IOM Summer Scratch Round 4

A mixed day today with the wind. Early on, it was 2 knots maximum fromt he West, then moved through North and across to the East on us, befor a brief lull and then a nice steady sea breeze settled in for the second half of hte day, getting up to around 12 knots in gusts, which had a few move to B Rig, but most stayed on A's for the duration of the day.

The club welcomed visitor Shane Beyer, who came down from Queensland and was quite competitive in the fleet with our club boat (Mojo).

With the rescheduled Scratch day today - replacing the John Emms Memorial for Marbleheads (to be rescheduled) with unavailable boats and skippers dropping the entries below the required 6 boats - we had a great fleet of 14 yachts on the water.

Unfortunately, some weed got in the way early on, but when the tide shifted and sea breeze came in, it all went away except for the last race. Overall a very pleasant days sailing.

We used the Rotational Pro system for much of the day today, with Stu taking the role on after he had a wire break on his battery circuit. The rotational Pro worked wuite well, with boats called over coming back witout any fuss. The advantage of the Rotational Pro is that evreyone gets a go at the role, which in turn gives an appreciation on what the organisers of a race have to do, hopefully attracting more volunteers in tot he future when we host events. One thing noted though is that some of the more experienced skippers probably need to hold back a little bit on advice to allow the Pro to consider the course that needs to be set (especially in fluctuating conditions) so they can themselves learn both from observation and experience. Newer skippers doing teh Pro function don't learn from being told what to do, no matter how well intentioned the advice may be.

Ten races were completed for the day, which was pretty good considering the expected gaps between races with a skipper coming off the water to Pro the next race ald allowing the current Pro to finish recording boats and then getting theirs back on the water.

We had a fairly dominant top four today, and some great sailing throughout. Advantage of a 14 boat field is that there is great racing throughout. You may not be in the lead group at a particular point in time, but you still get some really good racing with those around you.

Garry McCarthy had a great day today. Some very consistent scores with only one 6th counted outside of podium finishes. The GC24 in ominous form under his control. Having been close to him in a few races, it was amazing how well the boat hunted those down in front on a run, how high the boat pointed while still under very good pace, and how he was able to power out of tacks so proficiently, leaving those of us behind (yes, me) who tacked in similar time and place, but simply could not match the GC24 for its explosive acceleration after tacking. Garry finished in first place with just 17 points.

Second place today was Lisa Blackwood in her V12. Again, very consistent in both the light airs and the medium level sea breeze. A worst counted 5th position was easily consistent enough to take the 2nd overall with 22.6 points.

Third place today was Ricky Price, also in a V12. Great pace through most of the day and taking two wins in a row when the wind came up a bit. Some great tacking duels throughout the day, and a very well deserved 3rd on 26 pooints.

In Silver Fleet, it was visitor, Shane Beyer showing the way. Sailing the club Mojo brilliantly to win the fleet on 17 points.
John Hall took out second, just two behind on 19 points, with his Panko showing some real good speed the last few times on the water.
Andrew Wardrop took out third place with his 3D Printed Proteus. Well and truly on track to win the fleet score on the day, but a broken jib attachment cruelled his day, with the last three races not sailed. The Proteus was sailing very fast, and Andrew reported it is one of the easiest boats he has had to sail. He is certainly a big fan of the new boat.

Coming Up

Wednesday sees us back at the Dam for IOM Handicap, button press at the usual 1030

Next Sunday is A Class Scratch Round 2 at Montrose, starting at 1pm