Another fantastic turnout at Scotland Farm for the last R.M winter series and another round of Dragon force racing , First up we had 5 Marbleheads that came to the line, quite strong winds were evident which had some skippers struggling to keep their boats upright and moving, 6 Races later and Martin gained almost a clean sweep with 5 wins and a second , Bob Geary sailing his very old Berlio design kept Martin honest with 5 seconds and pounced when Martin slipped up to take a well deserved first place, Graham got his boat moving well and just needs a tad more patience with his thumbs, but he must have been pleased with his result before his long trip to Australia, Ivan suffered a broken mast in the testing  but was well organised and re-rigged ready for the start and got a podium in race two, Roger however was not quite prepared for the conditions having only the one rig and the wind proved far to much, so a busy week ahead for Roger in the garage getting the boats sorted   results are below

On top of the R.M fleet we also had 7 I.O.M racing alongside so altogether 12 boats on the water which we were very pleased with . Next up came the Dragons ( as I shall call them)  Again a very impressive turnout with ten Boats on the water , all boats had there top suits on but at times it was as much as they could handle , again Martin swept through the field with 3 straight wins, the racing was fun and everybody enjoyed it , these little boats are fantastic to sail and at a couple hundred quid you cant go wrong , although we were only down to do three races we mostly stayed and had a couple more for the fun of it , Next week see,s the first event just for the Dragons and with a shorter course i can see that we could have 8/10 races during the morning , For those of you who have not got your Dragon sorted and need a bit of help you know my number   Results posted below and I will do the series results tomorrow.

Mick Admin

Sunday 23rd February dawned, the forecast was for 20 knots plus, cloudy with a small chance of rain as 25 skippers from as far away as Cornwall and Norwich descended on Scotland Farm for Lincoln Model Yacht Club’s first main event after severing ties with Hykeham Sailing Club.  The lake is wide open and free from trees and buildings and it allows the race officer to set courses whatever the wind direction. The wind was southerly and gave a 180 metre beat and run.  Rig choice played a big part with some very big gusts tearing down the lake.  Some skippers went straight to C rig whilst others went up a size and put the B rig on, managing for the most part to handle the gusts.  In the seeding races a V8 sailed by Dennis Payne and a Britpop sailed by Peter Sutton were both winners, and then the main event got started, and in the first three races Darin Ballington stamped his authority down with a first, second, and a third, with his shiny red Britpop.  John Tushingham with his dark grey Departure  was no slouch, being just one point behind at that stage, with Dave Burke and his blue Britpop keeping them both honest.  Lincoln’s very own Martin Lambert sailing a very nice but quite old Lintel was having some bad luck with the marker buoys despite getting a third in the seeding race. Good form was also being shown by the Moster of Graham Whalley and the V8 of Dennis Payne.  Also the old Gadget of Rob Wilson was showing some fine form.  The next two races were taken by Darin, with John only managing a couple of thirds. Martin recovered well and got a second, his best result so far. It was all about consistency and being able to manage the gusts.  Most people had decided that B rig was the best, but keeping it under control was not so easy with major wipe outs down wind being a regular occurrence. Race Officer, Chris Elliot kept the racing going with a short lunch break, and only one protest to deal with that took moments to resolve. The racing was excellent both to participate and to watch.  Vinnie Zammit was sailing his new MX14, of which more are in build as I speak, and this could be a boat of the future. Peter Cropper sailed his Nemesis well, and am sure was happy with his 5th position overall.  Seven different designed boats in the top ten proves that I.O.M. racing is hugely competitive and exciting.  In the end it all came down to the last race of the day with both Darin and John fighting it out. Darin got the first place he needed to take the event from John, with Dave in third place.  The Ladies also had a great day with newcomers Tracy and Jen improving as the day went on, but in the end it was Liz who took home the chocolates, sailing her departure into 14th place overall.  Many thanks to everybody who competed and for the courteous  behaviour shown by all.  I should mention that half way through the event  Dave Hollum dived very close to the bank and was lucky not to roll in. Once he had recovered he was told “that kind of behaviour would not be tolerated and to keep it for the football field” Dave apologised and promised it would not happen again.

Some picture and the results follow

Could be a pinkish kinda day , The Norfolk pair Vinnie and Peter

Rob Wilson leads Dave Hollum up the beat

Good start for B Fleet

Half way up the beat

Briefing Race officer Chris tells it straight

Darin the Winner at Lincoln

John second place

Dave , gets better daily

Dennis a well deserved 4th why the long face

Peter all the way from sunny Cornwall 5th place

TOP LADY

  the reults

APOLAGIES  John Tushingham was quoted in the report and the final results as sailing an MX14, he was in fact sailing a Dave Hollom designed Departure apolagies to whom they may concern

Mick Admin

If any body has any more pics send them in and i will try and put them on the website

As Sunday 23rd draws near 28 entries have been received for the last race in the Midland District Winter Series, Scotland Farm, Lincoln’s new venue will complete preparations shortly, It is likely that two fleets will be organised by race officer Chris Elliot with a four up and four down situation, Some top skippers in the UK are entered and it should be a thrilling climax, The wind is forecast for southerly and up to 20 knots and cloudy , temperatures look quite good at around 10/11 C and it may well  mean C rig is the order of the day. On show will be some of the latest designs from designers in the UK and abroad. Bacon or sausage Buttie’s will be on offer from  0830am till 11 am but do need to be pre ordered to give the chef a chance, If you have ordered no problem

Helpers for the event so far are Seymour, Gordon,Ivan, Mick H, Bob, Jackie,Bev If anybody else has a couple of hours to spare please let me know. the event starts at 10am and should run through till about 4pm latest.

entries so far, still time !!!!!!

Mick Admin

My last post was all about the I.O.M but may have left you confused simply because there was no mention of cake , The reason for the cake was it was two members birthdays that weekend so at half time Jackie brought down some cake for us all which we enjoyed. Onto the Dragon Force, I believe we have 11/12 boats of this class in the club at the moment, and we had 9 Dragons racing straight after the main event, the course was shortened a little , and we still had a windward leeward  course , 2 laps and three races in quick succession, The club Dragon was raced by a visitor to the lake Jim who we hope to see more of and his mate Phil  had a rg65 which is a Dragon but just a tad more sophisticated , The racing was close and damn good fun and it just proved that even if you had the original sails on the boat it was still competitive, Martin won the first race, with Mick second and Phil third , Mick then won the next two races so just stole the day from Martin. results below . I can see a big future at the club for this class and it may be time to start thinking about an open Meeting later in the early summer unfortunately we did not take any pictures of the dragon racing so I have dug a few up from elsewhere .

series results will be posted soon

Mick Admin