Tasmanian IOM State Championship

We started day 1 with a very light northerly as we were setting up, but it changed to the predicted westerly before turning SSW before the first race started. A fantastic field of 19 turned up.

Given the tricky wind direction, we sailed pretty much the same course as our long distance day a few weeks ago, which gave heaps of time to sort out the sailors and gave many options for the actual sailing path, rather than the traditional shorter courses that can resemble a soldiers course at times.

We only got 8 races in today, in both A and B rig conditions, with the longer courses, and the wind delay at the end of the day, before we decided to abandon the day 10 minutes early with lack of wind.

At the end of the day, we have Lisa Blackwood in first position, on 16 points, with David Jones and John Cole-Cook not far behind, both on 19 points. Mike Hickman kicking at their heels, two points further afield.

Day two started with a little more wind than anticipated. The katabatic was in and we had a light northerly as we were setting up for the day.

Unfortunately, that soon dies out, and we attempted to get a start on the racing. The first of the day was painfully slow with the lack of wind, but finally got a result from it. We then had a small delay to wait for something to turn up.

It soon did, and we got one more race, as painful as the first one, before we stopped for a very early lunch in the hope that the expected 1pm SE would come a bit early.

Post lunch, the wind did come up a bit, and we got some fantastic racing in. Many even changed out to B rigs mid afternoon with the increase in wind. In the end with that, there was little advantage gained by either A or B rig.

Unfortunately, we lost a few competitors during the day with equipment failure, but they will be back on the water again very soon.

It must be said that the two days racing was very competitive, with 11 winners across the 20 races. It really shows the level of the field on the weekend.

That said, the field did spread a bit from yesterdays results, and the leaderboard did have a bit of a shakeup.

Lisa Blackwood continued her consistent sailing, stretching her 3 point overnight lead to a convincing 18 point win, on 53 points, with Michael Hickman also very consistent, in second place with 71 points. Ray Joyce shot up the leaderboard today with a great day, finishing in third on 94 points, with Mat Gray making a welcome return to competitive racing in fourth, on 99 points, just ahead of Rod Jackman, in fifth.

No championship can be run without the tireless work of its volunteers. This not only goes to the efforts of the Pro, but alo those who turn up early to get everything ready, and hang around to help pack up. That said, a big thanks has to go to Les Hanson for his work as Pro over the weekend. Setting the courses was a very hard job with 180 degree wind shifts within the one race. Your work is very appreciated. Helping Les, was Anne Cole-Cook and Andrew Wardrop, handling the scoring and observer roles respectively. Your assistance to make the event a success is to be commended.

RBRYC members should be proud of the efforts over the weekend. It was also fantastic to see the amount of the general public, as well as members, both present and past, who stopped to watch over the weekend.

​This coming Wednesday is a return to the IOM Handicap, from 10am, and we have the RM Scratch series on next Sunday from 1pm.