Eight competitors were greeted with sunshine and a reasonable breeze ranging between 8 and 12 knots with gust somewhat stronger. The immediate issue was which rig to use and the wind strength was right on the cut off point. The slip was around 50:50 between A and A plus. Jen set a windward leeward course and did the required covid 19 briefing before racing got underway.

Race one saw Jen fastest out of the blocks winning easily from Keith Holmes and Dave Rigby.

The same three got away from the fleet in race two with Keith taking the win from Dave and Jen taking third. Race three saw and increase in wind strength and those on A plus had fun getting downwind. Mick Cooper sailed well to take the win from Keith and Dave in second and third.

The wind was now making life very interesting for those on A Plus but we had a repeat of race one with Jen taking the win Keith second following a senior moment from Dave getting the finish line wrong but he recovered to take third.

Coffee break saw Keith and Dave change down to A rigs but a broken kicker for Keith forced him back onto A plus.

The wind had now increased and was doing some very strange things as you approached the windward mark making life very interesting. Dave took advantage of the wind increase taking the win from Keith and Jen.

Following a very interesting time on the run Jen joined the rest of the fleet on an A rig.

Race six saw Bill McPhee find his form and he took the win from Dave and Alan Newman took a good third. Bill repeated this in race seven with Alan second and Dave third.

Race eight saw Keith and Dave get away from the fleet, Keith opened the gap when the wind eased and Dave closed the gap when it increased. The final beat saw the wind ease just enough for Keith to press home his advantage taking the win with Dave second and Bill third.

The final race of the day took a similar pattern only this time fortunes were reversed with the wind increasing enough to make the A plus hard to handle and Dave took advantage and took the win from Keith and Mick taking third.

Overall it was great morning racing sailed in a great spirit with good close competition throughout the fleet. Congratulations to Keith on the win.

Report from David Rigby, many thanks

13 Skippers showed on Sunday 6th September, the weather forecast was not looking great with rain on the agenda, but as so often happens it turned out to be a fantastic morning for racing. A steady but quite shifty Westerly breeze around 8 knots had the fleet doing a dog leg beat along the East bank, Tim H 44 got of to a great start with the V10 winning the first race with Mum Jen H 69 coming home in second spot, team effort ,,, Pete Cogill 101 V 9 took third spot , and was sailing very well , and getting the shifts spot on.

Race two saw Rob W 97 with his Brit Pop win and Tim coming home second, Mick C 46 took third spot after leading and then getting a shift totally wrong. Race three and it was David R 57 (green hull) in his Vision followed home closely by Chris G 11 Brit Pop and Pete C another 3rd spot.

Chris G took race four and then it was coffee break the wind had veered probably 15 degrees and The OOD Jen decided we would try the South bank, The wind was still a little too far to the left, and it gave one long port tack and a short starboard tack to reach the weather mark, one or two boats also got in the way of some floaty weed notably Tim and Mick C, the winner of this race was Keith H 88 with his brand new Sedici, Jen H got second and Pete G another third and was showing some very consistant results, The OOD rightly reverted back to the East bank for the remaining races, in race six we saw Bob G 23 with his sedici take the win, Bob had been missing from the club for some months due to work commitments and it was gret to see him back, his racing/ tuning improved as the morning wore on and he must have been very pleased with his overall result getting two 1st’s and a second.

The racing kept everyone on their toes with the shifts and it was great to see Tim Hand taking top spot with his V10 and showing us all he is a force to be reckoned with in the future, Rob took second spot and Peter G sailed better than I have ever seen him sail to take third spot. This is Social sailing , and it was fantastic racing . We have a very competetive fleet of I.O.M’s at Lincoln and there can be no hiding place, so if you want some great racing in the East Midlands a couple times a month, this is the place to be, not saying everything is perfect, but its certainly 9 out of ten.

Many thanks to all who helped setting up and breaking down and also Mike W who did the scores for us, Jen for doing OOD’s stuff and of course all skippers who made it such an enjoyable morning, once again well done Tim,

11 Skippers showed up on a fabulous Bank holiday Sunday morning, The sun was out and a good strong breeze was evident from the North. Mick Chamberlain set out in the dingy to check the bouys and move a few around, other members were busy doing bits and pieces with rakes , to enable Jen Hand the OOD to set a dog leg course up the East bank. Roger B had a breakage and missed the first two races, The breeze was about 90 % of A suit to start with and it gradually through the morning went went down to about 70%, which gave us all some fantastic racing.

Jen 69 got off to a great start and won the first race with Mick C 46and Keith Holmes 39 in close attendance, Mike W 839 getting to grips with the radio came home a creditable 4th. The next two races were won by Mick C 46 with the other Mick, 53 ( he thinks that is his age ) with the beeping tranny came home 2nd proving that the boat is certainly quick in the right direction. Many shifts up and down the course caught skippers out many times and made for some interesting racing, 11 races were completed by the 1pm deadline and we can only commend the OOD Jen , who kept things fluid and moving at a good pace. At this point I would like to point out that both Mick 53 and Mike 839 sailed probably as well as I have ever seen, Roger 448 had a couple of great 3rd’s in races 8 and 9 , and Jen 69 must have been well pleased with her performance. All in all a great mornings racing, and the only salad in attendance was in our sandwiches at coffee break, which we can only thank the Wednesday gang for all the hard work that has been put in over the last few weeks, Also many thanks to all the helpers before and after racing to get stuff organized and the skippers for making it such an enjoyable morning, Racing as you can see was close with Mick 46 just edging it.

A grey overcast but warm morning greeted 9 skippers for the DF 65 racing, a decent breeze from the South west which gradually veered to the west. The first 4 races were straight up and down the East bank with anti clockwise control area working quite well, Great to see Keith back at it, and getting the win in race two and race five, Dave Rigby was in fine form with two seconds and a win in the first three races. All boats apart from Pate Webster were on A + rigs but Pete was going very well inspite of the lack of canvas. After coffee the wind had veered and the course was changed to give two seperate beats out into the lake before the weather mark and the long run downwind, this change either by coincidence or some other factor seemed to send a bit of floaty weed probably from the West bank ( which has never been cleared) onto our course and we saw quite a few pit stops and it did seem to effect everyone at some stage during the second 4 races, which was unfortunate. Mick C came out on top from Dave R and Keith H ,it was good to see Pete W sailing very well, The wind as usual was quite shifty but steady around 10/12 knots.

Many thanks to Roger B for getting everything ready, and all the boys and girls who helped, and also to Greg C who came down and did the scoring and took a few nice pictures , A good mornings racing.