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IOM Summer Series – Round 1. 6th April 2025
A great turnout of 16 Lincoln skippers and one visiting skipper, Mike Drew of Fleetwood MY&PBC, for the first round of the IOM Summer Series.
The weather appropriately was brilliant sunshine all day with a moderate wind in a northeasterly direction, ranging from mid to top end of A rig in strength.
The two Rodgers had arrived early and had kindly prepared the dingy and starting equipment ready for the race officers. The wind direction coming from the northeast, diagonally across the lake, made it difficult to set a course for racing. The OOD Pete W, assisted by Kevin E, opted for a course of the south bank with a zig-zag beat from the west towards the clubhouse followed by a run downwind to a gate in the south west corner of the lake. The short windward leg, large fleet and starboard rounding of the windward mark resulted in some challenging situations.
Racing commenced at 10am with Darin B taking the first win followed by Tim H and Rodger C in third. Four races were completed before the morning coffee break with Darin and Tim sharing two wins each, Chris E getting two seconds and Pete W beginning to show some consistency with a second and a third.
During coffee break top skippers were noted giving advice and tips to others which helps promote the standards and skills throughout the fleet and promotes a friendly but competitive fleet.
After the break racing continued with a further four races up to lunch, Rob W, Pete W and Darin B scoring some good results but Tim H7 dominated with three wins. Tracey B, sailing with a new rig, showed improving results during the day as adjustments were made and Martyn A was stringing a series of good consistent results together.
As the day progressed the wind direction was more from the east and the course was changed to a single longer beat towards the clubhouse with a port rounding windward mark and wing mark, which proved to be a less challenging course.
After eight races a break for lunch was taken and a number of skippers left for other commitments and Rodger B decided he had walked far enough and volunteered to monitor the start line for the rest of the racing (many thanks Rodger). Chris E unfortunately sustained damage to a sail and had to retire.
The final five races continued with the same skippers at the sharp end of the fleet, Rodger C taking three wins and Tim H taking two.
DF65 Winter Series round 6. 23rd March 2025
Jen and Martyn arrived at Scotland Farm to find most of the set up completed by the (very) early arrivals. Thank you Roger Bowtle in particular!
The wind was blowing a light NNE which increased gradually and provided for a few duckings occasionally on the gusts with our A+ sails. What became apparent upon launching were the substantial wind shifts that took place largely unannounced and for variable periods of time. The leading boats were never safely positioned and the chasing boats always had opportunities. These were frequently cruelly curtailed though!
We were a little light on numbers for the initial races as Dave C had not arrived, plus Adrian and Roger were spending some time on their rig settings. The first two races gave the impression that it would be a day dominated by Pete and Mick as they streaked off into the lead and had epic battles, but with Pete coming out on top. How events can change in sailing though! Martyn found some form in race 3 and took three wins on the trot, with Jen getting two seconds. No team racing involved. Pete seemed to have gone off the boil and Mick found that his performance had collapsed due to a broken bridle which he never fully recovered from in the subsequent racing, despite making a temporary fix. Dave Rigby was always in the mix but was not favoured in the wind shifts and buoy roundings. He did walk away with race 8 though, demonstrating a dominating win.
Adrian, Roger and Dave C didn’t find full form, but Roger was finally enthusiastic about his boat performance after the break, describing it as ‘going like a train’. I’m taking that as being a good thing and it was lovely to see his satisfaction!
Fourteen races were completed in a friendly manner with great honesty and sportsmanship being demonstrated. Pete sailed with consistency and recovered top form to take the final three races (with Martyn usually snapping at his heels) and to take the day which cemented his pole position on the series leader board.
Final result; 1st Pete, 2nd Martyn, 3rd Mick.
Thank you to all for making it an enjoyable day and for assisting with the setup, line starts and the efficiently conducted tidy-up. Special thanks to Pete for his assistance with the course setting and buoy positioning.
Report by Martyn Aspinall. Results by Colin Helliwell.
Here are the final standings for the Winter Series – congratulations to Pete Waters!
DF95 Winter Series 09 Feb
This turned out to be a very tricky day. Race officer Dave R arrived early and set a course on the South Bank. The wind gods gave us adequate wind unfortunately it was of poor quality, massive shifts, holes and heavy gusts gave very trying conditions for the 12strong fleet. Dave did some final tweaking of the course to try and remove ant bias on the beat.
The fleet appeared to be intact so we started early but this turned into a practice race as more boats arrived prior to the advertised start time.
Paul Kelly made the most of the trying conditions to take the first race closely followed by Pete Walters. Race two saw the start of the domination by Pete W taking the next four wins followed with a 3rd 1st 2nd.
There was close racing throughout the fleet with the conditions proving that any lead was not secure
With boats being becalmed one minute then overpowered the next. Race 9 saw Pete sustain damage and a breakage costing him significant speed and ruling him out of race 10.
Richard Jutsum sailed very consistently to take second with Kevin Evison 3rd.
Nearly everyone had their moments with good results and all must be congratulated for such close racing in very shifty difficult conditions. The behavior on the bank was superb and hopefully everyone enjoyed the morning in a sadistic kind of way.
Many thanks for the help packing everything away and congratulations to the podium finishers in very tricky conditions
Dave Rigby
IOM Winter Series Round 5 – 1st December 2024
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 4th race and the 5th and 6th 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
Lincoln Radio Sailing Club 