IOM Winter Series Round 2, 18th October 2026

The wind duly arrived from a Northerly direction today, as predicted, making course setting difficult. With Tim unable to take up his RO duties, Darin rose to the occasion and was out in the boat and busy experimenting with the buoy positions for a suitable course before 9am. Thank you Darin.

An inventive course was set that only required use of the South-West quadrant of the lake, with three beats that required very little skipper bank-walking. This worked well until coffee time was called, by which time Neil had scored a single win and Darin had embarked on a string of first positions. The other top few positions were shared amongst several sailors in wind conditions that were hard to read.

Over the break, Darin was again out in the boat laying a more traditional South bank course to accommodate a changing wind that had veered more Easterly. The wind continued to be challenging in both windspeed and direction, the more-so as skippers attempted to find an approach to the windward mark. The ‘approach’ was typically dictated by the wind changes and there were numerous positional changes and very mixed fortunes on this leg of the course.

The only two skippers who produced consistent results on the day were Darin and Rob. They took first and second positions overall. Their consistency was quite astonishing considering the erratic nature of the wind. Kevin, Neil and Martyn took single race wins, whilst Mick and Colin came close to doing the same. Richard finished the day on a ‘high’ with a second place in the last race, whilst Jen unfortunately struggled all day.

Although this was a difficult day for sailing, it was characterised by the good-natured approach of the skippers. No harsh words were heard and penalties were taken with grace. The sun shone, and what can better than spending time with like-minded people in the beautiful surroundings of our fantastic club?

Report by Martyn Aspinall

The wind from yesterday had abated and we were left with a very nice day Roger B was down early and got all the gear out and Mick C the OOD was soon on the scene, The breeze was just about straight down the lake with a bit of right in it , and as the morning wore on it veered even more , and tried to make Micks day troublesome, But we stuck with it and had a pretty good day of racing even tho a proper beat eluded us , and without an awful lot relaying the course in the dingy ( mick not keen on that ) we stuck with it . 8 Skippers showed, and all wanted to make a good impression for the first of the Winter series’ including fairly new member Neil Webb who made a great impression in the Clive Hand last week, probably only first time out with the DF 95 but trust me , he is my tip for the top very soon. Sam P 59 got off to a great start taking the first race with Micky boy following before his morning turned into a less than average performance. Rob Wilson took the next race in style and that wannabee Colin H 301 getting a very good second spot. The breeze ,, well it was top suit all morning, but at times quite light and with out a proper beat it could have and did become a bit processional although the weather mark caught a few out in the shifts. Kevin E 02 took race three before Rob W 97 started to find the groove taking race 4 before coffee break. Colin T 431 looking half the man he was was having an ok day of it, as was Roger B 448 on one of his rare visits to the lake.

After coffee Colin H came out determined and you could see it on his face he won that won and you could see his confidence grow , Rut Rob W was not going away and neith was Sam P who took race 6 , Rob was back on it in race 7 with the win while Colin had a bit of a wobble Neil W 40 was getting the hang and took a second ,( sign of things to come ) but to clinch the morning Rob W finished up with two straight wins while the ever improving Colin H with a pretty good ave, only made a second and third . And so it was all about the top three on the day , Big congratulations to Rob W for the win and with 5 wins that has to be impressive but only one point adrift was Colin H, super racing at the farm as we move into Winter.

Many thanks to all who made it a great day and for helping get the gear away especially Sam P for getting the board and putting it away safely

Next week it is the I.O.M’s turn to impress .

Held on the 4th October 2026

Many thanks to Nigel Barrow and of course all who contributed the picture’s

Report and Pictures can be found here

RG65 TT13 Race Report – Lincoln RSC – 3 Oct 26

The competitors arrived to some very promising conditions for the final race day of the 2026 RG65 TT Series. The sun was shining and a steady 10mph wind was blowing down the West bank of the lake at Lincoln Radio Sailing Club. The outlook appeared superb for one of the best RG65 turn-outs of the year for the fourteen skippers present from the fifteen entries.

A simple upwind/downwind course was set over two laps followed by a beat to the finish. After a short briefing by the PRO, Martyn Aspinall, racing began promptly at 10.00 am.

The first start indicated the keenness of the competitors and was a recall to the start line. Words were spoken, which appeared to have a calming effect, and this was the only general recall of the day.

Rohan stamped his mark on the first three races, taking an impressive three wins in succession. An issue developed around the windward mark on the fourth race and the opportunity was taken over a coffee break to sort the problem, shorten the course slightly and change its orientation to match the wind that had become lighter and was oscillating but tending to veer in a more Northerly direction.

Racing resumed with the more changeable conditions and a further four race winners emerged during the day. The conditions appeared to suit Toby, who repeated Rohan’s three wins in succession and became ‘the man to beat’.

An early lunch was called when the wind appeared to die. It became apparent during lunch that an intermittent wind with significant directional changes was going to become the order of the day, so racing resumed with some minor course adjustments and with a choice of start lines, the most appropriate starting line buoys being called before the one minute sound signal. This worked, and the sailing day continued with some interesting sailing and jostling for positions. The day concluded with the completion of 15 races.

Toby took the honours for the day with a fairly emphatic win on 28 points followed by Alan Bennett (38 points) and John Tushingham (45 points). The prizes were presented followed by the presentation of the series trophy to Alan Bennett, who had performed a similarly emphatic series victory.

Thanks go to the race team of Jen Hand, Kevin Evison and Ron Austen from Lincoln RSC. Our thanks also go to Gary Parkin for his diligent work in the rescue boat, plus to Darin Ballington for his help with the course layout.

Race report by Martyn Aspinall (PRO).

5th October 2026