A great turnout of 15 skippers again today for the IOM’s

The forecast moderate southerly wind did not materialise but the light rain showers and warm temperatures did.

The morning commenced with a light south easterly wind diagonally across the lake, making it difficult to set a course. The OOD’s Kevin Evison and Mick Cooper were helped throughout the day by Roger, Tim and Darin moving buoys and setting the course.

Racing commenced off the south bank with a zig-zag course beating from the west towards the clubhouse. Roger 30 taking the first win of the day closely followed by Darin 98. The second race saw Chris 74 taking the win again followed by Darin 98 in second. By the third race skippers were getting overeager on the start line, resulting in two general recalls, however Darin 98 secured the win in this one with Chris 74 second.

At the coffee break the wind was in a more southerly direction and the decision was made to move to the east bank, meantime Jen provided a banquet of sausage rolls, pork pies and cocktail sausages left over from yesterday’s MYA meeting.

After the break Tim 134 was getting into gear winning the 4^th race and the 5^th and 6^th with Darin 98, Chris 74 and Roger taking seconds. The final race of the day got underway, after another general recall, with Mick 46 taking the win followed again by Darin in second.

On the day Roger, Chris, Darin and Mick all had one win, Tim had a purple patch of three consecutive wins after the break but the outstanding skipper of the day and overall winner goes to Darin proving consistency is key….well done Darin

Thanks to Richard Jutsum for calling the line on the first three races and thanks to everyone for helping put the gear away at the end of the day.

Kevin Evison

Sunday dawned bright and still, but by the time boats were on the water a nice breeze had filled in from the northwest.  Accordingly Roger set out a course with 3 beats along the west bank of the lake for the healthy turnout of 15 skippers.  With the sun still shining, it was a perfect day for sailing and some good close racing ensued.  While close, the racing was good humoured with plenty of penalty turns being done without being asked and help being given by the experienced skippers.  A personal thank you from me to Darin and Roger who tweaked my Lintel and got it going very nicely. That just leaves the skipper to sort out!

Roger and Dave were both tweaking out the set-ups on new boats – a frustrating process at times. However both achieved top 4 finishes in the last couple of races, so it looks like progress was made. Darin had an excellent row of six straight wins in the middle of the session which helped him to first place, with Pete, Tim and Rob taking the other wins.

Unfortunately Tracey’s boat had an attack of the gremlins, but that did mean that we had the benefit of Tracey as an observer in our final race. (Yes, Mr Cooper, you did hit that buoy!)

As the morning drew to a close the skies darkened and the wind picked up, although still A rig. Then with perfect timing rain set in just after everything was packed away and skippers were heading home.

Stuart Jessup