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Author: roger

IOM 2017/18 Winter Series #6 (24/02/18)

Well, Windguru told us 12knots from the SE and we got 12knots from the SE, beautiful blue skies but a bracing Siberian wind.

16 boats, 15 in second suit and Emilio in top suit. The early pace setters settled in very quickly with Rob winning 4 of the first 6 before tea break, Paul taking the other 2 races with Derek not far behind with a brace of seconds and a brace of thirds. Gary Benson also showing good form in races 1 and 5. Unfortunately Rob had to miss race 4 to take a trip to the corner shop for a pack of AAs for his TX, just shows, once again, 10 years at the top of the sport and even a World Champion can sometimes fail to prepare for Birkenhead.

After tea and the big question was, had Alan Watkinson taken a visit to the dodgy Russian doctor for something a little stronger than Tetleys with some great results especially in races 7 and 9. By race 7 the  guts had gone out of a few of the gusts which allowed Emilio to finally get his boat downwind without cartwheeling and somersaulting and get two race wins.

The day belonged to Rob though, with Paul, Derek and Martin closely following, 5th was a mile behind these top four. Final chapter to the book in two weeks, will Rob take the perfect 400 or will he crack under the pressure and let Paul, Graham or Martin through to take the chocolates?

Thanks go to Jack and Bernie, once again and also John for doning the waders once again.

  1. Rob Walsh 17 Pts
  2. Paul Allen 24
  3. Derek Priestley 27
  4. Martin Roberts 29
  5. Graham Elliott 51
  6. John Brierley 53
  7. Emilio Gonzalez 55
  8. Alan Watkinson 66 (One 2nd)
  9. Peter Baldwin 66 (No 2nds)
  10. Gary Benson 67
  11. Andrew Peter 85
  12. Mike Parkington 91
  13. Neil Westbrook 104
  14. Dave Williams 115
  15. Sue Parkington 117
  16. David Foster 123

11 races sailed.

DF65 Winter Series 14th Feb 2018

Once again the Dragonforce Winter Series lived up to its name, with sleet, hail, strong winds and iced over puddles on the lakeside path.

Roger panicked as he had left the bag containing his warm hat and gloves at home, but breathed a sigh of relief when he realised that his transmitter was also in the bag so he had a good excuse not to sail!

The rest of the hardy sailors  started off with “B” rigs, but soon switched down to using “C” rigs with the strong gusts causing problems, particularly  at the starts.

Despite the conditions, 9 races were completed allowing 2 discards.

  1. Neil Westbrook 10 Pts
  2. John Brierley 12
  3. Alan Watkinson 14
  4. Andrew Peter 19 (One 1st)
  5. Dave Pickup 19 (No 1sts)
  6. Dave Williams 22
  7. Sally Collings 28

IOM 2017/18 Winter Series #5 (10/02/18) – Results

What the forecast said and what we got were miles apart, a decent 5mph wind from the NW-N-NE was what settled in by the 1pm, on the dot, start, not the 15mph Easterly that was expected.

Another good turn out of 12 boats,  with Martin, Graham, John and Dave all hoping to take full advantage of the fact that series leader Paul Allen was busy eating escargot and sipping the finest Moet in Paris for Jude’s 40th, must have been a difficult decision for the lad to take.

Sailing was challenging all afternoon with the starboard shifts coming as often as Martin buys a round, so when one was sniffed out, it had to be taken.

Graham and Martin, both sailing their Widgets, traded blows for 8 of the 9 races completed, the other was a TKO as Martin forgot to switch the boat on before launching, lessons to be learnt even after 40 years of radio sailing at the top. The sailing was very close at times as the shifts and gusts compressed the fleet in many races and nothing was to be taken for granted as Dave Williams found out in race 6, rounding the final mark 5 lengths clear after leading the entire race he was cruelly left in 4th position at the finish, as Dave does, a smile and a shrug, most would of resorted to gutter mutterings and kicking the coffee table, not Dave though.

Of the 9 races completed there were race wins for 4 skippers, Emelio, Dave Potter, Martin and Graham. Bill also showed a bit of the old spark in races 4 and 9 with two solid second places that left him just off the podium in 4th as it was Graham, Martin and Dave Potter that took the top three positions for the day and turning the temperature up to gas mark 9 for Paul and the final 2 races of the series.

Thanks again must go to Jack, Bernie and Joyce, without you, we couldn’t go racing.

  1. Graham Elliott 9 Pts
  2. Martin Roberts 17
  3. Dave Potter 23
  4. Bill Culshaw 27
  5. John Brierley 31
  6. Emilio Gonzalez 36
  7. Neil Westbrook 39
  8. Alan Watkinson 47
  9. Dave Williams 56
  10. Gary Benson 58
  11. Chris Chatfield 64
  12. Sally Collings 72

9 races sailed.

DF65 Winter Series 31st Jan 2018

They don’t call it the “Winter Series” for nothing  – a crazy days sailing today with a strong wind, heavy snow and hail showers that hurt!

Results:

  1. John Brierley 7 Pts
  2. Neil Westbrook 9
  3. Andrew Peter 20
  4. Alan Watkinson 21
  5. Colin Deakin 23
  6. Dave Pickup 41

8 races sailed.

Given the conditions, Sally probably regretted volunteering to be Race Officer.