RM Winter Scratch Series Round 3

A wonderful winters day greeted the seven sailors today. A good northerly blowing. Mostly mid A rig, but at times, gusts pushed well in to B territory, which made downwind sailing very interesting and really penalized those who were unable to get their tacks in at the right moment in space and time.

Our trusty PRO, Les, got the sailors off nicely on time, and soon settled into stanzas of three races back to back. Some very good starts and great sportsmanship on the water were clear highlights, as well as some extremely close finishes - Les unable to make the call on one race, giving a dead heat to two yachts in race 9.

Of some note, six of the seven skippers scored a win today, showing the sailing was a bit closer than the results showed.

Unfortunately, we lost two skipers by the end of the day, but nothing major, so will be lining up again next time in a fortnight for the Marblehead Southern Championship.

Clear winner today, with a fantastically consistent day, was John Cole-Cook, on 14 points. Second today, was Ray Joyce - also a real consistent day today - with 30 points. Stalking close behind in third, was Rod Marshall, on 33 points.

On handicap today, the winner was also John Cole-Cook, with a score of 5 (seeded 6 and finished 1st), John Hall came in second, with a score of 1 (seeded 7 and finished 6th), with Ray Joyce (seeded 1, finishing 2), Rod Marshall (Seeded 2, finishing 3), and Kyle Stewart (seeded 3, finishing 4) all sharing third place on the handicap podium with a score of -1.

For those wondering with the handicap system. The rankings are so close in the top 7, that a real good day can move you right up the placings. John fell down the rankings somewhat with some teething and tuning in the last few rounds, which dropped him down a bit (to 7th in the rankings), but after his stellar performance today, his actual ranking is now 2, so will be difficult to figure in the handicap reaults should he maintain his current form.

This coming Wednesday is IOM Handicap, at Risdon Brook Dam, and next Sunday is DF95 scratch racing at MBYC.

This coming Friday (2nd July) is also the close for entries in the Marblehead Southern Championship on the 11th July. Entry fees to be paid, as per NoR, by bank transfer if at all possible.

Memberships for 2021/22 are now due. Please get your membership payments in to Les as soon as possible. As a reminder to those yet to pay, I will send invoices out by the end of the week. We need this paid to continue our insurance cover for our sail days. Thank you to all those who have paid to date. It is really appreciated.

Kyle