A full report on Saturdays Jack Turner IOM Open has now been published along with some photos of the sailing and prizegiving.
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Jack Turner Trophy IOM Open (and IOM Summer 2025 #4) – 31/5/25
Sixteen skippers, including four visitors from other clubs, turned up to compete for the Jack Turner Trophy, which was being raced for the first time in honour of a longstanding club member who had originally joined the club in circa 1955, and who sadly passed away in late 2024.
The forecast for the day was for a S to SW building breeze, which is always a challenging direction racing at Gautby Road with wind blowing across rather than along the lake. However, as folks set about rigging and then testing their set up, the winds looked promising for this inaugural event with a light breeze blowing from the E/ESE virtually straight down the lake. Alas this wind evaporated as the planned start time of 10am came and went. When the breeze did eventually start to build from the forecast direction the challenge for the race team was in setting the course with either end of the lake being suitable for a start at some point as as the wind continued to swing.
After one general recall the racing finally got underway at around 10:55 with a standard 2 lap windward/leeward course with an unavoidable heavily starboard biased beat towards the clubhouse. The challenge for the skippers, as it was for most of the day, was less about picking the shifts and more about deciding which race track to take. Stay away from the windward shore and risk not laying the windward mark or being sailed over, or climb to windward with the greater chance of being becalmed. As the day progressed the former was usually, but not always, the best way to go. By race two and for the rest of the day, the start line moved to the clubhouse end, with a now heavy port bias on the first leg. By lunchtime, the wind had built and by mid afternoon the gusts were ripping across the lake or coming straight down, interspersed with calmer patches. At the starts the decision for skippers was, increasingly, whether to hold a starboard right of way position and then tack at the gun or look for a gap on port and hit the line at speed. Some mastered this better than others.
Without providing a blow by blow account of every race there were some stand out performances on the day, lessons learned by some as well as incidents of interest.
No surprise to many, if any, that Brad Gibson prevailed in the conditions. Even after one or two poor starts by his standards, he was able to weave his way back to the front in most races, making it look easy.
Robbie McIntosh, after a few up and down results in the morning races definitely found consistency in the afternoon. With great starts and a well tuned boat for the conditions he put together a strong run of 8 races, which included two 1sts and four 2nds, giving him a well deserved 2nd overall on the day.
Roger Crates, who had travelled over from the East Coast, had two wins on the day and may have finished higher up the leader board if he hadn’t opted for his B rig during a mid afternoon tea break. It was looking good on the first beat, but despite A riggers nose-diving and broaching at times, the calmer patches meant the A rig was the rig to be on as he was swallowed up on the first downwind leg. Needless to say, he only did one race on it.
There were at least two races in the early afternoon where becalmed leaders close to what might loosely be called the windward mark, were descended upon by the rest of the fleet running down with a following breeze. As you might expect the level and pitch of the calls for room/no room (typically called as water/no water!) increased as boats got closer to the mark. On both occasions carnage ensued with several boats locked together gifting a free pass to those who managed to stay out of trouble. As this point the the race team opted for a windward gate, giving skippers the option to pick either the left or right buoy to round, which helped to reduce the dodgem sailing in later races.
Paul Plested learned the hard way that it’s best to put your transmitter strap around your neck after removing a layer! Fortunately, fellow club member and volunteer Clive was able to lend him a transmitter for the rest of the day. Paul’s transmitter is now in his airing cupboard drying out.
In race five, and perhaps fittingly on such a day, Brad handed the controls of his boat to one of Jack’s young great grandchildren. Under Brad’s guidance he finished 8th!
Whilst the racing could not be said to have been sailed in champagne conditions, the day as a whole was a wonderful celebration in honour of the memory of Jack Turner. Both his daughter (Debbie) and son (John), plus their families spend most of the day being entertained by the sailing and by sharing memories of Jack with both members and visitors new and old. The atmosphere on the shore and in the clubhouse made it a joyous experience for all.
At the prize giving both Martin Roberts and John Turner both spoke lovingly of Jack, and Debbie kindly presented the prizes to the top four helms including handing the Jack Turner Trophy to it’s first ever winner, Brad Gibson.
Thanks go to all those who vcolunteered to help run the event. Dave Williams, Neil Westbrook, Clive Warren and Judith on the race team with Joss Watkinson and Chris Westbrook in the galley – serving tea, coffee and home made biscuits and cake.
Prizewinners were:
DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2025 – 28/5/25
DF65’s
An early 10.30 start to allow time for some lake clean-up work between the DF65 and DF95 racing didn’t catch anybody out this week and all 10 sailors were ready for the first race. A+ rigs proved the right choice in a NW breeze blowing down the lake towards the clubhouse that averaged around 7knts with up to 12knt gusts. Last weeks lake cleanup had done a good job with the weed which didn’t appear to cause any problems this week. The standard course was used with a windward mark to port followed by the spreader mark, down through a leeward gate and back up to the finish
Pre-race impressions of the course suggested racing would be quite straight forward and it would be largely a boat speed day but the first beat of the first race gave a taste of the rest of the session with 20 degree wind shifts mixed in with puffs of wind that were quite localised …. so typical Gautby Rd. Nothing on the race course proved consistent …. sometimes it paid to tack on the shifts, at other times it was best to ignore them and hit a corner ….. sometimes the left side paid, sometimes the middle and sometimes the right …. starting at the starboard end of the line sometimes paid, but so did starting in the middle or port end of the line. Surprisingly, based on the puffy conditions, the downwind leg proved the most consistent part of the course with relatively few place changes taking place. What the conditions did mean, was that, particularly on the first beat, you were never out of the race, but that you could also lose a bunch of places by just being slightly in the wrong part of the lake.
Over the 10 races, Peter proved the most consistent to come 1st, winning 5 of them and never being out of the top 3 despite looking dead and buried halfway up the first beat in several races. John was reasonably consistent with 3 wins and able to discard 2 x 6th places to come second while James plodded around with a bunch of 2nds and only 1 result out of the top 5 to come third. Andrew was shockingly inconsistent winning 2 races but also having a load of mid fleet results to come 4th beating Alan into 5th on race win countback. Thanks to Dave Williams once again for remembering to take a few photos.
- Peter Baldwin 63 9pts 5 wins
- John Carlin 11 13pts 3 wins
- James Douglas 73 22pts
- Andrew Potter 194 24pts 2 wins
- Alan Watkinson 373 24pts
- Dave Williams 33 33pts
- Neil Westbrook 03 37pts
- David White 94 45pts
- Clive Warren 53 49pts
- Richard walker 39 57pts
DF95’s
After another minor lake clear up ahead of the Jack Turner Trophy race on Saturday, there should have been 4 sailors out with their 95’s this afternoon. Unfortunately Martin had a faulty winch when he switched on having checked it was working yesterday evening. That took us down to just three for a great afternoon of close to champagne sailing, with a mid to top A suit breeze straight down the lake with plenty of sunshine.
Alan went well in the first race and took the first win of the afternoon (beginners luck according to Alan!). Race 2 was deemed a tie between Peter and Clive by impartial observer Martin standing on the line. Peter then put together a strings of 5 wins, before Clive took the final race 8. A great afternoon for sailing – where was everyone?
- Peter Baldwin 172 6pts
- Clive Warren 93 11pts
- Alan Watkinson 23 14pts
DF/RG65 Summer 2025 #3 – 24/5/25
What a great Saturday afternoon we had, 6 skippers, warm, wind, fire, nosediving, flat calm, rain, flares, yes we had it all.
It all started at rigging up before the race when Alan had a bit of mishap with his batteries, plenty of smoke and burnt out cables but miraculously after this the radio gear fired up with a new set of batteries and off we went to sail.
The wind was constant with large gusts so we all chose our ‘B’ rigs but this wind direction then decided to sort of turn around and come from the houses aswell as other places at times. The first 6 races before tea break belonged to Alan for sure.
Tea break and we all changed up to our bigger rigs as the wind dropped a little and the gusts did die down a little, we also came out to a nice Everton blue flare that someone had left lakeside, obviously testing the colour before the Liverpool celebrations on Monday. First race after tea and we all fell over on the downwind leg so back to the club and change down for the next 5 races. Graham did make a better effort in the second half but the day belonged to Alan for sure. A returning Gary Benson to the club and RG racing had a great afternoon and deserved his podium finish, George got caught out a few times with his rig choice but did manage a trio of third places in races 5 through to seven. A good battle all through the fleet was great to see.
Many thanks must go to Neil Westbrook for starting and finishing us all afternoon and Dave Williams for the photos. After 12 races the final results were as follows:- Alan Bennett 68 Ivy 12pts
- Graham Elliott 09 Electronica 16pts
- Gary Benson 68 Ivy 35pts
- Alan Watkinson 23 Uno 37pts
- George Bennett 71 Uno 45pts
- Dave Wiliiams 33 Uno 49
The lake was much clear of bags and weed after the Wednesday afternoon crew did a fantastic job of cleaning up ready for next Saturdays IOM open race, if you haven’t entered yet, why not?
DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2025 – 21/5/25
DF65’s
Another lovely day at Gautby road with sunshine, blue sky, and a quite penetrating NWest or WNWesterly breeze blowing straight down the lake. Sailing Sec. PaulP had asked for an early start today to allow some time for a clean up after the 65’s, and another excellent turnout of 10 skippers were there with James and Phyl a tad late, missing the first few races
Neil “I like a good discard” very kindly agreed to RO the morning’s sailing, and got started promptly using the usual course. Gate and line worked well during the morning, with the line perhaps pin end biased but the gate paying off at different ends at different times.
Four different winners for the first four races showed that the beat and the gate had some big gains (and losses) to offer but as the morning’s racing progressed Peter’s consistency and speed moved him comfortably ahead of the pack despite winning only three of the ten races.
PaulP, Mike and Clive were 2nd, 3rd and 4th respectively, and James would definitely have been in the mix but had to include a DNS in his score.
Frustratingly the morning’s sailing was also affected by some weed and other hidden debris which snagged a number of boats on a completely random basis, and almost everyone suffered at some stage during the morning. The clean-up exercise after the 65’s seemed to help for the 95 racing though.
Another day of excellent racing, with five different winners, and some excellent boatspeed from Paul and Commodore Dave. Very nice to see Graham Elliot win a race with Dave’s boat as well. Many thanks to Neil for RO ing, and DaveW for doing the results which follow in detail below:
- Peter Baldwin 63 14pts 3x1st
- Paul Plested 154 23pts 2x1st
- Mike De St Paer 35 25pts 1x1st
- Clive Warren 53 28pts 1x1st
- James Douglas 73 34pts 3x1st
- Paul Little 45 38pts
- Dave Williams 33 42pts
- Don MacKinnon 933 58pts
- David White 94 66pts
- Phyl Fanning 550 68pts
Photo’s courtesy of Dave Williams
DF95’s
If anything, the wind was better for the 95’s and the 5 skippers who raced than it was for the 65’s in the morning, with a mid to top end A rig breeze straight down the lake and the sun was shining. The standard course was used with windward mark to port, spreader and a leeward gate. Neil Westbrook kindly offered to be RO for the afternoon (as well!) and, with quick turnarounds, managed to get 10 races in.
The first race was won by Clive Warren, who went on to have a good afternoon, with Peter Baldwin 2nd and Paul Plested 3rd. These three also bagged the top 3 places in race 2, with Paul crossing the line first, followed by Clive then Peter. Race 3 and Martin Whittingham-Jones, who had a good afternoon of racing with good starts, scored a 2nd to Clive. Martin did the same again in race 4, finishing 2nd to Paul. In race 5, the signs that Paul’s day was about to go downhill were there when, closing in on Clive at the line, he inexplicably luffed the wrong side of the finishing buoy, when a first place was likely. He still managed to gybe round and just cross before a fast finishing Peter.
Race 6 and Paul led from the first mark until the final beat, when another misjudgement left him and Phyl Fanning locked together, with Phyl’s bow across Paul’s foredeck. Phyl had been running on starboard at the time, with Paul on port! Clive, who had got stuck on a mark on the first beat and was the length of the lake behind, realised that he could still bag 3rd if Paul and Phyl couldn’t untangle themselves quickly, which is exactly what he did.
In race 7 Paul managed to stay out of trouble finishing 2nd to Peter with Clive in third. However, in race 8 Paul, on port, was clearly in two minds as to whether to lee bow or duck Peter on starboard. He left it too late to do either and ended up tangled with bow and backstay snagged. This gifted Clive a 1st and Martin a 2nd. At this point Paul thought it wise to call it a day.
Races 9 and 10 were carbon copy results, with Peter first, Clive 2nd and Martin 3rd.
As an afternoon goes, it was good racing with plenty of boat speed and close racing from all 5 skippers…just a little too close on a couple of occasions! Clive came out top dog, closely followed by Peter and then Martin.
Thanks go to Neil for running the racing.
DF95 Summer 2025 #2 – 17/5/25
Only a few light zephyrs of breeze were apparent whilst boats were practising leading up to the 13:00 start. Unfortunately this included winds from the general direction of both East and West. Coming up to start time, the predominant wind was Easterly and so Peter and Dave agreed to start at the far end.
All was looking good during the countdown until 15 seconds before the start when….. the wind switched off and we started on a run. This direction remained for the whole race, making for an interesting time to sail the right course, with a windward gate and a leeward mark and spreader! The race was taken by John Brierley aided in part by Peter thinking there was a run to go before finishing on a beat! Alan picked up third close behind Peter.
By the time of the next start a decent westerly breeze had set in which had some very odd short shifts as a gust rolled down the course, but produced a good A rig sailing day. The sun was out but the breeze was cool leading to most sailors wearing two layers rather the expected single layer.
The day became mostly a shoot out between Peter and John Brierley, with Peter picking up five firsts and John taking four. They did not have it all their own way however with Paul Little taking two wins and a second place with Neil Westbrook a win and second. Although Alan didn’t pick up a race win during the afternoon, he did sail consistently with a second and a number of third places to take third overall. Neil’s win helped lower his overall score and place him in fourth ahead of John Carlin, who had a number of third places, but wasn’t as consistent as Neil and Alan, dropping him into fifth. Unfortunately after winning a couple of races, Paul Little didn’t finish two races and so had to count some lower places, narrowly dropping him down the overall positions. Ian Davies had placed well in the first session of six races, but missed the second session and dropped him out of the overall running.
Overall a great afternoon for sailing and a good turnout of eleven sailors, who in the main took it in turns to act as RO for eleven races, with the final race start watched over by Peter and kindly finished by Paul. Photos from Dave Williams (Race 1) and Peter (Race 3).
- Peter Baldwin 172 13pts
- John Brierley 84 16pts
- Alan Watkinson 23 36pts
- Neil Westbrook 03 39pts
- John Carlin 50 41pts
- Paul Little 14 44pts
- Dave Williams 33 51pts
- John Beech 288 60pts
- Martin Whittingham-Jones 77 68pts 2x4th
- Phyl Fanning 657 68pts 1x4th
- Neil Davies 133 73pts
