Category: iom

We were promised a decent 9 or 10 mph breeze from the West by 12:00 or soon after and the day lived up to the promise with plenty of sunshine and a breeze that was close to straight down the lake, with gusts, lulls and shifts galore to make gains (and for some therefore losses) around the course.

There were 15 entries for this week after losing one entry at the last minute, which included our two Junior members going head to head again.  A course was set with a shortened windward leg for the two Juniors and the two adult beginners allowing everyone to finish much more together.  The first race saw Brad take the win from Noah (on only his second time out in an IOM club race) with Alan Bennett beating son George to take third and fourth respectively.  After this first race, George got into his stride and took wins in each of the next five races before the break.  This left space for a variety of sailors to pick up the podium positions includng two seconds and a third for Noah, a similar clutch for Brad, and then a great second for Phyl on only his second outing in the IOM.  Also taking thirds were Graham Brkett, Graham Elliott and Andrea.

After the break, the course was made a little more testing for those on a handicap with the first beat to the shorter windward mark, followed by a full length beat on the second.  Even so, young George had a great set of results counting two seconds and two thirds from the six races, with some very close finishes which could easily have meant an even better placing.  Brad had a consistent second half with three wins and a third, the other wins being taken by Peter, Graham E and the final race by Martin.  This small group also picked up the other podium places with Andrea, Robbie Mac and Graham B being in close contention.

Overall, a great afternoon of sailing with close to “Champagne Sailing” at Gautby Road, especially after all the recent cold weather.  Even more so, was the day fittied in between two storms on Friday and Sunday that would have proved testing for sailing with an “over the houses” close to gale force Southerly.

George took the afternoon after the string of firsts in the first session, with Brad close behind and Graham E, a number of points adrift in third.  The handicap course with a shorter first leg seemed to work well in keeping the fleet in closer contact for most of the race and one likely to be repeated in future weeks.  Thanks must go to our Race Team of Dave Williams, Neil Westbrook and John Beech and also for the photos from Dave and John.  A few more photos can be seen in the Gallery.

Round #5 of the IOM Winter series takes place on Saturday 8th March, starting at 12:00, just one week before the first Ranking weekend taking place on 15th & 16th March.

1. George Bennett           BritPOP!     19pts
2. Brad Gibson                  PostPUNK  22pts
3. Graham Elliott            BritPOP!      40pts
4. Peter Baldwin              BritPOP!      46pts
5. Martin Roberts            BritPOP!     48pts
6. Rob Macintosh            V9                  61pts
7. Noah Macintosh         A2                  62pts
8. Andrea Roberts           BritPOP!     63pts
9. Phyl Fanning                Lintel          82pts  1x2nd
10. Graham Birkett           Widget        82pts  1x3rd
11. Alan Bennett                BritPOP!    106pts  1x3rd
12. Alan Watkinson          Corbie 5     106pts
13. John Berry                    Lintel           121pts
14. Charles Legg               Kantun 2     123pts
15. Stan Metcalf                Widget        126pts

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.