The seventeen sailors who turned out for this second Jack Turner Trophy IOM Open, arrived to find a decent westerly breeze nearly straight down the lake and some sunshine starting to show. Paul Plested was out in the waders getting the “competition marks” in the water with a rough course for the practice session. These were then tweaked before the briefing to take account of a slight shift and the course remained without any changes for the rest of the day.
After a short briefing (and no questions), by Paul, racing got underway on time under the watchful eye of our RO duo of Neil Westbrook and Dave Williams. The start line was probably port biased at the start of the day, as long as you had the room to tack off and not get pinned all the way to the bank. Later on it became more even and occasionally slightly starboard biased, before returning to port.
First blood went to Robbie Mac, closely followed by Paul Plested and Graham Elliott. Brad Gibson then had a run of three wins, with Roger Crates, Martin Roberts, Graham and Paul Middleton all getting on the podium. Graham then took the final race before a coffee break, with Peter Baldwin and Brad following behind. Sailors were treated to a variety of Cakes and biscuits (mostly home made) all served up with free tea and coffee by Joss and Chris in the galley.
Following the break, Graham had three more wins, with Brad and Robbie taking one apiece. Podium places were gained by Brad, Graham, Martin and Bill Culshaw, who was starting to get to grips with the tricky conditions. The wind was not easy to manage with some strong gusts barreling down the course at times, usually knocking at least half the fleet over on the run, whilst a few might escape “scott free”. Lunch was then called, soon after 12:30 with ten races completed.
As the fleet emerged after the lunch break, conditions seemed pretty similar to just before lunch, but a few nasty gusts sent a number of sailors back to the clubhouse to change rigs and a small delay ensued.
As we resumed with about 5 boats on B rig’s Bill put his to great use and rounded the Windward mark well in the lead holding onto this through to the finish, with Graham chasing hard but unable to catch him. In this next session of five races, Graham took an additional win, Martin had two and Simon Fairman had a great start and picked up a win in Race 14. Podium spots once again taken by pretty much the same top 5 boats.
So, into the final session of five races and most were back in A rigs as the gusts were not as strong as earlier and having been good straight after lunch, never showed the same promise later in that session. Peter took the first win after the tea break, with Brad then picking up two and Graham and Robbie one each.
After twenty races, our RO decided to call it a day, a little before time, but useful for those who had travelled some distance. When the results were entered, the day went to Brad Gibson sailing his Post Punk design, closely followed by Graham Elliott sailing his 2011 BritPOP! with Martin Roberts third also sailing a BritPOP!
At the prizegiving, where Jacks’ daughter Debbie presented the prizes, Brad thanked everyone involved in setting up and running the event, Joss and Chris for running the galley all day, then thanked the six visitors for travelling to the event. He also wished Graham and Martin every success at the forthcoming World Championship being held at Datchet Water in mid May.
Thanks to Stuart Mearns for the photos in today’s report, with additional photo’s in the event Flikr Album here.
The next IOM Club racing is on Saturday 9th May, just one week before the World Championship begins.
8 boats today, a little down on numbers due to the Easter holidays.
The wind was a lovely top suit from the houses, clubhouse end of the lake which gave everyone a massive challenge, one minute becalmed and the next nosedive, boat handling skills were needed by all.
The gamble today was sheet out and go for speed and risk not making the next mark or sail a little tighter and slower but guaranteeing you could lay the next mark. At least 8 of the 12 races sailed saw 4 boats finishing within 4 metres of each other.
By far the stand out race of the day was race 10, young Noah who had sailed well all day, finally got a position fitting his efforts, with a 3rd. Race winners on the day, Brad with 5, Graham with 3, Martin on 2 and Olly and Rob one a piece.
Thanks to Dave and Neil for starting and finishing us today and Dave for the photos and full results as below:
Sadly only seven IOM sailors came to the starting line for this last round of the Winter Series. Having decided to make this a longer racing session, starting at 11:00, the weather forecasts and illness reduced the fleet size to be our smallest on the series.
We were all pleasantly surprised to see a gentle 4 to 6knots blowing down the lake from WNW as we arrived, having had forecasts that were generally no more than 2 knots. Racing got underway soon after 11:00, under the watchful eye’s of Neil Westbrook and Dave Williams. Four races were completed in a breeze that started to die away afte race 3, such that the last race took over 20 minutes to complete and a decision was made to have an early lunch break. Brad won all of races in this early session, with Peter, Olly, Martin and Graham all making up the podium places.
This became an extended lunch break, with racing recommencing at 13:30, with a sea breeze that cane and went through the afternoon. However, we still managed to sail an additional eight races in a breeze that could vary from near zero to 6 knots and change its’ direction as the sea breeze fought with a Northerly gradient.
Brad once again managed to get to the front in most races (picking up five more wins), although the front bunch of five boats were usually not separated by much in most races. Martin had a better afternoon after changing his rig and was usually pushing the race leaders. Olly continued his good form from the morning, still picking up some good results, whilst Graham Elliott was much more on the pace in the afternoon. Peter unfortunately faded after taking a win straight after lunch, but unable to match his form from the morning session.
Clive and Alan meanwhile were having their own race battles behind the leading pack with little to choose between them, although Clive did come out on top in the final reckoning.
So, Brad took the day comfortably from Grahamin in second after a great second session, with Martin third. Thanks to Neil and Dave for running the racing and Dave for the photos once again.
16 skippers arrived for Round 5 of the IOM winter series to picture perfect sunshine and 6-10 knots of wind from the WNW.
Race 4 had Graham lift his game to join the leading pack taking the race win as there was little betwwen the fleet as shift management and patience in close quarters was all important.
A refreshment break was taken, boats were tuned, batteries changed and all but Phyl came back out for another 6 races to make up a total of 13 races for the day. Wins were taken by Graham, Brad and Josh with Martin and Alan B and Graham B having better results as the wind eased in strength.
An excellent days racing with Brad taking the win from Josh and Graham rounding off the podium placings in third.
Thanks once again to our excellent race team of Dave, Neil and soggy Peter B for setting the course.
With a number of skippers away in Southport representing the club at other events, it was a small but keen group that fronted for Round 4 of the IOM Winter series.
Racing got underway in a steady 5 – 8 knot south easterly wind that gave us a windward return course over the full length of the lake.
Brad took the first 2 races pushed hard by Alan, Robbie and Guy who is fast coming to grips with his new boat. After a delayed start, Martin was fired up and was never headed in races 3 and 4.
Our visitiors John Tideswell (Keighley) and Andrew Backhouse (Birmingham) were fast in coming to grips with the streaky shifts and benefitting from some tuning tips from the lead group. The proof was in a number of races leading up to and following tea break where all boats were finishing within 30 seconds of the leaders.
With tea taken, Alan, Martin and Brad took wins with both Robbie and Graham scoring top 3 places. Races went down to the wire with a duff tack or missed puff being the difference.
The wind was a lovely shifting, gusting 2nd suit from Gautby Road, no rain and a pleasant 8 degrees. The course was perfect, especially the positioning of the leeward gate. Nothing could be taken for granted and there were big gains and losses to be had from start to finish.
Alan Bennett made the early running winning 3 out of the first 7 races before lunch but the following pack of Graham Elliott, Brad Gibson and Peter Baldwin were not too far behind.
After a short break another 9 races were completed, the wind increased a small amount and centred ever so slightly, plenty of nose diving and you had to choose the correct time to tack.
A good finish in the final 3 races gave Graham Elliott the win from Brad Gibson with Alan Bennett rounding off the podium. Other notables today were Alan Watkinson with great speed and managing a 2nd in race 11, also Graham Birkett returning from a break with a very strong final 5 races, Tracey Ballington getting 5 single digit scores in the final 6 races.
Race wins went to Graham Elliott (4), Brad Gibson (4), Alan Bennett (4), Peter Baldwin (2), Martin Roberts (1) and Darin Ballington reunited with his BritPOP! also with one.
