, a second and a third enough to win the day with 8 points. Very well sailed.
 
Just one point away was Gary McCarthy, with the other three wins and closing out with a pair of 3’s as well to take second on 9 points.
 
Rounding out the top three was Ricky Price on 15 points, also sailing quick – with the V12 exceptionally fast in the conditions. Just not quite as good on the day as Ray and Gary.
 
In Silver Fleet, we had just the two sailors with the two that couldn’t sail going to be Silver as well. Rod took the honours on 6 points to Simon on 8.
 
Big thanks to Stu today for taking on the PRO role. Although we did make it easy for him (as we should) with him not needing to make a call on anyone throughout the day, the weather did make it quite a challenge for him to set a fair and time appropriate course – and he created some different but very effective courses.
 
Today’s sailing has effectively closed our Sunday Winter programme and the Dam, and after the DF95 State Champs, we will be starting the summer programme at Montrose. I’ll give a further heads up closer to the first Summer Scratch day, but the committee have decided to adjust our Summer racing times to 2pm starts for  the IOM/RM/A Classes with a similar earlier start for the DF’s to allow for both DF65 and DF95 on the same day.
 
Coming Up
Wednesday is IOM Mid Week Handicap at the Dam. Button press at the usual 1030
Next weekend is DF95 State Championship up the NW at Brookfield Dam. If you have yet to enter, please get them in as soon as possible so the NW team can have everything set and prepared for a successful weekend.
 
Kyle

I think that most of the skippers were expecting a bit more wind today especially as it was white capping on the Derwent and our commuters Ricky and Gary said that it was a windy morning down at Lewisham and Huonville. Not surprisingly those who rigged at home suited up their B-rigs for today’s handicap shield race event. There were some significant gusts on the dam especially when we first got there but by start time it seemed obvious that the A-rig would be best and it did work out that way and all skippers quickly made the A-rig choice.

The North-Wester stayed with us throughout the event though late in the day there was a sudden temperature drop which heralded a South-Westerly change.

Maintaining boat speed through the light patches was a real key today as you could easily bobble on the spot in the small but tight waves if you lost momentum.

Trout was again our PRO and did an excellent job as usual getting us through 12 races. Many of the races featured tight finishes with the whole fleet passing the finish line within less than a minute so great work getting accurate scoring Trout. The closeness of the racing was also highlighted by the scorecard with all skippers making the podium at some stage - in fact all skippers at least gaining a second place race result.

John Penman won the day by a clear points margin though . John was the only skipper not to have to count a bad race which was quite an accomplishment on a day where luck did play a part. You could throw a blanket over most of the rest of the field with only 5 points separating the next 7 skippers including a three way tie! It was Ricky Price who emerged to take second place. During the course of the day Ricky took his handicap passed the 90 second upper limit that we have for Wednesday handicap racing and was still competitive starting from there. Andrew Wardrop took third place with two nice race wins on his scoresheet today.

Coming up:
Saturday: IOM Classics Don Ash Memorial at Force Lakes 10:30 Button press

Sunday: 
IOM Travellers Trophy at Risdon Brook Dam. Enter on-line and pay before Friday 5:00 as late entries will not be accepted.
Measuring from 9:00
Briefing 10:15 
Button press 10:30​

Next Wednesday:
IOM handicap racing at Risdon Brook Dam 10:30 button press
 
Cheers Shorty

​Well, that was a big weekend of sailing – both good and not so good over the weekend.
 
We turned up nice and early yesterday, with our intrepid volunteers there at 8am, to lay buoys for the course at Montrose. Then on to measuring the boats – all of which passed scrutineering with sails checked against the templates, batteries weighed and for those nerds amongst us, keel lengths looked at as well as boat weight without battery or rig (just for info and not to do with scrutineering).
 
Once done, we were off to the point to get some light airs sailing in. Unfortunately on arrival over there, the wind had yet to turn up and we had a wait for around 45 minutes past scheduled start before we attempted a race. This is when we found that no only was there a large flow in the river after the very heavy rain the last few days, but that rain and the subsequent outflows in to the river dragged a heap of grasses causing no end of issue. This first race was abandoned and we had another delay while we investigated a course move to one of the other two course areas at our disposal at Montrose. The front of the MBYC Clubhouse was not good enough and the bay was practically weed free, however it was also wind free.
 
After another delay, we took a vote with the weather also conspiring against us and a lot of rain coming again, so we elected to abandon the first days sailing and resume at Risdon Dam on Sunday morning a bit earlier to make up for some of the lost time.
 
Sunday am came around and the dam was looking devoid of wind to start with, however by 0930, a light NW had filled in. This brought about some champagne sailing for the 13 competitors, many of whom were sailing a ranking event for the first time.
 
Pro, Gary McCarthy had us quickly on our way, one race with a break, then stanzas of 5 with a 15 minute break to hopefully get enough in by lunch to make it an official event in case the wind died on us. Spoiler alert – it didn’t 😊
 
With the wind as it was, we had our normal start line, with a beat to buoy 6, back to 3, up to 6 and then initially to 4 (south) and back through the start/finish. After about 4 races, the wind filled in some more with the bay at the top end of the course getting consistent wind, so the last lap extended down to the gate a 1/2 and then back to the finish line.
 
Lunch time had 8 races completed, and things were tight at the top of the fleet. Lisa in the lead with 11 points, and Stu just 1 off the pace on 12. Kyle was in 3rd on 17 with Nick not much further behind on 22.
 
After lunch, we got in another 10 races with the breeze freshening a little bit – still A+ conditions though. We had some great racing and awesome to see most of the fleet getting some great individual race results. Peter Shield getting a 2nd, David Shepherd a 3rd, Malcolm Watson a 2, 4, and 3 to finish his day, Phil Mackey a 2nd and 3rd, and Ant Mountain taking out the last race (only as good as your last one).
 
At the completion of the 18 races today, it was so close at the top, that the countback needed to be used to decide the 2026 DF65 Champion.
 
On this occasion, it fell to Stu, suited up in Joysway sails on 33 points. Superb sailing today with 7 race wins and only 2 counted races outside a podium position.
 
Lisa sailed equally as well also with just two races outside a podium position, going it alone on multiple occasions to get a fantastic lift into the windward mark.
 
Kyle came home well after lunch with some very good scores to maintain third position, 12 points behind on 45 points.
 
It was wonderful to see Alan Furmage’s family come along today to watch some of the racing towards the end of the day and share some stories that we had with Alan across the many years he was with the club. He was an integral part of the introduction of DF sailing at the club, with the Thursday twilight sailing at the dam a fantastic soft introduction of the class to the club and for new members to the club as well (unashamedly, I was one of them). It all started when Alan saw a group of people sailing these little yachts at Lauderdale Canal. He stopped by, introduced himself and gave us all some tips in both sailing and tuning, transforming the boats from very finicky and unfriendly boats into well-tuned, much more fun and competitive yachts.

Big thanks this weekend to our volunteers, without which we would not have had a championship to sail in. Gary McCarthy as PRO for the weekend, Ricky Price, John Short, Phil Turnbull for their assistance on rescue boat, course laying and observing duties. Grant Wise also took a heap of photos as well as both Ray and Gary, Thank you all for documenting what was a really enjoyable championship.
 
Another big thanks – and well done – to our DSS and Northern Tasmanian contingents. That would be half of the fleet this weekend. Without your interest in sailing, the championship would not have been anywhere near as enjoyable as it was. We sincerely hope you continue to support the class, both at your home club and at other events intrastate and interstate.
 
Coming Up
Wednesday is IOM Handicap sailing at the dam, starting at 1030
Next Saturday is IOM Classics at Forcett Lakes, starting at 1000
Next Sunday is IOM Tasmanian Travellers Regatta at the Dam, starting at 1030. Please get your entries in as soon as possible. They close at 5.00 on Friday
 
Lastly – glasses found
Ian Hey found a set of prescription glasses when packing up today. If you have lost yours, please get in touch with Bodge and he will organise a catch up to get them back to you