IOM Mid Winter Regatta

​A broad range of conditions for the sailors today in the IOM Southern State RegattaWeather predictions looked bleak today. Seemed to be B Rig throughout and rain increasing as the day wore on.

Not sure where the wind was, but we started with around 4 knots of wind, which did slowly increase as the morning wore on. 

As we got started, some drizzle did come and sailors geared up for a wet day, but it disappeared after the first race, not to be seen again until after the close of the days sailing.

Our PRO for the day, John Hall, got the eleven skippers away nicely on time, with our standard go-to course for the dam with the wind generally being kid to us, with the exception of the occasional 90 degree shift and the odd hole of nothing combined with others rotating the wind vane 360 degrees at times.

Some very close racing as the day wore on. We completed six by lunch with Lisa and Ricky fighting it out for the half-day lead.

During lunch, the wind came up and there was close to a 50/50 split amongst the sailors, some went to the safety of B rig, while the others took the punt on A rig for the next few. The A Rig boats took a big advantage for the following two races before a change to ahve everyone on B again. A few more races and then a change for most to C Rigs, with some others retiring for the day with a lack of C rig and some gear damage reducing the fleet down to 8 for the last few races.

Kyle had a good, but also mixed day today, either sailing really well and right up with the leaders, or forgetting what phase the wind was in and doing everything possible to stay out of phase. Fortunately there was more good than bad, and finished in third place toda on 41 points.

Ray was one of the few who elected to remain in B Rig for the last few races, and benefited greatly from his decision. Storming home with four wins and a second in the last five races. Really shooting up the leaderboard into second place on 37 points.

Lisa had a consistent day, with 5 places being the worst counted on the day. A very deserving winner of the Regatta on 31 points.

In Silver Fleet, Ian Hay took out third place on 29 points. Wont be long and consistency will be there with the new boat. Second place went to Andrew Wardrop, on 21 points, and the winner today in Silver Fleet was John Short on 19 points. Well done John.

In some very tricky conditions with a few occasions having a lot of yachts very close at the first windward mark, the on-water behaviour was excellent, and this should be applauded by all as we all got our fair share of frustrations on the day, but simply sailed on with it. Not completely clean but penalties done when required with an absolute minimum of fuss. Well done everyone.

Big thanks today goes to John Hall, who missed the sailing today, so we could have a dedicated PRO for the day. It was really appreciated John, and great work on that trigger finger to get us all ready quickly in between races.
Upcoming Events

• Wed 28 May – IOM Handicap at Risdon Brook (10am start)
  
  Then a double header weekend for Marblehead Class.
  
• Sat 19 July – Marblehead Southern State Regatta at risdon Brook, button press at 1030. This is a re-run of the Regatta around a onth ago which was postponed with no wind on the day. Entries for that day are transferred across to this day, but if you would like to enter, please do so as soon as possible. If there are not 6 entries by 1800 on Friday, we will cancel the event (will not be re-run).

• Sun 20th July - John Emms Memorial for Marblehead at Risdon Brook - same 1030 button press. As with the above event, of we do not have 6 entries in by 1800 Friday, we will cancel the event.

If there are any members that would like to have a sail of a Marblehead next weekend, we have a number of yachts available to use. A Boogie, a Jive, an Ajax and a top condition Rok. Contact Kyle if you'd like one of these set up for you to sail on the weekend.

Kyle