IOM State Regatta

​A warm day with a very light northerly greeted us today at Montrose Bay for our first ranking event of the year, the IOM State Regatta.

A very high quality field of fourteen skippers competed today, not only RBRYC members, but also from Montrose Bay Yacht Club and North West Tasmania Radio Yacht Club.

Pro, Les Hanson had us starting right on time after a clear and succinct briefing regarding the expected behaviour of all sailors on the day. Clearly setting boundaries for us all.

The very light northerly wind made for quite difficult sailing, with those who could get out of the confused air within the fleets and that worked most effectively on keeping the wind in the sails doing very well.

With the wind dying completely just after 12, we retreated for lunch with four races completed. An interesting leaderboard with a four way tie at this stage, with Mat Gray, Kyle Stewart and John Cole-Cook all tied int he lead on just 6 points.

Lunch was extended with no racing till a bit after 1.30 when the breeze returned from the south to south east. This breeze extended towards the end of the day to around 10 knots, providing some excellent close sailing for everyone.

Unfortunately, the last race, race 9 was abandoned with an onset of weed through the course affecting many sailors. Given this was at 3.20pm, it was decided to call it a day. Just eight races completed, but the day was enjoyed by all.

In the end, Mat Gray was simply too consistent, winning the Regatta with just 10 points. Congratulations Mat for such a consistent Regatta, and well deserved. A 3 being your worst recorded score for the day.

In second on countback, was John Cole-Cook on 19 points. So very consistent as well, and was right on the pace early on.

Third place today, was taken out by Lisa Blackwood, also on 19 points with some fantastic sailing.

Of note also is the closeness of places beyond the first three, with second to fifth separated by just two points.

We also need to thank and congratulate our other club members, Ted Stevens, Ian Dickinson and Ricky Price, who came to compete with us today. Ricky sailing his own-built Wooden Equinox very well. His final result does not demonstrate how well he sailed today. Ted coming down to sail his new Britpop!, showing some great pace and learning a lot throughout the day, and Ian Dickinson, sailing his AKA for the first time in a ranking event. He picked up a lot of experience and confidence with his new yacht, and will surely be back for more ranking events down the track.

Big thanks today goes to our volunteer crew, Les Hanson (PRO), Anne Cole-Cook (Scoring), Ian Hey and Phil Turnbull (Observers). Without your help, a day like today would just not be possible or as enjoyable as it was.

Finally, I really do ahve to mention the conduct of all sailors today. We were obviously not without incidents on the water. One would have to think that a day without incident was perhaps not looked at close enough. That said, I cannot recall one instance today of anybody not ding a penalty turn, with so many apologies being heard when something did happen, as well as nice clear confirmations of penalties being completed for the sailors and observers to hear. Today was a real example to continue to aspire to. Results of this are readily apparent, with two serious enquiries on the day from people watching wanting to start RC Sailing.

A few other things to communicate to everyone.

Coming Up

Wednesday is IOM Mid Week Handicap, at the dam with button press at 11am

Next Sunday is RM Scratch - but note the new start time with daylight savings ending. We now start Sunday sailing at 10am (wind those clocks back everyone).

Secondly, we have another IOM about to hit the market. Michael Hickmans V10 is just about ready for sale. If you might be interested, give Michael or myself a call for further details. Once I have all the detail from him, I'll post it on our website.

Kyle