Wow what a fabulous day for radio racing , small fleet but perfect conditions, it was freezing first thing when you were leaving home, but by 10 am with the course set by our lone race officer Rob , with of course many helping hands, we were ready to go on the South bank, slightly hampered by only one useable jetty, the course was great, with two long beats and a shorter one to the finish. We started with seven skippers, but one of our number was having problems with his car and decided to get home while he could and left us at coffee break. hope you got home Alan .

Rob W 365 was off the mark and took the win in race one and Mick C 46 and Dave R 180 in second and third , fortunes were reversed in race two with Mike W 76 popping up in third, Peter C 110 missed a couple races dealing with a new dingy for his other club, but to be fair he was struggling from the start. Mick C 46 just seemed to have the edge in the speed department but was not always on re the shifts, and Rob was always there to take advantage, to be fair the racing was very close, and after a few adjustments on Dave’s boat he found his form in the last three races, 8 long races were completed giving everybody a couple of discards, fantastic racing using A + rigs with good humour on the bank with Mike’s dog ” Morgan” taking a liking to some skippers shoes , In the end Mick C 46 took the morning result from Rob W 365 and Dave R 180, I would just add that 3 of our skippers were away at an open meeting, and lets just hope they had as much fun as we did at the farm

Many thanks to all who helped out and made for a very nice Sunday morning’s racing. Looking at the calendar, it appears there is one more round to this series , but as I write I am not sure and this will need clarification.

What a great day it turned out to be. The signs were poor when race officer Dave R arrived in rain and a poor wind direction suggesting a zig zag course. Luckily the wind swung enough to confirm a course on the south bank. Dave set about moving buoys for a windward leeward course, thanks to Tim for his assistance setting the start line and gate.

12 Skippers signed in only to lose Stuart before the start with receiver issues. Kevin was also sporting his new Venti ,  and Colin taking over Kev’s Pikanto. The forecast wind was yet to arrive but the rain stopped and the sun graced us with its presence. Roger Crates made the most of the light winds taking the first two races with Mick C, Tim H, and Dave R in pursuit.

A short break was held for coffee and birthday cake which went down very well. The Birthdays were Gordon Bennett 89 years young and Mick Chamberlain who is old but not that old. Cake at the lake is a bit of a tradition , so if it’s your birthday , get the cake out .

Mick C became a casualty with rudder problems and had to retire from racing. The wind had now freshened and continued to do so reaching the top end of A rig. Any handling issues were severely punished as I found out to my cost. Tim H reveled in the windier conditions winning five of the last six races.

There was short break while Jen patched Dave R back together after cutting his finger badly on his keel producing a significant amount of blood. But the show had to go on thanks Nurse Jen.

The last four races were the Tim, Dave, Martyn, show as they took the first three places in all those races.

Everyone had their moments especially Jen who won race 3. There was close racing throughout the fleet with any error being severely punished. Congratulations to Tim H taking the day with Dave R second and Martyn A third.

I think everybody enjoyed the morning with racing being done in the right spirit making it very enjoyable for all concerned.

A big thank you to everyone who helped pack the gear away.

Wow what a day and a great turnout, 15 skippers on the start line, over to you Martyn .

Welcome to the Tim and Mick show!

That doesn’t really do justice to the day’s events, but these guys took first and second place in 5 races out of the 8 sailed, and both ended up with single figure scores. Pretty amazing performances. They did have to work for their glory though.

Martyn was OOD for the day (ably assisted by Greg), and he arrived ‘early’ to find that Roger had unlocked, put the welcome sign out and generally ‘prepped’. Thank you Roger! The buoys needed a bit of moving around and swapping over to suit the South shore racing and to replace some grotty buoys with some cleaned ones. Thank you to the Wednesday workers for nice clean buoys and useable jetties, plus everything else that is generally taken for granted by many of us.

We enjoyed a pretty perfect light wind and a day where the early chill disappeared. The course was shortened after a long first race and the start line adjusted slightly, but other than that it was back to back racing with a short coffee break to keep everyone happy ….. and it was excellent sailing! The standard of the starts was equivalent to the TT racing competitions and everyone here should be considering entering the event at Lincoln in March. Those folk who got away at the start often maintained those positions, but there were wind shifts to read and decisions to make and therefore opportunities, as is usual. There was a friendly business like air to the day with people accepting penalties and taking their punishments without complaint. The upper mid-fleet was extremely competitive with 6 skippers of the 15 sailing ending the day with points in the 30’s, but with Peter C 101 heading the bunch and a few reflecting on what could have been with perhaps one better race result (Colin H! 301 ).

The day was wrapped up at 1pm on the dot and thanks go to many skippers for helping with the tidy up and for giving assistance throughout the day to Martyn 877 in his first OOD duty at the club. It’s also worth mentioning that every race was willingly line-judged by a different volunteering skipper which sums up the friendly nature of the day. Thank you all!

Martyn Aspinall

11th Feb. 2024

Absolutely first class racing and so if you are reading this , maybe an ex dingy racer and are thinking of a new challenge come take a look at radio racing, after a couple of goes’ you may not want to let the transmitter go. Great friendly but very competitive club on the outskirts of Lincoln .

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 .