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Member Successes at the IOM Nationals

The 2022 IOM Nationals finished last Monday 2nd May at Castle Semple in Scotland.  Once again, club members were well placed at the event with Graham Elliott in 4th, Andrea Roberts in 9th and Martin Roberts in 10th.  The event was won by local sailor and sailmaker Brad Gibson (with his wife’s Britpop).

2022 UK IOM National Championship at Castle Semple Loch - photo © Sue Brown

Sailing conditions were taxing for both the Race Team and competitors alike, with no single skipper dominating the scoring.

A full report of the event and the scores can be seen in the event report on yachts & Yachting here

More Social (Open) Sailing Afternoon’s

After the very successful first Social (Open) Sailing Saturday afternoon last week, a committee meeting yesterday agreed that all spare Saturday afternoon’s in the Calendar should be filled with Social Sailing sessions.  These have now been added with a total of 7 more planned throughout the Summer, with 3 more over the next 4 weeks starting with Saturday 14th May.

We do hope that you will take the opportunity to come down to the club and enjoy the afternoon.  Take your own boat for a sail, try something new or even bring along a guest to experience the sport.

There is an event page for each day for you to enter if you can, although this is not essential for paying a visit on any day.

RG/DF65 Summer Series 2022 #2 (7/5/22)

What a days sailing today at Birkenhead for the second RG/DF 65 Summer series. Wall to wall sunshine with a steady top suit from the North West (with significant shifts causing a number of snakes and ladder place changes).  With the lake seemingly divided into two wind patterns it was essential to get in the right lane quickly. With just two DF65s, the boats were sailed in some races by young members of Graham Reeves family, and it was good to see there enthusiasm and capabilities.

In the RG class, the racing was being used as a tune up for the National Championships next week in Eastbourne and any small mistakes were certainly pounced upon. In the first race John covering Graham did not focus on Peter who threaded his way through for the win. It was certainly going to be that close all afternoon.

The other races up to the tea break were shared between Martin and Graham and after the break these two had to withdraw for pressing family commitments leaving John to take the afternoon session with 5 of the 6 wins . The racing between the other Unos was very close and great to see Alan having a good first outing with his new boat.  Neil and Charles were also having moments at the sharp end which resulted in a great and close days sailing.

Thanks to Bernie for running the event and Jack for our drinks at the break.

  1. ​John Brierley             84     uno                       18pts   5 wins
  2. Peter Baldwin           63     uno                       21pts    3 wins
  3. Neil Westbrook        03     uno                       38pts
  4. Alan Watkinson        23     scurry                 42pts
  5. Graham Elliott           09    electronica       43pts   3 wins 
  6. Martin Roberts          33    pocket rocket   51pts    1 win
  7. Charles Legg               26    uno                       52pts
 
DFs
  1. Andrew Peter         919          22pts  4 wins
  2. Graham Reeves      187          24pts  1 win
After 12 races

DF65 Social Racing #18 (4/5/22)

It was a cold damp day at the lake with the wind blowing straight down from the top end. Due to John C injuring his leg whilst dinghy sailing, and having mobility problems, wishing to assist our RO Sally, a course was set starting from the middle and finishing in the middle. Windward mark to port, spreader to port then down through the gate to finish at middle.

For the racing, A+ was the suit of choice but as the racing progressed ‘A’ would have been more appropriate as positions changed several times with boats overwhelmed on the downward run. There was very close racing between Alan and Neil with James putting in some very good results until gear failure dropped him out of three races, leaving Alan the winner by only two points. Thanks to Sally for organising the ten races and to John her assistant for clerical duties.

  1. Alan Watkinson       373  16 pts 4wins
  2. Neil Westbrook          03  18 pts 3wins
  3. Dave Williams          233  20 pts 2 wins
  4. Simon Bates                69 31 pts
  5. Richard Walker          39  35 pts
  6. James Douglas            73  39 pts 1 win
  7. Stan Metcalf                46  39 pts
  8. Charles Legg                21  63 pts
  9. John Beech                   80  68 pts

Open Sailing Day (30/4/22)

The Open Sailing Event on Saturday 30th April, a new addition to the calendar, turned out to be a very sociable and enjoyable affair.

Commencing at 12.00 noon, a dozen or more Club Members, along with several guests and family members spent a most enjoyable afternoon sailing a wide selection of boats. From a 20” Soling, through DF65’s, RG65’s, DF95’s, IOM’s, Bill’s magnificent Marblehead and Mike’s impressive 20 tonner, there was a mixed fleet of over 20 boats on the lake for most of the afternoon, until finishing at almost 5.00 pm .

The weather was kind, a gentle westerly breeze enabling mostly genteel sailing, which enabled the children to enjoy the day’s sailing as much as the adults. Just as much fun was to be had in the Clubhouse, with Jack and Bernie in attendance, endless tea, coffee and chatter, and boat rigging and tuning advice available all day long.

Everyone agreed that the day was a great success, and expressed the wish to repeat the event at least once or twice more throughout the year.

DF65 Social Racing 2022 #17 (27/4/22)

A rather cold and shifty easterly wind greeted the nine DF 65 racers today, and enabled a course using the full length of the lake to a windward mark at the clubhouse end.

As always racing was close, and was dominated initially by John Brierley who won races 2,3, and 4 but then had to leave for a work appointment. There were four race winners during the day, with Alan Watkinson steadily improving his “spare” boat to win by a point from Richard Walker who had tied on points with Andrew Potter but ended up ahead with two wins to Andrews one.

The fleet became slightly depleted as other sailors had to follow John due to commitments elsewhere, and as the breeze went progressively left and became even more shifty eight races was judged to be enough for the day.

  1. Alan Watkinson   373   14pts 2 wins
  2. Richard Walker      39   15pts 2 wins
  3. Andrew Potter      194   15pts 1 win
  4.  Dave Williams     233    18pts
  5. John Brierley           84   27pts 3 wins, 4 races sailed
  6. Sally Collings       829   28pts, 6 races sailed
  7. Charles Legg           21    35pts, three 5ths
  8. John Beech               80   35pts
  9. Malcolm Harvey  1019 49pts