Another fantastic day at Scotland Farm , The weather and sunshine meant that coats came off and a light south-westerly breeze had all boats with their top suit on. This was the first full morning for the Dragons , and twelve competitors came to the line for the first of six races, each lasting approx 20 minutes with two laps of the windward / leeward course, the beat was true but tricky and you had to pick the right side to make gains, all buoys were port rounding and it looked liked Martin 31 was straight into winning ways with a first win, Mick .C 46 got a second, and Gordon. b 23  followed up with a third place, Gordon has made all his own sails, and very nice they looked too, so I am sure there will be some orders in the pipeline!!!!! The racing proved one thing though, it didn’t really matter on sail choice as the sails that come in the box with the Dragons are equally competitive with any others, the boat also seems to be a great leveler and providing you get your trim about right the boats are easy to sail, all you need do is point them in the right direction. The racing was very competitive and there were 4 different winners in the first 4 races ,Mick.H 14 getting a second in race 3 must be very pleased with his progress and a little tweak here and there could have Mick on the podium more often, Seymore. G who borrowed the club boat for one of the races seemed to enjoy himself, although he only did the one race , The club boat is there for anybody who wants to have a go so just see Martin at Lakeside. results are posted below and I will get the Winter series results up in the next day or two. I am sure all the members will give a warm welcome to our two new members Phil and Jim , both have I.O.M and Dragons, and we look forward to racing with them in the weeks to come, If either of you need any help or assistance you only have to ask.

Norman doing some last minute adjustments to his Dragon

Seymore and Ivan on Port

Bob leads Norman and David round number 1

Nice one Gordon

Chaz getting ready to tack

Mick H 14 leads the way

Seymore just to weather

Phil leaving it wide , whilst Mick H goes close

Bob keeping it tight

Our thanks to Mick H 14 for taking these superb pictures whilst at the same time racing his Dragon

MICK

ADMIN

We are indebted to Mick hunt and Phill Gresham for taking so many pictures during our recent hosting of the Midlands winter series , I am sure you will agree it was a fantastic day and the pictures prove it., first set up is a link to Flickr so just click the link below for Phills pictures

http://bit.ly/1fOAxOV

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