A chilly New Year’s welcome for 14 IOM skippers for round 2 of this seasons winter series. With the wind gusting down the course (and across the lake at times) from the NNW, decisions were split between A and B rigs.
Of the leading group in B rig, Brad, Peter and Alan B made the most of the stronger upwind conditions early to often lead at the weather mark. It was the bold A rig choices of Martin, Ollie and latterly Graham that had enough control to hunt down the smaller rigs to post good scores during the first session. A tea break was called after 6 races with Martin and Brad having two wins apiece followed by Peter and Ollie with one apiece.
After the break, all skippers were sporting A rigs with Graham hitting form taking a close win over Martin. Remaining race wins were shared between Brad, the consistent Martin and Robbie with recent work to sort sheeting gremlins paying dividends.
The racing throughout the day was closely fought with places constantly changeing throughout the entire fleet in the at times overpowered conditions. Both our visitors Ollie (Fleetwood) and Colin (Tayside) were welcome additions with both enjoying good scores through the day.
Of our junior skippers, George sailed strongly to finish mid field with his best score being a 3rd in race 5 to shadow Noah who had a few pot sealing issues early on.
Thanks to Dave and Malcolm for their efficiency in getting 12 races away in the sunny, yet cold conditions. Thanks also to Dave and Victoria for providing us with some great photos of the racing.
