Somebody mentioned champagne sailing , did not see much champagne but what I did see was some of the best racing and conditions that I have seen for a while ( well actually last week ) It really was fantastic but including our visitor Ben Harper and his wife on route to Scotland, but just popped in to race with us, we only had ten of our own skippers, well it certainly was not our loss, Micky boy Colin and Helped by Darin set up the race course with a view that the expected veer in the wind would kick in around ten am , it was shifty make no mistake but with two and a half beats you had the chance to make amends for earlier folly, 1st race up and Darin B 98 was on it , young Martin A 91 pulled a 2nd and Roger C 30 took third spot. race two and Rob W 97 took the bullet, Roger 2nd and Micky boy 3rd , Roger C was getting better each race with his little wing Wooden design and in race three took the bullet, Racing was tight throughout the fleet and it got particularly tricky when around 20 yards to the weather mark , and a large wind shadow ( these two buoys eventually moved 10 yards South By Darin ) Just before coffee break Darin took a first and then after coffee continued with two more, with Rob Wilson in hot pursuit the brit Pops putting on a show of superiority, Race seven saw Micky boy get away at the start and was not caught to take the win. Many faces missing from this round but credit to those who showed up, Martin was having some fine battles with Kevin who is handling his Venti better and better every week, Tracy just , and only just got the better by 1 point of the ladies challenge, Colin H 20 feels he could have done a little better and I am sure Ben Harper will be chatting to wife Olive all the way to Scotland about his visit to Scotland Farm,

Just one final mention Mick Cooper is suffering at the moment as most of you know, but today he turned up and raced, and in the first race went out wide saw a bit shift and went for it , he tacked onto port and put everybody to shame getting to the weather mark well ahead of the fleet, well done mate , just shows how good the Venti is when your on it , I realise as do others that you run out of steam during the morning , but that is to be expected , you will be back at it before you know it , and I am proud to call you my mate.

Thanks to all for the help thoroughly enjoyable day , Congratulations to Darin for the win , and everybody for the competition .

Results in the series so far Below

A wonderful spring morning greeted the 19 Skippers for the annual Martin Lambert, sunshine and warmth at long last, Pete W the OOD was down early and sorting out the racecourse moving buoys, etc . as the skippers arrived from as far afield as Birkenhead Keighley and Birmingham, ten skippers from the home club were also competing in this the first year using the DF 95 Dragon Flite class , fast and slim.

As we got nearer the time it was evident that the breeze , and it was healthy was steadily veering and so Pete decided we would be better on the South bank . Everybody signed in and briefing complete we all launched into a good breeze with top suits , that promised to get stronger as the morning progressed .

One of our visitors Chris More from Askern took the first bullet, from Rob Radbourne from Manor Park and Mick Chamberlain got third spot, after a quick out of the water tune up for all boats it was back in for some back to back racing probably 3 races. The second race had local boy Kevin 02 taking top spot in a very well sailed race on his part leading from start to finish Tim H 44 getting 2nd and Young Colin H 301 3rd , Race three and Paul 54 one of the Birkenhead boys got the win, closely followed by anther local lad Sam 59, with third going to another Visitor from Birkenhead Tony 429. Coffee break came and went and as the breeze got a little stronger Tim H 44 started coming in to his own, early on in the day perhaps there was an outside influence that caught a few skippers out but this soon disappeared, and it soon became a healthy breeze , all still on top suit, and it appeared the top three or four were battling it out with some tight racing , Tim H 44 just got stronger and stronger but he was kept honest by the chasing Rob 88 from Manor park , and Dorian 683 from Datchet ( London Reservoir near Windsor castle) Tim 44 won 5 of the 14 races, brilliant , Rob 88 won only one but kept his consistency, Dorian 683 won three and ended just two points in front of Mick. Battles went on throughout the fleet , and it was interesting to watch and hear the chatter . Lincoln would like to thank the Visitors and we hope you all enjoyed your day . Our many thanks must got to all helpers for the event but especially To Jen Hand for all the prelim work, which as we all know is immense and never ending . Pete Walters for an excellent job as OOD and he did give up his sailing to do it ,, the finish team led By Mike Williams’s Wife, Maryanne , the scoring by Colin Helliwell, and all the helpers who got the gear out, and away each and every one of you we are all grateful, extremely grateful.

We also thank Martin Lamberts Widow Grainne Lambert for coming and presenting the prizes and trophy.

And finally congratulations to the winner of the Martin Lambert for 2024 Tim Hand , and also good luck in the 2024 I.O.M Worlds that are being hosted in Australia later this year.

If I have missed any thing or anybody out , I am very sorry and apologise

And to add a few nice pictures from Chris More , many thanks .

A very gusty morning greeted 12 skippers at Scotland farm for Round two of this Summer series , Pete W had got there early with Mike W to get it all set up, and it was going to be a long beat and run course on the East bank , ( secretly 3 Venti’s were seen practising on Saturday afternoon and swapping measurements etc ) But hey it was a great breeze probably 70/ 80 % of top suit but very fluke’y in the gusts, Pete W 65 was quick out of the blocks and he had to be to hold of the challenge of Roger C 30 with another new design, this one called a combo, and although a little rough looking ( Sorry Roger ) it looked as if it had been rubbed down to within and inch of its life, and boy was it quick , so quick it even surprised Roger, But I have to say the beats were tricky and you had to be on you game from about half way up to ensure you were at the pointy end at the weather mark. Roger won the second race and Pete the third , Tim H 44 was having one or two problems with his knicker elastic , ( jib Boom elastic ) but eventually sorted it, and in fact around half way through and with an eye on the Worlds coming up in November swapped his V10 with his mums Britpop just to get a new feel on things. Mick C 46 managed to win races 4 and 5 but then followed a complete disaster, thru the fluke’y stuff and ended up 10. It was great to see Mick Cooper 39 racing hard especially after what he has been thru , and that little group Kevin , Jen Peter and Mick were separated by only 3 points, Colin H 20 struggled a little today and Richard J 12 has some work to do with his Venti and I am sure it will be a quick boat, Mike W 76 also seemed to struggle, and something may well have happened from race 7. Good also to see Pete C 110 back after a bit of an absence just pipped Cooperman by 1 point, I drove away from the lake realising how competitive the racing is , bad start and it’s hard to recover , over the line early your race is over , have to do a turn again your race is done, I think mainly our set ups are not to far out but we could do with a little chat or two on perhaps out tactics and race strategy perhaps Darin top tips for the future. At the end of the day Micky boy took the top step and was as consistent as he could be, the fleet is getting hotter each week that’s for sure. The manners on the bank today were superb,, as was Jen’s birthday cake , Thank you and happy birthday Jen, The nationals are coming up fast ,Lincoln have a few skippers in it , and there is a pre nationals race at Manor Park next Sunday, if you wanna go try your boat for speed get your entry in..

Many thanks to all for helping out getting the gear out and away again , superb

Well done to the old boy, Micky Boy with his prized Venti for the win .

Report by Martyn

Martyn arrived to fill in for Mick as OOD (hope you are feeling better Mick), to find that early bird riser Richard had set most of the required equipment up requiring only the repositioning of the buoys to suit the moderate Westerly wind. We were blessed with a bright sunny day that warmed as the day progressed, but only 6 sailors! Definitely quality versus quantity though, as a highly competitive but friendly sailing session ensued.

Martyn got off to a great start with 3 wins before Mike and Colin H found winning form. Positions were changing all the time in the races though and every sailor enjoyed some glory time whilst heading the fleet. Alan sailed very well, but a win eluded him. Colin Toll was thrilled to deservedly win a race. Richard was experimenting with his rig settings. Some worked, some didn’t of course; he took one win but gained a reputation for pinching places on the finish line!

There were a number of rapid finishes with multiple boats vying to cross the line first and quite a few position changes on the final leg due to the changes in wind direction. Gusts of wind made the downwind leg entertaining in some races and guiding the boat to prevent submarining could add vital distance between competing boats before negotiating the gate and commencing the final long beating leg.

It was a great day, and came with a free sun tan. Everybody mucked in to help with the tidy up after 14 completed races and everybody notably took a turn on the start line. Martyn was the most consistent sailor taking the day with 19 points. Mike also sailed consistently, taking second spot with 29 points. Colin H was a little more erratic in his positions, but sailed very competitively and took third with 37 points. Then, Alan on 42 points, Richard on 43 and Colin Toll on 55. All the sailors went home with a smile on their faces having enjoyed a pretty-much perfect day sailed in the best of spirits (thanks for the wording, Colin!).

Martyn Aspinall