IOM Summer Scratch Round 6

Start of the Summer season for our sailing, and the second half of the Summer Series (sort of).

A mild day for us with about 6 knots on the water. Concerningly, while we were setting up, the breeze went from all points except East, but by the time we were sailing at 2pm, the breeze had settled down to a fairly consistent SSE, gusting up to around 10 knots, but all withing A rig for the day today.

Pro for the day, Peter Sylvester had us under was early, with everyone ready to go 5 minutes prior, so why not. An initial race and quick check, then stanzas of 3 races with a break thereafter. No waiting on stragglers with the button press as soon as the break period timed out. The big advantage of this was that we got 11 races in for the day. The initial one was two laps, with Peter increasing it to 3 after the first break. Standard 6-7 then to 2/3 gate and return for all but the last race, which swapped to 7 then 6 offset.

Some fantastic racing throughout the day with some real close battles throughout. There ended up being a bit of a pattern for the day with a top 5  becoming fairly clear – very close racing amongst them and then the next 4 all very close as well. That said, there were 5 individual race winners on the day, who all placed in the top 6.

We did have a little weed in the middle of the session which affected a few races, but it soon went away again and we were treated to some fine light wind racing in the last hour. The last race especially enjoyable to be in and for observers to watch – a very close tactical race with no less than 5 lead changes throughout. Picking lanes and lifts absolutely critical and part of the awesome nature of sailing at Montrose.

As the day wore on, it was pretty clear that Gary and Stuart were going to be quite close, with Gary being that bit more consistent, winning the round with 18 points from the 11 races.

Stu was 5 points behind in second on 23 points.

Our Nomad, Rod Jackman – recently returned form his road trip on the big island – came in third, a further 6 behind on 29 points.

Just the two Silver Fleet sailors today, with Andrew taking the chocolates on 9 points to John’s 16.

An excellent day’s sailing, and big thanks to Peter for coming along to Pro the day for us. It’s really appreciated.

On an aside, your committee has been hard at work, refurbishing the second launch ramp at Risdon Brook, and it has now been put in place on the southern side of the current one. Big thanks to the volunteers who have helped get this project completed. It is surely going to help launch and retrieval for all of us at the dam.


Coming up
Wednesday is DF95 Mid Week Handicap at the dam from 1030

Next Sunday is the IOM State Regatta at Montrose button press at 1030. We are very short on numbers (only 4) at the moment, so please get your entries in as soon as possible to avoid the event being cancelled on Friday.​

Kyle