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Author: Peter Baldwin

IOM Summer 2024 #6 – 31/8/24

A great afternoon of very competitive sailing with 19 boats on the water.  Was this really a club race afternoon??  Traffic delayed a few visitors from starting the first couple of races and a number of boats were blighted with various technical issues leading to missed races.

The breeze was pretty much as forecast with a good mid to top end top suit afternoon, with occasional gusts mid afternoon that caught some boats out with a major nose dive.  Peter donned the waders at the start of the day and moved a few marks around to give the best course for the swinging breeze.

Brad started off the day well with wins in the first four races, until Rob got in the groove winning the next two after his traffic delayed arrival, with Brad getting the final win before a break.  Consistency of results was proving difficult as getting on the wrong side of some shifts could prove costly.  A good part of the fleet had their moment of glory towards the front of the fleet in at least one race however.  Graham Elliott was pretty consistent during this first session with plenty of seconds and thirds, with Peter Baldwin, Darin Ballington, John Brierley, Chris Harris, Shaun Priestley and Martin Roberts all picking up seconds or thirds at some point.  There was also some good results from Alan Bennett and Tracey Ballington in the first session.

After the break, the wins were shared between Rob (3), Brad (2), Shaun (1) and Graham (1).  Minor places were again shared around the fleet with most of the earlier front runners once again picking up a podium place, with Alan Bennett and Derek Priestley being added to the earlier list.

Consistency and finsihing every race was key to doing well and Brad ended up the clear winner by a 28 point margin from Graham in second and then John Brierley in third a further 25 points adrift.  The final result would have been different though if Rob Walsh had sailed every race (suffering gear failure 3 races from the end and arriving late), Chris Harris having to leave early and Shaun et al hadn’t been delayed by by traffic at the start of the day.

A great afternoon with pretty much champagne sailing and a strong competitive fleet to test everyones’ capabilities.


Thanks to all the visitors who helped give today’s racing that extra edge.  Thanks also to Dave Williams and Judith, without whom the event would not have happened and who even with a number of races suffering from general recalls we still completed 14 races during the afternoon.  Photos courtesy of Dave Williams with a few more  from him in the Gallery via the following link  here.

For the IOM sailors in the North, there is the Wnndsor Trophy open event at Fleetwood next Sunday (8th Septmber and Entry via the MYA Events page) and the next IOM racing at the club is on Saturday 21st September.

DF65 Social Racing 2024 – 28/8/24

8 sailors turned up today to find, after a number of very tricky Wednesdays, a very pleasant and reasonably consistent (by Gautby Rd standards), SE breeze from the clubhouse end of 5-8knts. Having said that, there were still plenty of snakes and ladders to be found when the wind went patchy or puffs consolidated the fleet on the downwind legs

A+ rigs were the obvious choice and at no point was anyone really overpowered. A standard windward/leeward course with a spreader mark at the top end was used for all races

Andrew won the first race showing good enough speed to deter him from making any rig or tuning adjustments for the rest of the day. The tactics worked as he was never out of the top 2 in every race and consequently won overall. Alan put in a challenge early on but faded in the later races largely due to some poor starts. Neil was Mr Inconsistent with race wins mixed with back of the fleet results. In the end Alan and Neil could only be separated by Alan’s 2 x 5th place finishes versus Neil’s 2 x 6th places. James, fresh from dominating last weeks racing with A rigs, turned up without his glasses and used that as his excuse for failing to get his A+ rig working properly although he finally improved enough to win the last race. Dave periodically appeared at the front of the fleet but could never keep it up long enough to stay there.

  1. Andrew Potter       7 pts (3 wins)
  2. Alan Watkinson  10 pts (2 wins, 1 second, 2 thirds, 2 fifths)
  3. Neil Westbrook   10pts (2 wins, 1 second, 2 thirds, 2 sixths)
  4. James Douglas    15pts. (1 win)
  5. Dave Williams     18pts
  6. Paul Little             19pts
  7. Don McKinnon   20pts
  8. Richard Walker  30pts

Social Sailing & VMYG #3 – 24/8/24

Open Sailing Day – a Cornucopia of Boats !

You never know what to expect, which is the Joy of Open Days at BRSC.

Mike de St. Paer certainly won the prize for Largest Yacht, with his enormous and glorious vintage 20 Rater, closely followed by Charles with his Cantebury J Class, both boats rather over canvassed for the brisk Westerly breeze.

Graham Reeves produced a very interesting Marblehead Vane boat, converted to optional RC, with an unusual and perplexing ‘ Sliding Rig’ , which caused much conversation and Alan brought along his splendid wooden Corbie 5 IOM , recently completed from a Hull built by the late Colin Deakin.

Guest Sailor Nick Wooton and Partner sailed a couple of Star Yachts
and a small Seifert Pond Yacht, and Andrew and Alan brought along a selection of Star Yachts to add to the conversations and the fleet on the water.

There was as much time spent in the Clubhouse as on the water, chatting,
rigging boats, fixing Rigs, and discovering fascinating historical details
of the various boats.

We rounded the day off with some Radio Sailing, with DF65 and DF95’s
on the lake, with Graham Reeves grandchildren enjoying the breeze.

As a Finale, our ex Club Captain Robbie Mack turned up with his wife,
to catch -up on club matters and assure us of his vigilance with regard
to lake safety.

Thanks to all for making the day so enjoyable.

We have to also mention the amazing BSYAS – British Star Yacht Appreciation Society , hosted by Graham Hunt, see link BSYAS (birkenheadstaryachts.co.uk)
Star Yachts historically used our lake as a test bed for all their model yachts.

Finally, the Vintage Model Yacht Group, see link , (vmyg.org.uk) do an amazing job of collecting and restoring important and historic model yachts from the earliest days of our sport.

DF65 Social Racing 2024 – 21/8/24

Groundhog day at Gautby road with a supposedly South West breeze blowing right over the houses. There was wind in some areas, and after a quick conflab the start was positioned in the north east corner opposite the clubhouse to allow a beat of some sort up to the opposite side. The start mark was positioned about half way down in the usual place and this provided a reasonably good beat. Of course by this time the wind had gone left so the line bias meant there was really only one place to be at the start, but the conditions were such that some good starts were made from various positions (and different tacks) on the line during the morning.

Neil suggested A rig after a quick sail, and although this seemed a bit underpowered initially it proved absolutely the correct choice as the wind steadily picked up, so by the end of racing boats were nose diving – sometimes on the run and sometimes on other legs of the course.

James calmly sailed straight to a win, and then another one after his RO duty. But the rest of his day was frustrated by a recurring winch problem which turned out to be the elastic return line having lost its mojo. This left Paul and Mike to fight it out until James returned with his boat fixed to put in another two bullets in the last two races.

Results ended as shown below, with James having to include a DNS after missing three races, and Mike just beating a very consistent Paul.

A surprisingly pleasant day’s racing despite the unhelpful conditions.

Thanks as always to Dave for keeping us organised and doing the results.

  1. Mike de St Paer        8 pts  4wins
  2. Paul Plested            11 pts   1win
  3. James Douglas      18 pts   4wins
  4. Richard Walker    20 pts
  5. Neil Westbrook    24 pts
  6. Frans King             26 pts
  7. Dave Williams      30 pts
  8. John Lee                  33 pts
  9. David White           40 pts

DF/RG65 Summer 2024 #6 – 17/8/24

Once again we were treated to a decent 6-8mph breeze nearly straight down the lake with the odd gust thrown in and some sun to start the afternoon.  The existing course was used, although the start line proved to be rather port biased in the main, with Neil managing to get in a couple of port flyers during the afternoon whilst the rest of the fleet floundered on a left shift.

The first session belonged to Bill who took wins in five of the six races, with Graham manging to take the first race after Bill was left in a hole at the Leeward gate prior to the finish allowing Graham and Peter through.  The podium places were mostly taken by Peter and Graham, with Dave holding onto second in Race 3 after a great first beat.  Alan and Charles were often in close contention for a good part of the race, but the tricky conditions (was that a shift or not?) often catching them out.

After the break, Bill took the first race, but then Graham managed a run of 3 wins, which should probably have been 4, but Bill pulled through in the last 20m after Graham (I was robbed!) was caught out with what became tricky conditions at the end of the afternoon.  Although racing was still tight throughout the fleet, Bill, Graham and Peter filled all of the podium spots in this second session.

Neil meanwhile, was unfortunately sailing on his own in a DF65 with A+ rig as both of his RG65’s are currently out of action.  Initially sailing the same course, we changed it so that he was only sailing to a nearer windward mark.  He was then finishing with the leaders and therfore in company for more of the time.

Another enjoyable afternoon at the lake – thanks to Dave for working out the scores once we had finished the eleven races.

  1. Bill Culshaw          Ivy                   21  11pts
  2. Graham Elliott     Electronica  09  15pts
  3. Peter Baldwin       Uno                 63  23pts
  4. Alan Watkinson   Uno                 23  37pts
  5. Dave Williams      Uno                  33  44pts
  6. Charles Legg         Uno                  26  46pts

DF65

  1. Neil Westbrook  03  9pts

DF65 Social Racing 2024 – 14/8/24

Blue skies greeted the 9 sailors who turned out for what was a morning of close racing in a shifty North Westerly light breeze, which built as the day wore on. A standard windward leeward course was used and with a good start line, with a degree of post end bias, the fleet was pretty well behaved on all starts with only two boats being course side for the 9 races completed.
The early races had lots of place changing at the front with the main fleet being pretty close behind. Neil Westbrook set the early pace with 3 firsts, in the first four races, which also included a turn as RO. Alan Watkinson was also going well with a 1st and two 2nds early on. John Carlin, who was in the mix throughout the early races, then stepped up a gear and scored 3 wins on the bounce. Paul Plested finished the day with two firsts, which helped his overall score, but not enough to threaten the top spot. Frans King was showing some good boat speed on the water with a 2nd and a two 4ths and Malcolm Harvey posted a 3rd in race four. Newcomer John Lee was also in the mix off the start line, but sailing with an A rig on a day perfect for A+ rigs was always going to be a challenge.
On a day of very close racing with at least 3 photo finishes, John C came out on top, pipping Neil by 1 point, followed by Paul who just pipped Alan into 4th by a single point.
  1. John Carlin                 50 10pts 3 wins
  2. Neil Westbrook         03 11pts 3 wins
  3. Paul Plested              154 13pts 2 wins
  4. Alan Watkinson      373 14pts 1 win
  5. Franz King                   95 26pts 1 2nd
  6. Dave Williams            33 27pts
  7. John Lee                     N/A 37pts
  8. Malcolm Harvey   1019 38pts 1 3rd
  9. David White                94 39pts