The forecast of 17mph from the West was pretty close, although I am guessing it may have been a little less with gusts in the low 20’s, proving tricky if you didn’t have a B rig to use. Dave had to use his C rig for the first session as his B is in “the garage” but was underpowered and so later changed up to the A, but could then be over powered if we had a strong gust, but it was certainly quick downwind in the lighter patches. John C in his borrowed Pocket Rocket was in a B swing and everyone else had B conventional of varying sizes and setup. We were a little depleted today with only 5 entries, with people away at Ranking events and on holiday
John had a masthead rigged pocket luff sail that certainly had the edge upwind on everyone at the start of the day, not losing out enough downwind to take the first three wins, with Alan picking up a couple of seconds. Peter then found a bit of a groove and took the next two wins, before an early lunch break as with the wind dropping slightly a few wanted to change up. John B had a slightly larger B rig which didn’t perform as well, allowing Peter another win and after one race John changed back to the pocket luff. This initially seemed to pay off and he took another couple of wins, albeit with some close racing with Peter and Alan around the course. Unfortunately, John B then had some bad luck being dropped in the odd hole which could appear around you without warning and this allowed Peter to take the last 4 wins, albeit with some close finishes.
After 12 races were completed, Peter took the day with 7 wins, with John B second on 5 wins, followed by Alan in third. John Carlin had a good day for only his second outing in an RG65 with swing rig finishing a few points behind Alan, even after losing one race due to a rig issue.
- Peter Baldwin 63 Uno 13pts
- John Brierley 84 Uno 15pts
- Alan Watkinson 23 Uno 32pts
- John Carlin 163 Pocket Rocket 37pts
- Dave Williams 33 Uno 44pts
Thanks as usual to Bernie for running the racing again today and making a brew at lunchtime. Next week is the last week of the IOM Winter series (12:00 start), before we move onto the start of the Summer series for the DF/RG65 on 8th April with a 13:00 start.
