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.
