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The forecast from the BOM was south to south easterlies to 10 knots but on arrival at the Brook it was 10 to 15 knots from the northwest, as it was on the river driving over the Bowen Bridge. Eleven skippers fronted for today's handicap racing and most opting fro the A Rig and a couple choosing the B. With the usual shifting and soft patches the A rig turned out to be the right choice, but there were times when the B rig had its moments. Dave Murfet, Les Hanson and Robert Gavin were off scratch, Kyle Stewart off 30 and the rest off 1 minute. Race 1 was a one lap event starting between 1 and 2 to 6 then yellow, run down to O then back to the finish between 1 and 2. Dave Murfet made good use of his scratch start to take line honours from the Sly Fox Peter Darcy and Dave Jones taking out third place. Race 2 was extended with a small box after the first two windward marks which saw backmarkers Ray Joyce, Rod Jackman and myself on the podium. With the wind easing a tad, A rig was the go. I took the gun in Race 3 followed by Andrew Wardrop in second and Rod Jackman third spot. Race 4 was the last race before lunch and Kyle Stewart made good use of his handicap adjustment to scratch to get the judges nod from Dave Jones showing good boat speed and Andrew Wardrop taking the minor position. After lunch a couple of Long Distance races were sailed and with the low water levels, a slack buoy line on the bay mark caught a few un-expecting skippers out. Darcy made the best of the challenging breeze to get home first with Dave Jones likewise and Kyle taking third place in Race 5. Kyle improved his score by 1 in Race 6, Ray Joyce second and Robert Gavin starting to find his groove in third place. Back to the normal course for Race 7 and Peter Sylvester notched up a win with Les Hanson second and sailing consistently into third place was "Jammie" Jones. Race 8 was the last race and although starting in fair breeze, dropped out to virtually nothing at the top mark on the last beat just after Robert Gavin rounded in first place and took the breeze with him to notch up a win, yours truly second and Peter Sylvester third. Eight races, eight different winners and every skipper having a first or second spot on the podium which resulted in the final points spread between first and sixth being only 3 points. Ray Joyce won the day on 22 points, 1 point ahead of Kyle Stewart in second place on countback from David Jones in third place on 23 points. Next Sunday is Round 4 of the IOM Summer Series with scratch racing from 11:00 AM and handicap racing from 1:30 PM. Til then, wet sails. Stuart Dawes. 
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