A really hard day at the dam today. Very light Southerly for much of the day, not enough even for waves on the water. Only a knot or two in it.
A warm welcome (albeit under grey skies and drizzly conditions) to Peter Ross, freshly arrived from Sydney. Peter has sailed his DF95 back in NSW and we hope to see him regularly at the club into the future. Rod Marshall had the PRO duties today, and got 10 races completed. John Cole-Cook raced a borrowed DF95 and found things nice and easy by the looks of it with a couple of wins and a second to start the day. Although difficult conditions, we did have three sailors who were able to master the conditions. Stuart Dawes and John Cole-Cook at the head of the three, joined on 20 points, with Stu taking the day's honours on countback with his four race wins to John's 3. Third place today, was Michael Hickman, 10 behind the leaders on 30 points. Thankyou today, to Rod Marshall, for effectively setting the courses and keeping us all under control. Coming up - a big week of sailing for us. Wednesday is IOM Mid Week handicap at the dam - button press at 11am Friday is our annual "Australia Day Handicap Shield" for DF95's. This starts at 11am Saturday will have A Class Yachts sailing at the dam from 11am. We were hoping to travel up north to sail them for a northern weekend, but will hopefully do that later in the year still. Next Sunday is the Tasmanian IOM Travellers Challenge, at Lake Trevallyn. Good luck to all the sailors participating. It is very encouraging to see 14 entries so far. Kyle
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A great start to RM Scratch racing today. Fantastic to see nine skippers turn up. Unfortunately, one didn't get off the start line with a blown rudder servo, leaving eight to sail for the day.
Ten races sailed in all, with the first three in A Rig, before we all decided to change down for the B set for the rest of the day. South to South East breeze, from not much at all to around 20 knot gusts proved rather tricky to master, with most of us getting both good luck and bad luck as the day wore on. It was fantastic to see (and the sailors are to be commended for the sportsmanship) with an amount of infringements being cleared with a prompt penalty turn without the need for any challenging - and on two occasions that I heard, where the skipper called their own infringement and started the turn with the yacht they infringed upon not even aware that the infringement was there. Fantastic level of sportsmanship that is what we want to see consistently when we sail. After the end of the days racing, Ray Joyce came out on top. Four race wins and a worst counted of 4 showing the consistency that he sails week after week with the RM. Well deserved round winner on 17 points. Second today, was Kyle Stewart - enjoying that jump up into B rig, reeling off a 1-2-1-1 after the rig change. Also very consistent today, with 4's as the worst counted scores for the day. Finishing 3 behind Ray, on 20 points. Three points further afield, in third, was Stu Dawes on 23 points. Also 4th as highest counted score. Very consistent amongst the first three today. In all, a very enjoyable days sailing. Big thanks to Les for doing the Pro work today. Les has been unwell lately and was great to see him up and about today. Your work as Pro is appreciated by all of us. Coming up Wenesday is IOM Mid Week Handicap, button press at 11am. We will be having a visit from Minister Nick Street, who will be having a look at our new dinghy and getting a bit of an idea what RC Sailing is all about. Hopefully it might also be the start of some positive communications in to the government with our future plans. Next Sunday is DF95 Scratch, at the dam. Button press at 1pm. Reminder also for everyone, that we have the next IOM Ranking Event coming up in a few weeks on 28th January at Lake Trevallyn. Entries can be made either by going direct to the ARYA Events page, or on our own Ranking Events page, which will link you to the same spot. It woul dbe great to get a good turnout to support our Northern friends in their first IOM Ranking event in many years. Kyle A strong fleet of fifteen skippers turned up at the dam for our first IOM handicap event for the year and were greeted with a warm and gusty North Westerly of up to 15 knots. Everyone selected their A-rig for the morning and we got underway using a rotating PRO to officiate. Later in the morning Graeme Cooksey had to retire but took on the PRO role. Thanks for your great work today Graeme.
I broke a shroud in race 3, took race 4 off but rather than make repairs I chose to change to the B-rig. This was very effective and allowed me to win the next race by a fair margin. Maybe this in part helped convince most skippers to change down over the lunch break. In fact changing down may not have been best as the wind did moderate a bit in the afternoon. Rob Cooney was the only one to stay with the A-rig and he performed nicely in the afternoon session. Overall it was a good day for the experienced hands with Jammy Jones earning overall honours .No race wins for Jammy but all of his results were right at the head of the fleet. The unstoppable Matt Grey took out second place finishing the day with back-to-back race wins. Third was taken by Ray Joyce with three race wins in his tally. Congratulations Jammy, Matt and Ray. Coming up: Saturday: Marblehead scratch racing at the dam (1:00 button) Next Wednesday: IOM handicap at the dam (11:00 button) and on this day we will have visitors from Minister Nick Street’s Office who have assisted us with the grant for the new rescue boat. They wish to do a ‘photo shoot’ with the boat. It would be great if we have a good turn-out next week to show the excellent value that radio sailing gives their funding. Lets have a big week! Shorty Light conditions greeted the 12 sailors who turned up today for the first installment of IOM Summer Scratch for the year.
It was fantastic to see a great field of sailors on the water today. Wind in every direction except the east, making courses difficult to set and extremely varied. Without our trusty Pro, Les today who was feeling a bit under the weather, we chose to rotate the Pro's around and thanks to all skippers who quickly volunteered to fill in as pro for a race. Almost everyone had a go at it. The Pro received average points from the rest of their races. With the light wind, an amount of races were shortened. Five race winners from the 10 races today, so things were shared about a bit, with everyone getting a rub of the green at times, and just poor luck at others. Winner today, with a fantastic 14.9pts was Michael Hickman - not venturing below 3rd in his counted races. Well deserved round win. Second today was Mat Gray on 18.6pts, no lower than 5th. Third, by less than a point - was Stuart Dawes - on 27.1pts. With the light, fickle wind, there was quite a lot of congestion at numerous times at marks. Something we need to be a bit more mindful of as we approach them. The Wednesday crew had a real positive talk about that area last week. We just need to be mindful of our places as we near the marks and ensure we keep respectful room for those who have rights over us in order to avoid accidental collisions and ruining the enjoyment of the day for others. Being a self governed sport, we do not need to wait to be called, but are compelled to exonorate ourselves of any infringements as soon as possibe with a penalty turn. Something we also need to be a bit more aware of. That said though, the large majority of the sailing today was done in great spirit. Coming up Wednesday is Mid Week IOM Handicap, button press at 11am Next Sunday is RM Summer Series Round 1, location tba but currently assuming at the dam if the floating pontoon at Montrose isn't repaired by then. Kyle With the Sunday Scratch Racing slots filling up - and not wanting to dilute the amount of sailing for other classes on the Sunday, it was decided that MBYC host an A Class Pennant series for 2024, with sail days approximately monthly on a Saturday.
We will continue to support this series so long as we keep getting enough support from the membership as far as numbers turning up. Initially to be held at MBYC, but moved to Risdon Brook after the damage to the floating pontoon (we hope to have news of when it may return to service in the next week or so). Five skippers turned up for the day today, with a warm welcome back to John Cole-Cook, who has been sunning himself in Qld for a number of months. Initially a light ESE breeze for the first half a dozen races, causing us to start with a downwind start and keeping away from bioys 1 and 2, but the course worked very well for us all. Lisa got off to a cracking start, winning the first two races, but Rod Marshall soon found his mojo and took out races 3 and 4. John took out race 5 in a real close one, before Kyle came through with his first win in 6. Lisa returned with a win in 7 before Kyle found an extra bit of boat speed (or tacked correctly finally) and took out the last two races of the day. Results are always one thing, but they never really show how close the sailing actually is. We all commented on how pleasurable the conditions were, and how much fun it was with our various tacking duels heading upwind. In all, it was a fantastic day of A Class sailing. That said, Kyle came out winner of the day today, with 12 points, one ahead of Lisa on 13 and John in third on 16 points. Again, the day was very enjoyable, with everyone helping each other to try and extract the best out of all the yachts. Today showed that all the yachts are really evenly matched and competitive, with on-water tactics often being the edge required to get up the placings on that particular race. We have round 2 of our A Class Pennant on Saturday, 10th February. While there are quite a few owners of the A Class yachts and we hope they are able to make it to round 2, we also have a few other A Class yachts available for anyone who would like to have a sail. Coming up Tomorrow is IOM Scratch at the Dam, starting at 1pm, followed by IOM Mid Week Handicap on Wednesday, button press at 11am. Kyle It was great to get back to sailing today after a bit of a break over Christmas. We were welcomed by a fine and warm day with a South Easterly sea-breeze brewing. This breeze built throughout the day to about 15 knots in the last race.
Kyle brought the new RIB dinghy and electric motor for its maiden voyage. While the ultimate plan is to use this dinghy at Montrose, the new electric motor will be used at the dam with our current rescue boat. This should make it safer to use in windy conditions. A huge thanks to Andrew Wardrop and Rod Marshall who officiated today’s racing. Today they set us a longer challenging course for the DF95’s. This year we are piloting a new feature on Wednesdays. Every fortnight Wayne Behrens will present a short lunchtime talk on one of the racing rules. Today’s talk, rather than being on a specific rule, was on the importance of avoiding collisions. In summary Wayne said:
As if to demonstrate this in the very next race Wayne and I were engaged in a close tacking battle. Tacking too late caused a collision – Wayne went on to come second while I finished last after completing a penalty! Late in the afternoon, with a storm threatening, Andrew asked if we wished to continue racing. He might have known we would say yes! So race we did and we ended up packing up in the rain! Third overall today went to Martin Svensen with two race wins in his tally. Wayne took second place with the consistent results that are his hallmark. Today’s winner was Ian Bailey. It was only Ian’s second sail with the club and he had plenty of podium finishes in the mix. Very well sailed Ian! Coming up: Saturday - A Class action - originally planned for Montrose Bay, but due to the damage sustained at the floating pontoon, the A Class day will be sailed at Risdon Brook. Button press is at 11am to allow the Risdon Park Runners to finish their event. Sunday: IOM Scratch racing NOTE VENUE CHANGE will now be sailed at Risdon Brook Dam due to the damage sustained to the launching pontoon at Montrose.(1:00 button) Next Wednesday: Handicap sailing for IOM’s at Risdon Brook Dam. (11:00 button) Shorty The morning was sunny and a decent Southerly was blowing when we made our was to the dam for today’s IOM handicap racing. This wind was reinforced by sea-breeze effect and so after lunch it was was a nice 15 – 18 knots – excellent conditions for the IOM’s
It was great to have Kyle Stewart sailing today with the Wednesday group on a rare off the work roster day. Not a bad sail for Kyle too with three podium finishes for the day. It seemed that everyone was keen to sail and so we had at least five good scratch races before the main event. Before we started Lisa challenged us to see if we could, as a group, sail the whole day without a collision. As incentive there was a chocolate prize for anyone who could do so. There were, in fact, one or two bumps during the course of the day, but only one or two, and these were settled fairly and appropriately by penalties without discussion or dissent by the skippers involved. I have to say it made the whole sailing environment a much happier place and I think sets the tone for next year. Working the shifts was the key for success today. Many races were decided by tacking duals in the long windward beat that we had to the finish line. Third overall today was Mr Consistency – Wayne Behrens. It is always worth keeping your eye on which way Wayne is going when the winds are shifing like this at the dam. Second went to Andrew Wardrop. Another strong sail to back up last week’s emphatic win. The winner by a fair margin was Phil Turnbull. Phil had a fairly generous handicap at the start of today’s racing but he showed real class by winning the last race even when sailing from a handicap of 40 sec. Coming up: There might be a few away for next week - 27th December (myself included), but there are still quite a few keen to sail and so there WILL be racing for those interested – but if you do want to sail could you please text Ray (0418 665 883) and let him know that you are coming. Sailing will only happen if there are enough starters. Next year sailing will start on Wednesday 3rd January with handicap racing at the dam for DF95’s. With that I wish to thank all competitors just for sailing during this year. I reckon that Wednesday sailing is something to look forward to each week. A Merry Christmas to all! John S Good evening members,
Our last Sunday sail day is completed for the year, with a small, but enthusiastic group of six on the water. Just some simpl habdicapped races between the three A Class yachts and three IOM's. There was soon a reasonable crowd watching as 1pm drew closer with some more members turning up for the BBQ and presentations. After lunch and a few stories, we commenced the presentations for the year. The report of all the award winners and special mentions is included here for your perusal. The last sail day for the year (I think) is this coming Wednesday with IOM Handicap at the dam, from 10am. Word has it that the new rescue dinghy is going to be launched for the first time on Wednesday. Will be interesting to see how if goes with the new electric motor on-board. Kyle A light South Westerly of about 5 knots was blowing at the start of todays IOM handicap racing at Risdon Brook Dam. Accordingly we set triangular course involving buoy 9. After four races a sea-breeze of 5 – 10 knots had made its way in and we changed to the regular course involving a box around the top four buoys. The 29 degree maximum didn’t seem too overbearing – in fact just a nice day to be sailing radio yachts at the dam.
The podium was well shared today with everyone scoring at least one podium finish (in fact everyone but me scored at least two podium finishes) which I think demonstrates that the handicap system is working pretty well. Third overall was Peter Sylvester who picked a giant wind shift on the last leg in at least two races to steal victory. Second went to Martin Svensen who had his boat looking well rigged and was sailing much faster and more confidently. Martin finished the day with two race wins a second and a third placing in his race tally. Today’s winner by quite a big margin was Andrew Wardrop. With three race wins Andrew was a cut above most of the rest of the fleet today. I am not sure why Andrew grumbles so much about courses that involve buoy No 1. It didn’t seem to affect him much. Well sailed today Andrew, Martin and Pete. Coming up: On Sunday we will be having aur end of year function at Montrose. Sailing (any boat you like) starts at 10:00, BBQ lunch and prize giving at 1:00 Next week will be our last Wednesday handicap sail for the year and will be for IOM’s. (11:00 button) Shorty I wasn't on site for much of the day today, but we got 9 sailors to Montrose today. Unfortunately, the weed had a bit of a comeback, and soaunds like it caused some chaos half way through the first race.
Luckily for us, we do ahve two very capable locations to sail at, so the decision was made to de-camp and resume the day at Risdon Brook. The time taken to do this didn't hurt the day too much, with 9 races finished - with a half hour extension to the day. From the little I saw at the end of the day, the dame turned on everything, from being becalmed if in the wrong spot, to nosediving ont he downwind legs. Quite a challenge to et everything right by the looks of it. Lisa seemed to get it right more than not though. After a slow start tot he day, it looks like she missed a race to perform some tuning to the yacht (Assumed by me) and came back to the water, winning 4 of the next 6 races - enough to come out winner of the day on 16 points. Well done Lisa. Rod Jackman survived some strong challenges to take out second spot, alost always in the top three in todays races, securing the second spot on the podium with 20 points. Third today, on countback, was Mat Gray - just one point behind Rod - on 21 points. Some real close racing to conclude the scratch series racing for the year. On handicap today, Rod Jackman took home first place with 3 rank differential points. Lisa Blackwood, Stuart Dawes and Ian Hey all tied in second place with 1 rank differential point each. Coming up Wednesday see IOM Mid Week Handicap at the dam, starting at 10am Next Sunday, 17th December is a general sail day followed by a BBQ lunch and club presentations for the years sailing. Sailing starts at 10am through to 1pm, and we expect the BBQ to start and presentations from around for those not intending to sail, but with to come along for a snag, a chat, some festive cheer and celebrations of the years achievements. We also extend a warm welcome to our dinghy sailing brothers and sisters, who will be sailing after the BBQ on Sunday. During the BBQ, we have decided to run a Sydney-Hobart sweep as a little fundraiser, with tickets for yachts at $2 per ticket, so bring some coins with you and grab a yacht or three for the sweep. Kyle |
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