IOM Winter 2024/5 #5 – 8/3/25

Glorious sun and wind at Gautby Road for our 12 skippers. Great to see a few guests travelling to join in.

The wind was quite an unusual one for Birkenhead, predominantly down Gautby Road but with some cruel shifts if you got on the wrong side of them but hero shifts if you got on the correct side of them, nice top end of A rig with some nosediving in the first 6 races before tea.

It was Brad that showed early pace, taking out the first two races and Alan also showing us some great speed in these races with a third and fourth, unfortunately Josh, sailing Pop, missed the first race with a temperamental knob, on his transmitter which was quickly fixed with a bit of fiddling.

Race positions throughout the day switched very quickly due to the shifts but it was Brad who stayed consistently in front, winning 8 in the end. Martin had a better last 6 races that included a string of seconds, probably due to him growing into his new sailing glasses. Andrea should have won race 10, but in the excitement and concentration she unfortunately forgot to finish but still managed a third.

There was also a great battle all afternoon between Andy, Phil and John, I am sure they enjoyed their afternoons sailing.

Race winners included, Brad, Rob, Graham, Simon and Josh.

Many thanks to Neil and Dave (who also took the photos) for starting and finishing us and good luck to all Birkenhead skippers at next week’s ranking weekend in Scarborough.