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IOM Winter Series 3

Happy New Year and this was round 3 of the Birkenhead Winter Series and a lovely gentle top suit wind down the middle of the lake with plenty of shifts for all to anticipate, depend upon or hope for.
The early pace setter was Bill Culshaw with two wins and two second places in the first four races sailing immaculately, following him was Martin Roberts and Graham Elliott going into the tea break.
There were many close battles all day with not much love lost but no shouting, just good hard but fair sailing.
Noticeable results were Lawrence and Alan both gaining second places in races 5 and 6, well done, and after 9 races with 4 different race winners it was Graham Elliott who won the day with 5 wins.
Many thanks to Bernie and Dave for starting and finishing the fleet and Joyce for the half time cuppa.

1st      Graham Elliot            10pts
2nd     Bill Culshaw               18pts
3rd      Martin Roberts         19pts
4th      John Brierley             31pts
5th     Dave Potter                32pts
6th     Lawrence Brennon    33pts (2nd place)
7th      Peter Baldwin            33pts
8th      Alan Watkinson         47pts
9th      Neil Westbrook           51pts
After 9 races

IOM Winter Series 2

A good turnout of 11 boats for the second winter series and the last race of the 2018 season at Birkenhead. After the wet and windy race last week, the competitors were treated to sunny, (at times) and top suit conditions, with the wind blowing WNW.These conditions made the windward leg very tactical and a good start essential
After Peter Baldwin had donned the waders and laid an excellent course,Race Officer Bernie McNulty had all 11 boats away on time and early front runners were Martin Roberts sailing Dave Potter’s Lintel, Brad Gibson sailing his pimped Red Wine and Bill Culshaw in his BritPop. These three were to hotly contest the podium positions all day, with Martin a worthy winner.
Alan Watkinson sailed very well, which had its reward with a well deserved win in one race, and Chris Chatfield from Fleetwood unfortunately, broke a shroud and had to sail in second suit for the rest of his day. Other positions were hotly contested and all competitors now look forward to the next Winter Series which is on Saturday 5th January.
Merry Christmas!

1st Martin Roberts 14pts
2nd Brad Gibson 18pts
3rd Bill Culshaw 20pts
4th John Brierley 26pts
5th Alan Watkinson 34pts
6th David Foster 46pts
7th Peter Balwin 47pts
8th Lawrence Brennan 55pts
9th Neil Westbrook 64pts
10th Dave Williams 69pts
11th Chris Chatfield 79pts

Dragonforce Autumn Series #18 19/12/18

A light 5mph wind nearly down the lake from the clubhouse with light patches and big shifts. Big gains could be made if you got the shifts right or lucky enough to pick one up. 12 Races Sailed due to Bernie acting as RO for the 12th race. This is the last of the DF65 Autumn Series races on a Wednesday in 2018. In 2019, it has been decided that there will be 4 series of DF65 racing on a Wednesday, named Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn each lasting for approximately 13 weeks or 3 months.  The next DF65 race will be number 1 of the Winter Series on Wednesday 2nd of January 2019 at 11:00.

1st.       John Brierley        14 pts
2nd.     Peter Baldwin         24 pts
3rd       Dave Williams       32 pts
4th.      Neil Westbrook      38 pts
5th      Richard Walker       41 pts
6th      Alan Watkinson      46 pts
3rd       Andrew Peter.        21 pts.
7th       Colin Deakin.          51 pts      1x 1st, 1x 2nd
8th       Ernie Rice.              51 pts     1x 1st,  0x2nd
9th       Sally Collings.          53 pts
10th     Andrew Peter           54 pts

11th     Bob Davis                73 pts

IOM Christmas Race

The forecast of icy rain and gale force winds didn’t deter 19 hardy skippers racing for the 2018 Christmas IOM Race. The punchy south easterly breeze enabled Bernie and Jack to set a windward leeward course which used the full length of the lake. Remarkably there were very few retirements, a testament to boat design and maintenance. At the briefing Graham Elliott reminded skippers to race fairly and given the conditions try to keep incidents to a minimum. The leeward gate helped keep racing running smoothly, with the near buoy safer but less advantaged and the far buoy advantaged if you could complete the risky tack on the bank in the big waves! Before lunch racing was fast and furious, with many people posting good and average results. After a warming up with a brew and a mince pie, Bernie promised just 5 more races. With the rain and the wind building and the light dropping this was welcomed news. After 12 races Paul pipped Derek in 1st place with John Brierley sailing very consistently to claim 3rd. The next IOM Winter Series race is on Saturday 22nd December, 1pm start. Fingers crossed the suns out!

1st Paul Allen 31pts
2nd Derek Priestly 36pts
3rd John Brierley 41pts
4th Darin Ballington 42pts
5th Graham Elliot 46pts
6th Martin Roberts 52pts
7th Brad Gibson 59pts
8th Bill Culshaw 72pts
9th Vicky Gibson 73pts
10th Peter Baldwin 84pts
11th David Foster 101pts
12th Lawrence Drennon 117pts
13th Geoff Martindale 119pts
14th Mike Parkinson 122pts
15th Sue Parkinson 128pts
16th Neil Westbrook 129pts
17th Alan Watkinson 139pts
18th Andrew Peter 167pts
19th Dave Williams 181pts
After 12 Races

Thank to Peter Baldwin for risking his camera to take a pic!

Dragonforce Autumn Series #17 12/12/18

The racing last week was cancelled due to the horrendous wet weather but the world was put to rights over a mug of tea. Today had a good turnout of 10 sailors all rigging their boats with B rigs.

1st.       John Brierley.         8 pts
2nd.     Alan Watkinson     17 pts
3rd.      Andrew Peter.        21 pts.       2x1st
4th.      Neil Westbrook.     21 pts.        0x1st
5th.      Dave Williams.        24 pts
6th.      Derek Matthews.    28 pts
7th.      Colin Deakin.           47 pts
8th.      Ernie Rice.               48 pts
9th.      Richard Walker.       49 pts
10th.    Sally Collings.          51 pts

10 races held.