A total of 7 IOM’s turned out for the last of the Summer Series in 2023 and were greeted with a decent middle top suit breeze straight down from the clubhouse end, with the usual mix of shifts and pressure variations to help (or hinder) someone’s progress up or down the lake.
After Peter had re-jigged the marks after last weeks DFTT, our RO Dave Williams got things underway on time with six of the seven for the first 4 races. In the first session of six races, Alan got the lions share of five wins, with Peter taking one win and Bill plus Martin vying for the lead at any time during the race. We were joined this week by Alan’s young son George in his first visit to Birkenhead, sailing a Mirage and showed great ability to get off the starting line and around the course with the rest of us. We hope to see him again at the lake in the future to further hone his skills.
After the break, the fight continued at the front of the fleet for the wins, with Peter gaining three then Alan and Martin one each such that in the last race, the overall winner on the day was going to be either Alan or Peter. Alan led for a good part of the race, until Peter managed to pass him up the last beat and looked to be safe, but then sailed himself into a bit of a hole. Alan meanwhile kept in the breeze to cross the line half a boat length ahead of Peter for the win and the days honours. Bill was third, Martin fourth after missing the first 4 races and Tony sailing an IOM for the first time, was fifth. Very many thanks to Dave for running the racing once again, taking a few photos and getting racing completed before we had much rain.
- Alan Bennett Britpop! 15pts
- Peter Baldwin Britpop! 16pts
- Bill Culshaw Britpop! 28pts
- Martin Roberts Widget 39pts
- Tony Sedgwick Lintel MMX 44pts
- Alan Watkinson Britpop! 58pts
- George Bennett Mirage 63pts
Next IOM Race is Race 1 of the Winter Series on 11th November.
Storm Antoni decided not to visit Gautby Road lake, but three very keen IOM sailors arrived expecting the worst. The very light wind “appeared” to come from the Clubhouse end so a course was set from the top end of the lake to the windward mark at the clubhouse then to a spreader both to port back through a gate, two laps and a finish at the middle mark as usual. The racing for the first three races was such that it was impossible to guess who would come out on top with all three boats taking turn to lead. Bill scored two wins with Alan the third. 
At this point the wind finally disappeared and an early tea break was called (see pic above). After about twenty minutes it started to rain quite heavily then we had wind but from the opposite direction. Course then changed and racing recommenced. This new course and wind suited Alan who took the next seven races with seconds and thirds shared between Bill and John. 
Considering it was supposed to be mid summer, ten races in the cold and wet was deemed enough and RO Dave Williams called it a day. Many thanks to Dave for turning out and running the racing and keeping scores and taking the few photos today.
7 skippers, 5 sailing BritPOP!’s, 1 Widget and 1 Chimera, the new design from Craig Richards. The wind was a beautiful top suit breeze from Gautby Road although it did gust up in a few races that caused everyone to cope with the odd nosedive.
