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IOM Winter Series 7 – Saturday 2nd March

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.

1st        Brad Gibson                   2                 15pts
2nd      Martin Roberts           55                18pts
3rd       Graham Elliot               9                 25pts
4th       Bill Culshaw                 21                 28pts
5th       John Brierley               84               30pts
6th       Lawrence Drennan  57                48pts
7th       Alan Watkinson         23                51pts
8th       John Berry                    12               53pts  (4th place)
9th       Andrew Peter              66              53pts
10th     Neil Westbrook           03             74pts
11th     Dave Williams              29              76pts

After 10 races

DragonForce Winter Series #9 27/2/19

6 sailors turned out on a glorious sunny day but with a very light SE wind.  A long course utilising the whole length of the lake was set with Ernie making a pleasant return and acting as race officer.
10 races were held with John managing to hold off Neil to take first place.
1st.        John Brierley.            11 pts
2nd.      Neil Westbrook.       16 pts
3rd.       Andrew Peter.           25 pts
4th.       Alan Watkinson.      28 pts
5th.       Colin Deakin.            32 pts
6th.       Dave Williams.         35 pts

DragonForce Winter Series #8 20/2/19

Reduced turn out due to holidays, work commitments and a very light wind forecast.
A+ rigs and a short course enabled 10 races to be held with Neil managing 6 wins.

1st     Neil Westbrook          10 pts
2nd   Alan Watkinson         17 pts
3rd    Richard Walker          18 pts
4th    Colin Deakin               28 pts.

IOM Winter Series 6 – Saturday 16th February

15 boats turned out with a good variance of designs, including V9’s, ‘Slimtel’, ‘Viper’, ‘Widget’, ‘Red Wine’, ‘TS2’ and ‘Britpop!’.
The wind was a little erratic though making the sailing interesting and making the fleet bunch together on many occasions but giving the tail enders a good chance to come through with the gusts.
Yet again the sportsmanship of all was extremely good and all rules and penalties were taken with no question.
Brad Gibson sailed a perfect 6 races before tea time with no one skipper giving him much to worry about. After tea in race 7, Sue Parkington sailed a great race chasing Brad all the way, unfortunately she dropped 2 places at the finish line when not realising it was the finishing leg.
As the ‘Beautiful South’ sang though it was Brad that made ‘The Perfect 10’ with the wind from the South, John Brierley sailed consistently to be runner up with Graham Elliott in 3rd and the returning Graham Birkett in 4th. This made for 4 different boats, all World Championship winning designs spanning over 20 years.
Thanks to Jack and Bernie for running the race and making the tea.

1st         Brad Gibson 2                     8pts
2nd       John Brierley 84               23pts
3rd       Graham Elliot 09             29pts
4th       Graham Birkett 133         34pts
5th       Bill Culshaw 21                  48pts
6th       Martin Roberts 32            54pts
7th       Neil Westbrook 03            55pts
8th       Lawrence Drennan 57     61pts
9th       Andrew Peter 66               64pts
10th      John Berry   12                   68pts
11th       Alan Watkinson 23          73pts     (one 4th)
12th      Mike Parkington   82      73pts
13th       Sue Parkington 86          84pts    (one 4th)
14th      Dave Williams 20             84pts
15th      Chris Chatfield 7               90pts
after 10 Races