DF95 Summer Scratch Round 5

​A small fleet of six today at the dam for the final round of the DF Scratch Series. With the wind at home, I was pretty sure it would be called off at the dam, but the wind there was not as heavy. That said, it was still close to 30 knots at times - but then almost becalmed moments later.

One silly skipper thought he'd re-check his C rig in preparation and had it all rigged and set up at home, only to forget to bring the rig bag, so C was his only choice today (wonder who that was). At least it wasn't as bad as the week when I brought along my DF65 bag instead of the DF95 one.

Anyway, after the first race in a mix of B and C rigs, we chose to all have C's for fairness and that continued through to race 6, where the wind lightened right off and A Rigs were put on.

That was OK for race 6, but race 7 didn't quite finish in time and we had another 30+ knot squall come through, which de-masted one of the yachts.

After the completion of the 7 races, it was fairly obvious who the winner was going to be on the day.

Congrats to Stuart Dawes, for a great day out, winning with just 8 points. Lisa Blackwood came second with 15 points and Ray Joyce rounded out the top three with 19 points.

John Short was the lone Silver Fleet skipper today, and although having to drop a 2 (with his de-masting), sailed quite well in trying conditions.

Coming Up

Wednesday will see the resumption of IOM Mid Week Handicap with the last round of the IOM Handicap Shield. Button press at 11am.

Next Sunday is the last round of IOM Scratch at Montrose, button at 1pm

Kyle