The forecast of 17mph from the West was pretty close, although I am guessing it may have been a little less with gusts in the low 20’s, proving tricky if you didn’t have a B rig to use. Dave had to use his C rig for the first session as his B is in “the garage” but was underpowered and so later changed up to the A, but could then be over powered if we had a strong gust, but it was certainly quick downwind in the lighter patches. John C in his borrowed Pocket Rocket was in a B swing and everyone else had B conventional of varying sizes and setup. We were a little depleted today with only 5 entries, with people away at Ranking events and on holiday
John had a masthead rigged pocket luff sail that certainly had the edge upwind on everyone at the start of the day, not losing out enough downwind to take the first three wins, with Alan picking up a couple of seconds. Peter then found a bit of a groove and took the next two wins, before an early lunch break as with the wind dropping slightly a few wanted to change up. John B had a slightly larger B rig which didn’t perform as well, allowing Peter another win and after one race John changed back to the pocket luff. This initially seemed to pay off and he took another couple of wins, albeit with some close racing with Peter and Alan around the course. Unfortunately, John B then had some bad luck being dropped in the odd hole which could appear around you without warning and this allowed Peter to take the last 4 wins, albeit with some close finishes.
After 12 races were completed, Peter took the day with 7 wins, with John B second on 5 wins, followed by Alan in third. John Carlin had a good day for only his second outing in an RG65 with swing rig finishing a few points behind Alan, even after losing one race due to a rig issue.
- Peter Baldwin 63 Uno 13pts
- John Brierley 84 Uno 15pts
- Alan Watkinson 23 Uno 32pts
- John Carlin 163 Pocket Rocket 37pts
- Dave Williams 33 Uno 44pts
Thanks as usual to Bernie for running the racing again today and making a brew at lunchtime. Next week is the last week of the IOM Winter series (12:00 start), before we move onto the start of the Summer series for the DF/RG65 on 8th April with a 13:00 start.
This reschedule of Event #1 in the ND Winter Series for the IOM was after Ice stopped play in December. Looking at the forecast for today might have put off a few from attending, but we had 13 boats on the start line for Race 1 in a light 4 or 5 knot breeze almost straight down the lake. There was a slight delay to proceedings whilst Neil moved marks around after a 180 degree wind-shift occurred whilst we were about to start the briefing as a sea breeze formed early. The breeze held for most of the day, with it strengthening after lunch and then dying back as the rain arrived for the last few races.
Darin Ballington (Pikanto) set the early pace with a win in Race 1, followed in Race 2 by a win for Bill Culshaw (Britpop!). Next to gain a win was Graham Elliott (Fractel) in Race 3 and then James Hadden (Britpop!) had his first win in Race 4. Next to see the front was Brad Gibson sailing his pimped TS2 with wins in both races 5 & 6, followed by another for Bill in Race 7, when we had a break for an early lunch. So 7 races and 5 different winners with 4 different designs. Key to getting a good result was choosing the right place to start and staying in the pressure. At the break James was leading by one point from Brad, with Bill 10 points behind them. In the mix at this point and close behind Bill was Rob Walsh sailing a Lintel, with a number of results in the top 3.
After a short break for lunch, another 5 races were sailed in an increasing WNW breeze and some sun. Brad took race 8 followed by another win for Darin in race 9. After a string of good results, James picked up another win in race 10, before Rob picked up his first win in race 11. Obviously eager to get to a drink at the next break, Brad gained the win in Race 12. This left the top three after 12 races as James, followed by Brad and Rob.
Cold, Cold and Cold, all with a capital C, probably one of the coldest days racing we have ever had, and all in mid March, the good points were that we had 8 RG’s and a lovely East South East wind of around 10mph gusting to 15mph. It was great to see Vernon who had made the journey up North to try his new boat out before the TT series starts in April, still some work to do on her but I am sure he will get it there soon.
