5 Lincoln Radio Sailing Club Members went to Race in the 2023 I.O.M National Championships. This is at the start and they are all smiling, !!

Day 1 report from John Taylor sail number 28

A light north easterly breeze greeted the 62 strong fleet for the first day of this event. The race team made good use of the available water setting a long course. The format for racing was a 4 fleet system with 6 places up for promotion and relegation.

Early pacers came from Andrea Roberts, Peter Walters, Tony Edwards and Craig Richards who all won their seeding races. However, it is great to see some of the talented skippers who have travelled from Europe competing, Kristina Jakelic (51) from Croatia, pictured with her Britpop, she is one of only two females to enter the championship this year.

In the afternoon session racing had to be paused due to the change in wind direction. After approximately an hour the wind settled to a north westerly breeze and the seeding round was finally completed.

Later in the day it was first class sailing as the wind increased to a hard top suit breeze. Rob Walsh continues to keep his momentum by scoring well, achieving a number of 1st place results over the day.

As for me, I started well achieving B-Fleet after my seeding race, yet in the next 2 rounds I struggled to find space between 20 IOMs at the start line, relegation followed, then worse was to come as another boat came out of a collision without an attached backstay. Although, I was not involved my boat was in close proximity, as I tacked off the bank the loose backstay somehow caught on my shrouds and pull me to the other yacht.

As a result, both boats wrapped themselves around each other, frustrated I retired with a damaged jib. So we hope for a better day tomorrow.

Day 2 report , sorry its missing But One of the Lincoln Skippers excelled and ended up after day 2 in 7th position , as you can see , he was 27th .

Day 3 & Results Report.

The weather was more of the same on this final day. Racing was rescheduled
to 3 fleets, which means 22 boats at the start line, that meant finding room
will come at a premium.

Craig Richards continues to ‘rack up’ some decent scores but closely
followed by Rob Walsh. He himself is keeping the competition alive as others
start to fall further behind.

As for me, John Taylor 28 , it is back to the drawing board which is
disheartening and frustrating.

In the final round of racing B and A-Fleet skippers changed to top rig and
we were treated to a finale. In the end…. with Darin Ballington winning the
final race and Mick Chamberlain coming home in third position.

Congratulations to Craig Richard’s (Britpop) a well deserved result in a
very high class quality fleet. Craig came out on top just 1 point ahead of 2nd
place Rob Walsh (Britpop). In 3rd place was Chris Harris (Britpop). My thanks
goes to Fleetwood Club, Derek Priestley and his Race Team, as well as the
ladies in the canteen, who looked after everyone at the lakeside

At the end of the day Darin Ballington ended top Lincoln skipper in 8th
place, but hats off to all Lincoln skippers for a great achievement, Mick
Chamberlain ended in 10th,, Rob Wilson 15th , Pete Walters 20th , and Tim Hand
34th , a fantastic effort .

 

 

Quote from ,Darin Ballington

Great experience for everyone, whether you are a squadron leader or tail end
Charlie there is fun to be had, with plenty of banter, lots of help and we all
come away with a new buddy to check in on next time. It’s not for all, but
we’ll worth entering at least once, you never know you might like it…

Quote from Tim Hand

I would just like to thank every Lincoln member that attended this years,
IOM national .
We had some fantastic results from club members and some not so good ME 😂😂.
But what a great weekend, few beers, food and laughter. Well done Lincoln.

Quote from Mick Chamberlain

If you have raced dingy’s ,keelboats, whatever , this Radio racing could be
your next move, the adrenaline on the start line, in these events will keep you
hooked , whatever your age .

Come and give Lincoln a try .