Wow, what a day of radio racing.  

Quiet and still at 7.30am, Scotland Farm was looking its best. The freshly mown grass and Mediterranean blue water welcomed 34 skippers who had entered the 2022 Clive Hand Memorial Trophy. The only sound heard was Chef Mick and Jan and their bacon buttie’s sizzling away in the club house and the occasional camper stirring from their slumbers. 

By 8.00am the race team had started their preparations and the 1^st of the travelling competitors were parking up. There was still little breeze and the boat crew struggled to lay a course with the southerly breeze shifting 45 degrees as the wind fought to settle in strength and direction, eventually the crew decided to lay two courses, allowing racing to start just after the scheduled time. 

Chef Mick (Chamberlain) welcomed all the skippers to Lincoln Radio Sailing Club before handing them over to Peter Cogill who would run the day’s racing. 

The two seeding races were sailed from the South bank, with Rob Wilson and Nigel Brown being victorious in tight racing, race 2 was equally tight, something that would continue throughout the day, Rob took this race as well before a settling wind and slight change of direction allowed the race team to change the course and switch to the East bank. The course, starting with a slightly port biased line to a starboard rounded windward mark and spreader then led the fleet to a gate that was set further away from the bank to give a decent length and direction to the beat which was repeated before finishing between the windward and spreader marks. This course gave plenty of opportunities for “snakes and ladders” in the gusts and many changes of place were seen on both beats and runs throughout the day. 

This course would continue for the rest of the day despite a breeze with constant shifts during the races. Consistency was difficult for most skippers, although Darin Ballington managed to judge the breeze and manage the traffic best to take 5 wins over the day. Other race winners were John Tushingham, and David Hope, but as usual with the Clive Hand Memorial event it was not all about the winners. Within the entry list it was fantastic to see local and travelling skippers enjoying themselves, particularly pleasing was the number of new skippers tempted to sail, the reputation of the event and its friendly competitive racing must be spreading! 9 skippers from the host club were joined by sailors from North, East, South and West. The furthest travelled was tied between Tim Long (Abersoch) and Ken Binks (Eastbourne) with many from the midlands setting their alarms early for the day, amongst these were our three lady skippers, Jen, Tracey, and Penelope. 

After nine completed races, Peter called an end to racing and the skippers came together to congratulate the winners and thank the volunteers and helpers.  

Clive’s’ wife, and fellow skipper Jen presented the prizes, watched by his sons and family members. 

The top five skippers were: 

Darin Ballington- 11pts 

John Tushingham – 20pts 

Rob Wilson – 26pts 

Chris Elliott – 31pts 

Nigel Brown – 36pts 

Not everyone can be a winner, but everyone can have fun and enjoyment, something that LRSC offer in abundance and hopefully the Clive Hand Memorial Trophy is now a “must” for the skippers and we hope that they will return (with their friends) in 2023 for the next running of the event. 

A special thank you to all those helpers who have not been mentioned in this report, without you the skippers could not have gone racing and the event would not have happened.  

Note: 

The Club also raised £ 150.00 for the RNLI , £ 1,250 since the event started

Racing occurs every weekend at Scotland Farm, and visitors are welcome, please see our website for more information. www.lincolnradiosailing.com  

A variety of Pictures by Sue Brown is available through this link https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjAay4o

Wow what a start to the Winter series, A perfect North Westerly around 8 knots with a few stronger gusts, and we have 10 happy skippers, Tim Hand and Colin Helliwell got the course sorted with the help of Stuart Jessup, who was unable to race, for one reason or another, and not forgetting Roger Bowtle who always gets the kit out early. The course being on the South bank, it was a perfect full length beat and run, Briefing bang on time and we were away. I have to say at this point we could have had a much bigger fleet but some clashes were evident that affected numbers, and quite easily we could have had 15 out , But hey ho.

Mick C 46 fast out of the blocks after his disastrous day at the ranking the day before, 18th I am told ,and he took the bullet with ease with Dave R 57 the Summer series champion coming home in second and Tim H 44 in third. Mick C 46 then went on to win the first 5 races on the bounce, and the boat seemed to have the perfect set up for the conditions. Chris E 74 back from a long lay off could not get the Brit Pop going like he usually does. Chris G 11 was sailing well still wearing shorts , and others were having some good races, but today it was the Venti that showed a clean pair of heels winning 7 of the 11 races, Tim H 44 took second position and Dave R 57 followed through in third, there was just a little bit of nonsense at the weather mark in race 10 when things got a little heated between two skippers, Luckily another skipper calmed things down and after hearing the evidence from both, and unable to sort due to time restrictions awarded a yellow card to one skipper. both shook hands and agreed to fight it out in two weeks time, for round two of this , whats looks to be , a great series to be a part of.

Tim thanked everybody for there help in the groups Whats App page in setting up and putting away, but as we stand at the moment Mick C with his Venti is at the top of the pile. and he intends to stay there as long as he can.

My thanks to everyone who came and made it a great mornings racing

Six skippers arrived to virtually no wind and no race team. Everyone worked together to get everything ready to race, Pete W set a course with varying angled beats to allow for the shifting wind. Assistance was given on boat set up prior to getting underway .

The day was to be a battle between Pete W and Dave R who won all the races bar one between them. The weed certainly played its part in the race results but did not materially effect the overall results.

After four races Pete held a slender lead over Dave with Geoff having some great results including two seconds. The battle behind Pete and Dave was to continue all day with all having purple patches at the sharp end on the fleet.

The veering wind forced and early coffee break to move the course onto the clubhouse bank. Fortunately the wind also freshened giving a great second session of racing with the wind at the top end of A Plus at times.

Pete and Dave continued to trade blows until race nine when they both fell foul to the dreaded weed early in the race, Mike did not need a second invitation seizing his chance of a win breaking the stranglehold of Dave and Pete. Race ten onwards saw normal service resumed and Roger suddenly found some speed having found himself a little rusty after his holidays.

Pete sailed extremely well securing more wins and edged Dave to take the win, congratulations to him on the win. Behind the racing remained close and Rogers resurgence in the latter races allowed him to take third from Mike W .

A great morning racing was had by all in a great spirit with great competition and banter amongst all.

Results by Peter H , and write up from Dave Rigby

Final positions will be published for the series in a couple of days

Wow what a great mornings racing , 13 skippers got a real treat, Mike and Adrian set the course on the South bank and with the breeze starting out around 9 to 10 knots and gradually increasing to around 13/14 knots during the last race this was always going to be exciting. Darin B 98, came along with his daughter Penelope sailing Mums Britpop, and a rare appearance from Chis E 74 was always going to make it hot at the sharp end, and so it was, with Darin and Chris taking first and second inthe first two races with Mick C 46 taking third spot, race 3 had Darin taking the bullet, and the two Venti’s taking 2nd and 3rd a great result for Mick Cooper 39. and I have never seen a bigger grin on his face ,Dave R 57 who is leading the series had his worst three races, before clicking into gear in race 4 with a well deserved 2nd , Mick C 46 taking the bullet and Mike W 76 picking up 3rd spot, Racing was close all through the fleet, but it had to be the consistency card that needed playing, there may well have been the odd touch of green stuff that played a part but at the end of the morning did not affect the overalls, Racing flowed well and at coffee break we had a small course change that caught a few out at the gate, another fine win for Darin 98 made him unbeaten in the series. but the dogged ness of Dave R 57 means he could well have won the Summer series, Dave just got better as the series went on with his Vision,and it really is going well, Mick Cooper is also sailing very well and has improved dramatically in the last few races. Brit pops at the top again so well done to Darin and Chris, the rest of us need to make up ground to get near these two , but hey the winter series is just round the corner. Today I would say we were probably down 4/5 skippers, that I am sure will be back contesting it all at the start of October , Chris Graves , Pete Walters, Jen Hand , Rob Wilson , Keith Holmes, Roger Bowtle lets be having you guys,

Many thanks to all who made this a great mornings racing, at the end of the day I think we all had a lot of fun