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IOM Winter Series 2024/5 #2 – 8/2/25

Saturday saw a rescheduled IOM Winter Series Round 2 with a faint Easterly wind over a glassy lake greeting 11 skippers.  From the outset it was clear that reading the faintest puffs and keeping momentum would be the key to good results over boat design or setup.

After Race 1 where Alan Bennett took a close win from Graham Birkett, PRO Dave Williams made the smart call in switching the format to ‘sprint’ style one lap racing for compact racing.

With 5 races completed and wins for Alan, Martin Roberts, Graham and Brad a break was called to warm hands in the clubhouse with a hot drink and a bite to eat.

Back to the water minus Charles Legg who suffered winch issues, the wind had not strengthened as predicted it was decided to stick with the one lap ‘sprint’ racing.

As always on any race day there are races within a race where friendly rivalries take place, but this week we witnessed one that had everyone smiling. This was the first meeting of our IOM junior skippers with both George Bennett and Noah Mcintosh negotiating the tricky winds and potholes as though they were years into their craft. What wasn’t missed among keen observers was their ability to apply a simple approach to racing that is so often overlooked through overthinking and over complicating what is, a simple sport.

I mean why would you start low on the line on starboard, heading straight across the lake when you could be on port aiming at where you need to go? Don’t you just have to get around the course quicker than the rest?

While the finer points of rules will come with age and experience, it was refreshing to see how quickly the bigger picture was taken on board with both leading the fleet at certain stages and seperated by a single point at days end. With some boat swapping to help sort setups and encouragement from all skippers we look forward to following the progress of the new Birkenhead RSC breed.

Fresh from recent strong showings at discrict open races, Robert Mcintosh found the go button to record a strong win and a number of second places to chase the focussed Martin Roberts who was purring like a well tuned engine, linking shifts for fun to take out the win. Brad took the final podium place holding off the fast Graham B with his timeless Widget.  Thanks go to Dave Williams as our RO for the afternoon (and took the exciting photos) assisted by Malcolm who did the scoring.

Our next race in the Winter Series is Saturday the 22nd of February where another strong turnout is expected with returning DF skippers who were absent in Southport and a number of guests looking to sharpen themselves for upcoming ranking events.

Enter here to join us

IOM Winter 2024/5 #4 – Birkenhead RS&PC

IOM Winter 2024/5 #3 – 1/2/25

We had a great turnout of 20 boats for the third in this years Winter Series for the IOM, including 5 visitors and a new Junior member in his first time out competing with a Widget.

Busy Starts!

The sun was out and although the breeze was forecast to be SSE, it was generally SE or even ESE at times, with a strength that was mid to top end A rig.  Although it did die back later in the afternoon, it was still sufficient to give close racing throughout the fleet. Racing got underway at 12:00 after Robbie Mac had donned the waders and moved the marks slightly to align with the breeze and cope with the fleet size.

Everyone seemed to be keen, in fact too keen to get started and so we began the day with two general recalls before we got away on the third attenpt with just 3 boats recalled.  Brad Gibson set out his stall for the day by winning race 1 with Peter Baldwin in second and Rob Walsh in third.  Graham Elliott was awarded Redress having been taken out by a running boat on his final approach to the finish.  This fired him up for race 2, which he won, with Rob second this time and Brad third.  Come Race 3, Brad resumed his winning ways, with Simon Fairman in his new Alioth V3 taking second and Brian Summers in his self designed Buzz 6.

Race 4 was another win for Brad, with Graham second and John Brierley getting his setup sorted to take third. Race 5 was time for Rob to pick up his first win over Brad in second and then John B third again. Brad reversed the results with Rob in Race 6 with Paul Plested taking a well deserved third.  So the end of the first session and a break for some lunch and refreshments.  It was also useful for the finish team to have a break as the finishers were coming in thick and fast at times as racing was so close for the majority of the fleet.

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After the welcome break, Rob picked up another win from Brad in second and Graham in third.  Martin Roberts then seemed to pick up a gear and won race 8, with Brad in second again and Rob third.  Brad then managed another win in Race 9 with Martin second and Rob third.  Graham was quietly plugging away near the top bunch and picking up a couple of fourths before finishing on the podium for the final 3 races.  These final race wins were shared between Rob (2) and Brad (1)  with Graham or Martin usually filling the podium spots. This however still left Brad as the clear winner, followed by Rob in second and then Graham quite a few points adrift of Rob and Martin snapping at his heels in fourth after a great second session.

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There were some notable performances throughout the fleet with Paul Plested picking up fifth with some excellent results having only had an IOM for a few months and Simon Fairman going well in his V3 Alioth on it first outing having been measured earlier in the day. Grahm Birkett picked up some good results in his Widget with a fourth and fifth. Visitors Colin McGinnis and Brian Summers both had some decent results with Colin just getting the upper hand placing ahead of Brian on countback. Finally, a great first day of competitive IOM sailing for Noah Mcintosh including a fifteenth in the final race with four boats behind him.

Thanks go to the race team of David Williams, Neil Westbrook and scorer Judith.  Photos above from Phyl Fanning,  a good number of other ones are available in our Gallery here.

Also a reminder that there will be another IOM Winter Series event next week (8/2/25) when event #2 which was called off due to ice on the lake will be re-run.

Change of Event be IOM Winter #2 on Saturday 8/2/25

It was decided at the recent committee meeting to change the event on Saturday 8th  February from DF95 Winter #4 to be IOM Winter #2 which was lost due to a frozen lake.

When the club’s Winter Calendar was produced, the DF TT series dates were not available and so a DF95 Winter series event was planned on the weekend of the West Lancs DF TT.  As this is one of our more local clubs, a number of DF95 sailors will be attending and so DF95 turnout was expected to be rather low.

Therefore, IOM Winter #2 will be run in its place in an attempt to produce a 6 race series, but also to provide additional racing opportunities for those planning on campaigning for a place as a GBR representative at the IOM 2026 Worlds being held in the UK.

Any previous entries for this event have been cleared down and so new entries will need to be made.

IOM Winter 2024 #2 Cancelled – 11/1/25

Unfortunately with the snow earlier in the week followed by very low overnight temperatures this week, the lake is well frozen and the walkways are still icy and dangerous to walk on.  IOM Winter series #2 has therefore been cancelled and all existing entries have been emailed.  It’s a pity as there were 14 entries and so it could have been a good afternoon.

IOM Xmas Open 2024 – 14/12/24

It was good (and unusual!) to arrive at the club with a WNW breeze already blowing straight down the lake even at 8:00, with a forecast that it would remain that way and potentially increase during the day.  Race Officer Dave Williams (assisted by Clive Warren, Neil Westbrook, Judith Baldwin and yong Scarlett) set out a course and got the briefing underway promptly at 10:00 for the 19 sailors who attended.

Racing then started on time at 10:15 and a sequence of 4 races, break 4 races, break, which continued all day to achieve a total of 16 races, before the 15:00 final cutoff time.  We even had two sailors who travelled the furthest all the way from Glasgow; great to see such dedication.

The wind was pretty well to forecast with some meaty gusts after lunch causing occasional loss of control downwind, but it was all very short lived and everyone stayed in A rig for the whole day.

Over the day, we had six different race winners; Brad Gibson had the lions share of 8 wins, with Graham Elliott, Martin Roberts and Darin Ballington all getting two wins each, then Peter Baldwin and Simon Fairman each gaining a single win.  Next we had second and third podium places from none race winners John Brierley, Derek Priestley and Pete Walters.  Best placed without a podium place and most consistent over the whole day was Rob Macintosh.  There were some good performances at some point during the day for a good part of the fleet, but unfortunately most were often unable to capitalise on their initial position to gain a podium spot.

Overall, a great and very competitive days sailing with very little rain and a bit of sun earlier in the day.  The overall win easily went to Brad Gibson on 18 points, 21 ahead of Graham Elliott in second with Martin Roberts just 3 points adrift in third.

At the prizegiving, Brad thanked Dave and his race team helpers for running the event and achieving 16 races in a short day and for the ladies in the galley keeping us all going with hot drinks, cakes and biscuits.  Photos courtesy of Dave Williams and Clive Warren.  These photos and a few more are available on our Flikr account here.

IOM Racing continues at the club with the second Winter Series event on Saturday 11th January – See the Upcoming Events links and visitors are always welcome for this open series.

IOM Winter 2024 #1 – 16/11/24

Well, when we arrived it looked like it may be 2nd suit, gusts looked menacing for sure but in the end all 12 skippers opted for top suit.
Probably the best wind we have had all year and the IOM fleet in the club has definitely gone up a notch or two this year with Paul P, Alan, Guy and the return of big Robbie Mc and of course due to it being the Winter series we get Graham B back with his trusted Widget, how fast is that boat, he managed 2 third places today.
With this shifting top end of A rig wind, the best tactic was to get into clear air as soon as possible, even if it meant starting a few seconds late as was proven by Brad’s, Martin’s and Grahams starts, nearly always all 3 of them were the first to tack over onto port after the start.
12 races completed and all under the watchful eye of our starter, finisher and scorer, Sharon. Many thanks go to her efforts and tenacity, not afraid to call the premature starters and to have time to take these great photos as well.
Race winners today were Brad with 7, Graham with 3 and Martin on 2. Mention must also be made of Alan W sailing his homebuilt Corbie, Graham Birkett with a brace of 3rds and Robbie Mc with his overall position of 6th.
  1. Brad Gibson                 42  Post Punk      13pts
  2. Graham Elliott            09  Britpop!         25pts
  3. Martin Roberts          127  Britpop!         33pts
  4. Alan Bennett                78  Britpop!         35pts
  5. Robbie Mcintosh       66  V9                     49pts
  6. Graham Birkett          133  Widget           57pts
  7. Paul Plested                  35  Britpop!         63pts
  8. Bill Culshaw                 78  Britpop!          74pts
  9. Alan Watkinson          23  Corbie 5          74pts
  10. John Berry                   180  Britpop!         78pts
  11. Ian Davies                     33   Britpop!         92pts
  12. Guy Cowper                  16  Lintel MMX  115pts