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The final round of the IOM Summer Series and conditions were far from ideal for racing. The mornings scratch racing was faced with very light 0 to 2 knots winds, sultry conditions and plenty of cloud cover. As the day progressed, winds managed to strengthen a little as the sun broke through and the cloud cover dispersed, with the feint effects of a light sea breeze giving the afternoons handicap racing slightly better pressure than in the morning, but still a lotto draw with regard to puffs and shifts. David Murfet was PRO for the day for the nine skippers that fronted. The course for the scratch racing was from the start between 4 and 5, up to 2 to 1, run back down around 3 and 4 and finish between 1 and 2. One and a bit laps, but with the light airs, still a ten minute race. Rod Jackman took line honours in Race 1 with Andrew Wardrop second and Ray Joyce third. Race 2 and yours truly took the win from Andrew again in second and Michael Hickman in third place. Michael improved his score by one winning Race 3 with Les Hanson sailing well to take second and Chris Wood the minor spot. Race 4 and Rod scored his second win for the day, myself on the podium again, in second spot, as too Michael with a third. After the first drop, I led the scoreboard on countback from Michael on 7 points, Andrew third with 8 points, Rod 2 points adrift in forth, Chris Wood on 12 points, Les Hanson 13 points, Peter Darcy 14 points and Ray and Stu Harris rounding out the field with 19 points a piece. Race 5 and another win for Wasabi with Ray sailing better to take second and the Silver Fox on the podium for the first time. Ray came good for the final Race 6, taking the win from Michael and Darcy, both again on the podium. Final results for the scratch racing and a comfortable win for Wasabi on 12 points, 4 points clear of Michael Hickman on 16 points and Andrew Wardrop in third place with 19 points. Handicap racing was blessed with a little more wind from the general southerly direction to maybe 4-5 knots in very rare puffs, the average speed around 2-3 knots, but still very unpredictable. The course was the same marks but lengthened with another lap. With the handicap starter gone, starts were with the greatest handicaps going on the gun and the rest at their allotted times during the countdown. As usual, the handicaps stated below are what would have been "normal". Dave Murfet declared the first race as the handicap seeding race with the usual 30, 20 10 second penalty for the first 3 placegetters. Given that, Andrew Wardrop became backmarker for Race 2 with a win in Race 1, Michael Hickman grabbed second spot and Rod Jackman to start the next race with a 10 second deficit. Les Hanson showed a clean transom in Race 2, with Wasabi gaining 20 seconds and Michael another 10 seconds. The 10 second penalty for Rod was no problem in Race 3 as he took a comfortable win from Chris Wood and Michael extending his handicap to 40 seconds. Race 4 and the Silver Fox took the honours from Ray Joyce and Rod stepping out to 50 seconds. Ray overcame his 20 second handicap in the fifth as did Darcy off 30 seconds, and Michael off 40 seconds taking the third spot. The final race for the day, Race 6 and Peter Darcy clawed back his 50 seconds to take victory from Michael now off 1 minute and Chris Wood gaining another podium from 20 seconds back. Final results for the handicap races and the Silver Fox was too cunning for the fleet, comfortably winning the session with 12 points, 4 points clear of Michael in second place and another 4 points clear of third place Ray Joyce. Next Sunday is the final round of the Summer Series for Marbleheads with racing from 1:30 PM. Till then, wet sails. Stuart Dawes 
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