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Category: Fleets

IOM Winter Series 7 – Saturday 2nd March

Round 7 the concluding round of another great Birkenhead Winter Series for the IOM class saw 11 skippers sailing 10 races in a gusting, shifting South Westerly wind with all skippers choosing to sail in the number 1 rig.
Brad Gibson was quick out of the blocks again winning the first race but it was Bill Culshaw that took the chequered flag in the second race finally ending Brads winning streak. 6 races before tea break with some great sailing from Alan Watkinson that saw him twice leading but unfortunately he also twice hit the leeward gate mark, to be fair the light today was very bad for sailing.
Lawrence Drennan was also sailing fast today and in many races he was up there with the leaders and actually led the fleet to the windward mark in race 8. Unfortunately Neil Westbrook had a calamitous time between races when a gust hit his boat and spun it round snapping a shroud, a quick fix to this then saw him get his TX necklace wrapped around the rudder when launching that resulted in a dunking for the TX, although not funny at the time, we did have a smile about it at tea break and he returned to sail after a cup of tea and 10 minutes with a hair dryer.
In the end we had 4 different race winners today and what was evident about the racing was the hard but fair way in which all 11 skippers sailed.
Brad Gibson won the day and also the series with Martin Roberts only a couple of points behind him for second place.
Well done to all skippers and a 2018/19 Winter Series summary will follow shortly. Once again thanks must go to Bernie and Jack for starting and finishing and making the tea.

1st        Brad Gibson                   2                 15pts
2nd      Martin Roberts           55                18pts
3rd       Graham Elliot               9                 25pts
4th       Bill Culshaw                 21                 28pts
5th       John Brierley               84               30pts
6th       Lawrence Drennan  57                48pts
7th       Alan Watkinson         23                51pts
8th       John Berry                    12               53pts  (4th place)
9th       Andrew Peter              66              53pts
10th     Neil Westbrook           03             74pts
11th     Dave Williams              29              76pts

After 10 races

DragonForce Winter Series #9 27/2/19

6 sailors turned out on a glorious sunny day but with a very light SE wind.  A long course utilising the whole length of the lake was set with Ernie making a pleasant return and acting as race officer.
10 races were held with John managing to hold off Neil to take first place.
1st.        John Brierley.            11 pts
2nd.      Neil Westbrook.       16 pts
3rd.       Andrew Peter.           25 pts
4th.       Alan Watkinson.      28 pts
5th.       Colin Deakin.            32 pts
6th.       Dave Williams.         35 pts

DragonForce Winter Series #8 20/2/19

Reduced turn out due to holidays, work commitments and a very light wind forecast.
A+ rigs and a short course enabled 10 races to be held with Neil managing 6 wins.

1st     Neil Westbrook          10 pts
2nd   Alan Watkinson         17 pts
3rd    Richard Walker          18 pts
4th    Colin Deakin               28 pts.

IOM Winter Series 6 – Saturday 16th February

15 boats turned out with a good variance of designs, including V9’s, ‘Slimtel’, ‘Viper’, ‘Widget’, ‘Red Wine’, ‘TS2’ and ‘Britpop!’.
The wind was a little erratic though making the sailing interesting and making the fleet bunch together on many occasions but giving the tail enders a good chance to come through with the gusts.
Yet again the sportsmanship of all was extremely good and all rules and penalties were taken with no question.
Brad Gibson sailed a perfect 6 races before tea time with no one skipper giving him much to worry about. After tea in race 7, Sue Parkington sailed a great race chasing Brad all the way, unfortunately she dropped 2 places at the finish line when not realising it was the finishing leg.
As the ‘Beautiful South’ sang though it was Brad that made ‘The Perfect 10’ with the wind from the South, John Brierley sailed consistently to be runner up with Graham Elliott in 3rd and the returning Graham Birkett in 4th. This made for 4 different boats, all World Championship winning designs spanning over 20 years.
Thanks to Jack and Bernie for running the race and making the tea.

1st         Brad Gibson 2                     8pts
2nd       John Brierley 84               23pts
3rd       Graham Elliot 09             29pts
4th       Graham Birkett 133         34pts
5th       Bill Culshaw 21                  48pts
6th       Martin Roberts 32            54pts
7th       Neil Westbrook 03            55pts
8th       Lawrence Drennan 57     61pts
9th       Andrew Peter 66               64pts
10th      John Berry   12                   68pts
11th       Alan Watkinson 23          73pts     (one 4th)
12th      Mike Parkington   82      73pts
13th       Sue Parkington 86          84pts    (one 4th)
14th      Dave Williams 20             84pts
15th      Chris Chatfield 7               90pts
after 10 Races

 

IOM Winter Series 4

A welcome fleet of 15 boats for round 4 Of this years Birkenhead IOM winter series greeted our PRO Bernie McNulty under cold grey skies. A rigs were unanimously chosen with a light 3-8 knot SE wind blowing mostly straight down the course from the clubhouse end.

From the outset the usual names of Roberts, Potter, Brierley and Culshaw and Gibson got away well in the shifting conditions. Others to do well at times were locals Lawrence Drennon and Neil Westbrook with a podium heat finish apiece.
After 11 races in total were completed with 2 discards, Brad Gibson took the day with a score of only 9 points with his 23 year old ‘pimped’ boat that enjoyed the light conditions. Rounding out the podium were Bill Culshaw with another strong showing in second and John Brierley edging out Martin Roberts for third by a single point.
A number of both new and visiting skippers from as far north as Fleetwood and east of the Pennines with designs new and old enjoyed a great days sailing and we welcome more in future rounds. Plenty of advice and tuning tips were shared throughout the fleet with none more evident than top skipper Graham Elliott sharing the controls for the day with daughter Millie. Congratulations Millie in leading us to the windward mark in the penultimate race showing the rest of us how it’s done.
Our next round of the Winter Series is on February 2nd feel free to join us

1st      Brad Gibson                 9pts
2nd     Bill Culshaw                  23pts
3rd      John Brierley               30pts
4th      Martin Roberts           31pts
5th      Dave Potter                 41ots
6th      Lawrence Drennan    52pts
7th      Neil Westbrook            59pts
8th      Alan Watkinson           66pts
9th      Andrew Peter               75pts
10th    Gary Benson                  84pts
11th    Howard Garner             86pts
12th    John Berry                       94pts
13th   Michael Benson             103pts
14th    Phillip Davies                 119pts
15th    Millie Elliot                     120pts

 

Dragonforce Winter Series #2 09/01/19

After last weeks race (#1 of the Winter 2019 Series) was abandoned due to lack of wind, this weeks DF 65 race today was held in an extremely gentle wind which struggled to make its way down the top half of the lake. The sun made an appearance so a pleasant morning with 6 boats and 10 races completed.

1st.       John Brierley.        8pts
2nd.      Alan Watkinson.   20 pts
3rd.       Andrew Peter.       21 pts
4th.       Richard Walker.     30 pts
5th.       Ernie Rice.             32 pts
6th.       Dave Williams.      39 pts