Mid Week IOM Handicap

The promise of a warm and sunny day with a moderate Northerly brought 14 skippers to Risdon Brook Dam today for IOM handicap racing. They were not disappointed. While the breeze was a bit shifty and variable it stayed with us all day and provided for some excellent and close racing.

Today we welcomed Henry Finnis as a guest skipper. Henry is a regular with the DF95 fleet at Puddleduck Vineyard but today Lisa’s generously loaned him her Venti. I am pretty sure that Henry enjoyed his day too, - especially when he won race #2!

An honourable mention goes to Al Short who struggled a bit in the morning session but after lunch finished the day strongly, especially in the last three races with a third place, a second place and a race win (in that order.) I reckon that he will be looking forward to next week’s racing.

It was a close scoreboard today with 14 points separating the first 10 skippers. And the sort of day where it was difficult to predict the winner without adding up the points. 

It was consistency that earned top honours overall today. Jammy Jones took out third place in a welcome return to his usual form. Ian Hey was second and also had a 1st 2nd and 3rd in his mix, and today’s winner was Phil Turnbull who sailed his pink TS2 today and was always near the head of the fleet. Well done Jammy, Bodge and Phil!

I do think that our handicap system is working quite well now. All skippers made the podium at some stage today, and most made it twice. Consequently no skipper needed a handicap adjustment of more that 5 seconds showing that most were on about the right handicap.

Coming up: Plenty of sailing next week!

Sunday: RM scratch racing at Montrose (1:00 button)
Wednesday: IOM handicap racing at Risdon Brook Dam (11:00 button)
Thursday: The Show Day Showdown! 
A DF65 handicap invitation series (10:00 – 12:00); 
A BBQ sausage sizzle lunch at 12:00, then;
A DF95 scratch invitation series (1:00 – 3:00). 
We are hoping for a good turn out for this so please invite your friends.


Shorty