Race report 4th February 2024 IOM Winter Series at Lincoln

Peter Cogill as OOD thanked Darin and Tim for setting the course buoys and then took charge on a breezy warmish Westerly day which showed lots of promise for some good racing ….. and lived up to it!

The day started with A rigs, but with some indicative gusts of what was to come. Darin showed the way round, taking the first win with Mick C behind him. Roger C was an early casualty with a rigging failure and was forced to use his B rig in race 2 which saw him at the front of the fleet in an increasing wind strength and only being edged out by Chris E and Darin B, with Chris taking the bullet.

There was a break after race 2 for a fleet-wide rig change, mainly to the B rig. Race 3 was pretty wild, demonstrated by 4 more rigging casualties and won by Darin, who went on to take wins for 5 of the 8 races that were completed. Chris got his second win on race 6 and Rob W took race 7. Many other sailors found themselves in good positions at various times, but the consistency of the top sailors and their ability to keep control of the boat downwind in some strong wind gusts counted a great deal on this spectacular day. There was much to be learned if we only had time to watch! The wind shifts also played an interesting part in the day’s proceedings.

So, at the end of the racing we had Darin well ahead in the top spot followed by Chris, Mick and Rob.

A great day with 12 tired, smiling sailors heading home. It’s surprising that there weren’t more here for the fun!

Martyn Aspinall

4th Feb. 2024

Just a couple of points re the score sheet Rob Wilson was sailing a Brit Pop not a Fraktal and Martyn Aspinall was sailing a Brit Pop not a shiraz , Tim had a few problems I believe rig wise and only did 4 out of the 8 races, The racing as Martyn said was fantastic and you needed to be there to get some adrenaline moving , this I am sure will be looked on as one of the great rounds of this Winter series.

Many thanks Martyn for the write Up .