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Category: iom

IOM Summer Series #2 (23/4/22)

Well, Charles was right, it was indeed a 2nd suit wind, having arrived earlier than most Charles rigged his boat with 2nd suit but everyone else opted for top suit so Charles followed suit and changed up. The wind was trying to come from Gautby Road but it was all about the strength of the gusts that could come from anywhere from Gautby Road to the factories.
After the first race and not one boat managing to survive the gusts we took a fleet decision to all change down to 2nd suit, our PRO for the day, Dave Williams gave us 15 minutes to do so and this was indeed just enough time.
The racing at the front of the fleet was nip and tuck for the first 3 races with Darin, Martin and Graham swapping places but after race 4 it was Graham that began to make to make his move, winning races 4 and 5 with Darin slipping out of the top 3 for these 2 races.
7 races before a short break and a cup of tea supplied by the ever present Jack and back out on the water for race 8. Andrea had now blown the cobwebs off and getting to grips with her chartered BritPOP! and her results showed this with podium finishes in all but one race in races 5 through to 10.
A challenging and thoroughly enjoyable afternoons racing with 12 races completed and many thanks to Dave Williams for starting and finishing us (and taking a couple of photos), Jack for making the tea (great tea maker but at 92yrs old he has had plenty of practice) and Martin who put the waders on to move a few buoys and give us a great start line.
Good luck to all Birkenhead skippers that make the journey up to Loch Winnoch for next weekends IOM National Championships.
!st      Graham Elliott        13points            BritPOP!         7 race wins
2nd     Darin Ballington    22points           BritPOP!         3 race wins
3rd      Martin Roberts      24points            Vanilla             2 race wins
4th      Andrea Roberts     39points            BritPOP!
5th      Alan Watkinson    49points            BritPOP!
6th      Graham Birkett     51points            Widget
7th      Charles Legg           75points            K2

IOM Xmas Race 2021

14 skippers gathered for our annual Christmas race for IOM’s on the 18th December, with a start at 10.30 to give skippers an extra 30 minutes in bed for this race.  The wind was perfect, straight down the lake from the clubhouse end, middle of top suit, shifts that could make you look like a fool or a hero, shifts that could take you from a decent top 3 to bottom 3 in a blink of an eye, the way to sail in these conditions is not to paint yourself into a corner.

15 races were completed on the day with race winners being Brad Gibson (BritPOP!) with 7 wins, Peter Baldwin (Lintel MMX) with 3 wins, Martin Roberts (Vanilla) with 2 wins and a single race win for Darin Ballington, Bill Culshaw and the hungover Paul Allen.

As normal there was no entry fee for the race but a Secret Santa (wrapped gift but no bottles) but before the gifts were handed out we had a bigger presentation, John Brierley our commodore presented Derek Priestley with the Acersail “Top Club” shield that had been residing at Birkenhead for quite a few years, as Fleetwood had pipped Birkenhead for the trophy in the 2021 season.

Many thanks to all competitors for supporting this serious but fun light hearted race and to John Brierley who gave up his sail to run the race with Bernie and Dave Williams and last but by no means least, Jack who opted to stay in the clubhouse and supply everyone with hot drinks.

Have a great Christmas and all the best for the new year.

Stay Safe

Graham Elliott All photos by Dave Williams

IOM Winter Series 2021 #1 (4/12/21)

With one no show and a couple of dropouts due to the weather, there were only 4 sailors on the starting line for the first race of our IOM Winter Series.  The forecast wind had increased overnight and so we were greeted with a strong 15 gusting 25+ knot breeze almost straight down the lake, but with some large shifts to contend with.  It rained for most of the afternoon and only 8 races were sailed before everyone was getting cold and wet and we called it a day. The last race ended up in a squall and some very  difficult tacking into the finish line, clearly supporting the end of racing.

There were, however, smiling faces from everyone after  some very close and fast racing in the smallest rig.  Martin Roberts was offered the Rubix of Charles Legg, to give it a rare outing in this rig. He proved to be the one to beat and even with a few problems resulting in late starts, he made every race count and ended up with the lions share of 4 wins (out of 8 races sailed) and equal points with Peter Baldwin, sailing a Lintel MMX who had three. Bill Culshaw (Britpop) rounded out the podium with the remaining win and was pushing for the win at the finish of a good number of close races. Big thanks to Bernie who stood in the wind and rain to start and finish the fleet.

  1. ​Martin Roberts     25      Rubix                 9 pts     4 wins
  2. Peter Baldwin       63       Lintel MMX    9 pts     3 wins
  3. Bill Culshaw           21       brit pop          13 pts       1 win
  4.  John Berry             23       Lintel MMX  20 pts

Next week (10/12) is RG/DF65 Winter Series #2 starting at 12:00 and then on 18/12 is the IOM Xmas Race.  Please enter if you plan to attend.

Strebor IOM Race & ND Championships 2021 – Report and Results

Saturday 6th November saw 14 skippers from 5 different clubs competing for The Strebor Trophy and Northern District Championships, the 14 skippers also included 3 IOM World Champions.
The wind direction for the day was not the most favourable, a South West direction with massive holes and gusts to contend with but ‘A’ rig was definitely still the choice of rig for the whole day.
Peter Baldwin kindly wore the waders to set the buoys with a windward, leeward gate course and plenty of bias on the startline and the leeward gate The first five races were dominated by Rob Walsh and Brad Gibson, with them taking the top two positions in each race, something that never happened for the following 11 races. After completing 16 races, we had 5 different race winners, a bit of rain, a bit of sun, plenty of wipeout gusts but most importantly 14 smiling faces.
It was good to see our visitors and mention must be made to Peter Walters who had travelled the furthest from Lincoln to launch his new Venti design. In the end it was Brad Gibson that took the win on countback from Rob Walsh with Darin Ballington rounding off the podium, all sailing the BritPOP! design. Then in 4th was Graham Elliott sailing his Widget design and 5th was Martin Roberts sailing his Vanilla design.
Much thanks must go to Bernie and Dave Williams for starting us, Jack who stood outside all day finishing us at the age of 92, Judith for scoring us and Joyce for the refreshments.
The next ‘Open’ event at Birkenhead is our much loved Xmas race on Saturday 18th December, entries are now open for this by clicking here or following the links on the home page.
Photo’s are from our photographer on the day – Dave Williams.  Compare the image at the start of the report taken when we started with that below from  the middle part of the day when the gusts were at their strongest.  All of the photo’s from the day are held on our Flikr acount here.

IOM Summer Series #1 12/6/21

Once again the weather served up a great afternoons IOM sailing with an 8-10 knot breeze (with some stronger gusts early on) from the WNW giving a beat up the lake from the Clubhouse end.  There some great sun as well, although the temperature at the lakeside caught a few out who arrived in a T shirt having thought that it would be warmer in the sunshine.

Racing got underway soon after 1pm after Peter had shifted the marks around slightly to make the best of the breeze, although start line often proved to be a bit too port biased in the shifting breeze. Bill Culshaw started the day well for the win in Race 1, with Peter Baldwin taking Race 2, before Brad Gibson put together a string of 4 wins before a break for a drink and chat in the sunshine.

Refreshed after the break Andrea Roberts took Race 7, then Brad added another win in Race 8.  Not to be outdone in the friendly family duel that ran all afternoon, Martin Roberts gained an important win in Race 9, before Brad rounded out the afternoon by winning all of the last three races.  This comfortably gave Brad the afternoon, with Peter in second only one point ahead of Andrea in third who won the family duel by 4 points from Martin.

There was some very close racing throughout the fleet with many photo finishes to cope with by our usual finishing team of Jack and Bernie. Thanks to them as usual and to everyone for sailing on a taxing afternoon with good rules observance and some very helpful comments and advice from our top helms.

There is another afternoon of IOM sailing next week starting at 1pm.  If you would like to join in and don’t have a boat, get in touch with Club Captain Andrew Peter (email in Contact Section) and I am sure he will try and sort a loan boat out.

  1. Brad Gibson            62      britpop               12pts   8 wins
  2. Peter Baldwin        63       Lintel MMX     27pts   1 win
  3. Andrea Roberts    122      Vanilla               28pts   1 win
  4. Martin Roberts      22      A2                        32pts   1 win
  5. John Brierley          84      britpop              41pts
  6. Bill Culshaw            21      britpop              49pts   1 win
  7. Alan Watkinson     23      britpop             64pts
  8. Charles    Legg         25      Rubix                77pts
  9. Mike Wlliamson    43      TS2                     96pts

After 12 races

IOM Club Racing 2021 #3 1/5/2021

A total of 11 sailors turned out for the third in this series of individual IOM club race days for an afternoon of racing in a good but cool top suit breeze straight down the lake (WNW) and plenty of sunshine.  Racing got underway soon after 1pm following some minor course tweaks by the Commodore after last weeks RG65 racing.  With plenty of shifts to either make good gains or catch you out, the racing was close with place changes throughout the fleet in most races.

Martin Roberts set the pace by winning race 1, followed by Bill Culshaw taking race 2 by a big margin having picked up a great shift on the RHS of the course soon after the start whilst most of the fleet was tacking up the near bank.  He followed this up with wins in races 3 and 5 with John Brierley gaining his first win in race 4.  Martin then won the race 6 before a short break was taken, with the overall result al to play for in the next 6 races.

The “re-fuelling” break helped Peter Baldwin gain his first win in race 7, before Martin picked up his third win in race 8.  John took race 9 and Dave Burke race 10 having been second in a number of previous races. John then gained his third win in race 11 and Peter rounded out the afternoon with the final win.  So the wins were spread over 5 different helms and the final points were very close, with only one point separating Martin in first and John second and then two points between Peter in third and Bill, fourth.  Thanks once again to Bernie and Jack for running the afternoon. Photos courtesy of Dave Williams.

  1. Martin Roberts          22     A2                     25pts     3 wins
  2. John Brierley              84     brit pop          26pts     3 wins
  3. Peter Baldwin            63     Lintel MMX   31pts     2 wins
  4. Bill Culshaw                21     brit pop           33pts     3 wins
  5. Dave Burke                  30     brit pop          41pts     1 win
  6. Neil Westbrook          03    Widget            56pts
  7. Tre Joinville                94    Lintel               57pts
  8. Andrew Peter              66    V9                    62pts
  9. Alan Watkinson         23    brit pop          80pts
  10. Mike Williamson       43    TS2                  82pts
  11. Charles Legg               25    Rubix               105pts

After 12 races

If anyone in the club (or prospective members) would like to try sailing an IOM, then Andrew Peter has a couple of race ready IOM’s to loan out.  Please make contact with him at the club or through the contact pages if you wish to give it a try.  There may be other loan boats available in the club if both of those are used up in the future. We would love more sailors to experience the buzz of close competitive racing available at the club in this fleet.