Birkenhead Radio Sailing & Power Club
‘C’ suit weather with the wind straight along the lake. Sally had boat electrical problems (Eds. note Again?) so acted as Race Officer and 10 races were sailed.
A steady (ish) south-easterly breeze greeted 10 eager skippers for the final round of the famous Birkenhead IOM Winter Series. Several of the usual suspects were missing, no doubt saving Mothers day brownie points so they could attend the first Marblehead ranker at Watermead on Sunday.
In total 27 skippers have competed and running into the final day any of the top 6 could have won. That said, 2013 World Champion Rob Walsh from Fleetwood had won each of the days he sailed and although not leading going into the final race, due to not having a discard, a betting man would put his money on Rob winning with a perfect score of 400.
The first race was led by Paul Allen, with Rob and Martin Roberts scrapping for second and third. This set the tone for the day, with these three sharing most of the top 3 places in all 9 races with Rob claiming more first places.
After some post brew drizzle the breeze dropped and begun to shift to the forecasted southerly. With this come several general recalls as the course became biased on starboard tack.
After 9 races Rob Walsh won with 10 points, Paul Allen was second with 16 points and Martin Roberts third on 21 points.
10 races sailed.
Series Results
As some may have forecasted Rob Walsh won the 2017/18 IOM Winter Series scoring the perfect 400. Paul Allen was second scoring 375 and Graham Elliott was third scoring 366.
Full series results here
A variable wind both in direction and strength:
12 races sailed.
Well, Windguru told us 12knots from the SE and we got 12knots from the SE, beautiful blue skies but a bracing Siberian wind.
16 boats, 15 in second suit and Emilio in top suit. The early pace setters settled in very quickly with Rob winning 4 of the first 6 before tea break, Paul taking the other 2 races with Derek not far behind with a brace of seconds and a brace of thirds. Gary Benson also showing good form in races 1 and 5. Unfortunately Rob had to miss race 4 to take a trip to the corner shop for a pack of AAs for his TX, just shows, once again, 10 years at the top of the sport and even a World Champion can sometimes fail to prepare for Birkenhead.
After tea and the big question was, had Alan Watkinson taken a visit to the dodgy Russian doctor for something a little stronger than Tetleys with some great results especially in races 7 and 9. By race 7 the guts had gone out of a few of the gusts which allowed Emilio to finally get his boat downwind without cartwheeling and somersaulting and get two race wins.
The day belonged to Rob though, with Paul, Derek and Martin closely following, 5th was a mile behind these top four. Final chapter to the book in two weeks, will Rob take the perfect 400 or will he crack under the pressure and let Paul, Graham or Martin through to take the chocolates?
Thanks go to Jack and Bernie, once again and also John for doning the waders once again.
11 races sailed.
Light winds meant the biggest ripples were caused by the geese and swans, but 6 races were still completed over a medium length windward/leeward course.
Once again the Dragonforce Winter Series lived up to its name, with sleet, hail, strong winds and iced over puddles on the lakeside path.
Roger panicked as he had left the bag containing his warm hat and gloves at home, but breathed a sigh of relief when he realised that his transmitter was also in the bag so he had a good excuse not to sail!
The rest of the hardy sailors started off with “B” rigs, but soon switched down to using “C” rigs with the strong gusts causing problems, particularly at the starts.
Despite the conditions, 9 races were completed allowing 2 discards.
