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Category: news

IOM Summer 2025 #2 – 26/4/25

(c) Malcolm Harvey

A total of eleven skippers turned out for round 2 of the Summer Series with a surprise visit from Olly Murray of Fleetwood collecting a rig for the M Worlds next week.  After a good breeze straight down the lake in the morning for the DF95’s, it initially looked as if there was going to be little wind for this afternoon session.  However, as the fleet started the first race (and after a general recall) under the watchful eye of RO Neil Westbrook, the breeze restablished itself staright down the lake for the first few races.

(c) Malcolm Harvey

The first race was a close battle between Robbie, Martin and Peter, with Robbie gifting the win to Peter after taking the wrong gate mark with Brad coming through to third.  Brad then had a string of three firsts, with Martin, Olly, Graham and Robbie all taking podium positions.  During Race 4 the breeze started to switch to the South, with beats becoming a reach at times and for the final beat into the finish, the breeze all but disappeared (and turned into a run!), returning as a light Westerly sea breeze.

(c) Malcolm Harvey

The course was then switch around and the rest of the day was sailed with a Westerly that continued to create some close racing in  Race 5, with Peter gaining his second win of the day with Graham and Robbie following him home.  In the final race before a mid-session break, Martin was in top spot, followed by Brad and Robbie.

(c) John Beech

We resumed again after the break with the breeze holding up and a decent pace to the races kept up by Neil.  Unfortunately, there were some position “snakes” to catch out most sailors over the next 4 races with accumulated bags and other debris from the Easterly breeze now making its way back down the lake.  Getting in a groove behind another boat was a possible but tricky answer, along with a quick change to sail backwards if you slowed in the middle of the lake and try to shed the obstacle.

(c) John Beech

Brad took another two wins in the final four races, with Robbie Mac getting in the groove and taking the other two.  The minor places were spread through 6 of the eleven sailors including a second for Olly, with Noah keeping pace with this strong fleet and managing a great 4th in Race seven.  Alan also let the boat loose in this second half and had some good placings along with Phyl who is getting to grips with boat control and picked up a seventh in Race 9.

(c) John Beech

We called a halt at 4:30 and ten races, with the breeze dropping.  Probably a good job, because as we left the club a short while later, light rain had set in and the breeze had all but disappeared.

Brad took the afternoon quite comfortably, with Martin in second and Robbie Mac only just behind in third. Thanks to Neil and his several assistants for running the racing and also Malcolm, John Beech and Paul Plested for the photos.

The next event in the Summer Series is #3 on Saturday 10th May, followed by the Jack Turner Memorial Race on Saturday 31st May (a whole day open event).  Entry via the following links:

https://birkenheadrspc.co.uk/iom-summer-2025-3/

https://birkenheadrspc.co.uk/iom-open-summer-2025-4-2/

DF95 Summer 2025 #1 – 26/4/25

Stock photo – no photographer available today

Nine skippers made the effort to get down to the club early for the first of several double class days over the coming months, with the DF95s starting at 10:15 (followed at 13:30 by IOMs).  After some shifting of buoys the racing got going just after the designated time, with a standard 2 lap windward/leeward course with a beat up towards the clubhouse end in a 7/8 mph A rig breeze.

First to bag a bullet was John Carlin who sailed a perfect race despite the efforts of both Peter Baldwin and Paul Plested to overhaul him.  Then it was Peter’s turn to cross the line first, followed by Paul and then Alan Watkinson, who showed some good speed throughout the morning.   After 2 seconds, Paul P managed to post a 1st in race 3 closely followed by Peter and Alan.
For the next 3 races in was the Peter show, with 3 straight bullets, with Paul P, Alan and John C scoring 2nds and 3rds, although both Martin Whittingham-Jones and Paul Little had both been well placed throughout those races, both scoring 4ths just behind the leaders.
Paul P did manage to break Peter’s winning streak in race 7 with Alan coming in 2nd again.  Race 8 and Paul L showed the fleet a clean pair of heels from the off to cross the line first, followed by Paul P then Peter.
Race 9 was Peter’s from start to finish and it looked like Malcolm Harvey and Alan would be scrapping for 2nd as they rounded the final gate marks, but a coming together stopped both of them in their tracks, gifting Paul P another 2nd and Phyl Fanning, who is definitely getting quicker around the course, a 3rd.
Whether or not the collision in the previous race spurred him on, but Alan was away from the start and never looked back bagging a well deserved first place and a strong performance all morning.  Paul L also sailed well picking up his third 4th place of the day to go with his 1st.  Whilst not having it all his own way, Peter came out the clear winner on the day, followed by Paul P, then Alan.

Club Successes at the IOM Nationals 2025

The 2025 IOM Nationals were recently held at Lincoln Radio Sailing over three days if the Easter weekend.  There were a total of 58 entries after a number of last minute withdrawals and of these, there were eight club members racing.

On the first two days we had decent and generally steady breezes with most people sailing in A rigs and 12 races completed by the end of Sunday.  However, Monday brought very light winds from an unfavourable direction which disappeared once heavy rain set in during the morning and only one additional race completed.  Racing was abandoned soon after 2:30 and 13 races, after waiting for at least two hours for racing to continue.

Brad Gibson took the title in commanding form with less than half the points of his nearest rival Peter Stollery.  Of the remaining Birkenhead members, the other finishing positions were:

  • Peter Baldwin in 5th
  • Martin Roberts in 13th
  • John Brierley in 16th
  • Paul Plested in 19th
  • Andrea Roberts in 21st
  • Rob McIntosh in 28th
  • Noah McIntosh in 57th

Paul Plested took the Rookie Trophy for the best placed competitor for whom this was their first IOM Nationals and Noah McIntosh the Captain David Perkins Trophy for his radiant smiles and can do endeavours over the weekend.

A full report of the event is available on Yachts and Yachting here

The full HMS results may be seen on the Lincoln RSC website here

IOM European Championships 2025

Graham Elliott was the only member sailing at the European Championships after Peter Baldwin withdrew earlier in the year.  Facing some stiff competition, Graham finished the event in an excellent 6th place sailing his 14 year old Britpop from 2011, having been in second place to fellow Brit Rob Walsh earlier on in the competition. Rob eventually finished the event in third place.  The event was run under the SHRS scoring system rather than HMS as we normally do in the UK with large fleets.  A total of 98 boats in 5 heats were competing.

Graham being interviewed on day2

The full results may be seen here

There are videos for each of the six (full or part) days of racing on Youtube as follows (Please be aware that on Day 6 racing does not start until 3hr25min into the video).  There is a great interview with Graham in the day2 video at 3:26:45 – Enjoy them if you have a few hours to spare!

DF65 & DF95 Social Racing 2025 – 23/4/25

DF65’s

St George’s Day welcomed a relatively small turnout of eight DF65 racers for what turned out to be a very pleasant morning on the water. The forecasted easterly winds actually had a bit of south in them meaning the 4-8kt breeze was straight down the lake from the clubhouse end. There was no discussion on rigs …. A+ were fitted and proved the right choice. No buoys needed to be moved and the standard course of windward and then spreader marks followed by a run through the gate and back up to the finishing line could be used for the 10 races sailed.

Once on the water, as is usually the case at Gautby Rd, it was not all plain sailing. 20 degree shifts, bends, gusts and holes with the wind all ensured there was always jeopardy or opportunity to make or break a decent race.

Andrew Potter dominated the results with 7 wins helped by good starts, good boatspeed and reading the shifts well. Neil Westbrook put down a strong challenge with 3 wins and 4 second places for second overall. Alan, Paul and Richard then had a close battle for 3rd with Alan just edging it and Richard being let down by some severe inconsistency!

Many thanks to Dave Williams who acted as Race Officer (and photographer)  for the whole morning after having transmitter problems.

  1. Andrew Potter           9pts (7 wins)
  2. Neil Westbrook.      14pts (3 wins)
  3. Alan Watkinson.     28pts
  4. Paul Little.                 30pts
  5. Richard Walker.       31pts
  6. Phyl Fanning.           48pts
  7. David White.             50pts
  8. Malcolm Harvey.    52pts

DF95’s

Seven skippers were at the clubhouse for todays DF95 racing session although they did not all race.

The wind was straight up the lake from the clubhouse end so the familiar course with the start at the far end of the lake going down to a spreader setting of marks at the clubhouse and a run back up the lake to a gate at the far end with a turn to the finish half way up the lake.

Neil Westbrook acted as RO for the first 2 races and Malcolm Harvey for the remaining 6.

The wind speed was falling all the way through the session but there was some very close racing through the small fleet with Alan Watkinson and Martin Wittingham-Jones showing in the first 4 races although Neil beat Martin on the line with a final tack catching the wind to carry him over the line in race 3

For the remaining 4 races Neil was the dominant skipper winning all the races with the rest of the fleet having some very close racing with Martin and Phyl Fanning who seem to have come to terms with sailing the DF95 keeping Neil on his toes.

As Neil had been RO for the first 2 races he was allocated an average score for these and as a result of his dominance of the remaining races this gave an average of 1 for those races although they were actually won by Martin and Alan.

Overall on the day Martin won 1 race, Alan won 2 races and Neil five.