IOM Winter Scratch Round 4

​A very cold and still morning this morning. Temperature around 6C for the ten sailors who came along for the resumption of Scratch Racing after a month layoff.

Looking rather sad to start with - a complete lack of wind, but a few little zephyrs did come along and we got started pretty much on time.

Chris Woods came along to officiate procedings today - big thanks Chris for taking the time away from home life to do so. It's really appreciated.

Andrew Wardrop stormed out of the blocks early. The Wooden V8 IOM with the home made sails showed us his stern for most of the first race, to record a very well sailed win. Not satisfied with a "lucky win", Andrew proved that his latest build was every bit as good as any of the pro built boats, recording a further 5 podium finishes in the next 7 races.

That story soon developed for all of our top three today, Lisa winning the day on 8 points (7 podiums), with Andrew taking second on 15, edging out Ray  on 17 points (4 podiums).

A few other sailors that struggled in the conditions, but as light as it was, the top  three showed that it was enough still to be consistent and the right on-water decisions and clean air sailing paid out in the end.

In Silver Division today, it was unsurprising to see Andrew at the head of the fleet, dominating with a win in every race - perhaps the first time I have seen that..... Andrew finishing on 6 points. Ian Hey took out second in his lovely new V12 on 13 points, with Rod  Marshall taking third on 15 points.

Coming up

Wednesday sees the resumption of IOM Mid Week sailing at the Dam, starting at 11am.

Next Sunday is the IOM Mid Winter Regatta. Button press will be 1030 and depending on conditions, we may be weighing yachts as well. We would like all feed paid prior to the bank account so we do not have to chase up money on the day. Our treasurer will be competing and have things to se up himself, so will not chase any up, so if not paid by button press, results will not be recorded. If not entered tonight (entries do close today as we have advertised on multiple occasions), a late entry fee of an additional $10 will apply for late entries.

We also put out a call for interested sailors for getting together with transport options to NSW for hte A Class Nationals next February as we have to beook the boat in the next week or so. There have not been many putting their hands up for joining in with this, so it currently looks like the trailer will not be going with us. It is an extra $1200 to carry the trailer on the boat so we needed enough interested to make it worthwhile. That said, if someone chooses to come over, there are options such as one of us taking the bulk of the weight in the car and you can transport the hull etc as oversized baggage by plane. We currently have three pretty much confirmed for the trip, with two taking cars, and one heading further to the Marblehead Nationals at Paradise on the Gold Coast straight after the A Nationals.

Kyle