Another great day at Lincoln all prelims done by the two Rogers before the OOD arrived at 0830 so all that was needed was to move a few buoys, and with the breeze coming down the East bank around 8 knots the eleven skippers were good to go, Roger B very kindly did the line and finishing duties. A good windward leeward course was sorted which gave the fleet three good beats so fantastic if you wanted to get some steps in. Race one was a close affaire with Mick C 46 just pipping Darin B 98 and Roger C 30 with yet another I.O.M he was trying out took third spot. The racing was close all thru the fleet with 5 different designs on show, for some reason we seemed a little short on Skippers but I guess with Holidays and Bungy jumping going on it was to be expected, for those who missed it , you will not get many better days. Roger took race two and Darin took race three, The race course appeared to be free of any obstructions (if you know what I mean) although I did hear the odd murmur, For me Mick C 46 i had not problems , and the boat seemed to be well suited and set up for the conditions, and in my eyes it seemed to be very fast, last race before coffee Mick C 46 took the second win of the morning very closely followed by Darin, and Jen H 69 taking third spot, In race three Tracy grabbed a second place making it a One /Two for the Ballington family who enjoy there racing immensely, as I am told it is a three hour round trip for them. Coffee over and skippers called to the start line , and with the breeze increasing very slightly 1 to 2 knots, it was great racing around the middle of the fleet with Jen and Martyn going at it hammer and tongs and Stuart J 66 doing a lot better , Richard J 12 was just not able to sort out the yellow Venti despite The attentions of Darin to try to get the best from the rig, and had a disappointing morning. Kevin E with another Venti who will be a bit disappointed, just could not find the sweet spot, and ended the day loosing his lanyard clip with the result his tranny ended up in the drink, and missed the last two races. Dave B 57 who I hear is after another boat , (justa rumour) had one or two good races but knows he could do better, but managed to split the Hand / Aspinall partnership.

Mick C 39 not one of his better days but we all know he wont give up, Tracy won the ladies game beating Jen, so the bragging rights are down Ashby way for a couple of weeks , Race five saw a small incident on the finish line which took Mick C 46 from 2nd to 7th as he had to do a turn and refinish , kindly explained by Darin after the race , Mick C 46 just seemed to have the edge on Darin this week taking two more wins from the 9 races. As I said before, the racing was superb , ok one or two hotshots missing, but as they say when the cats away £$%^^$$ and so well done to Micky boy for the win but more important for the manor in with it was all sailed ( mostly) many thanks to all who helped get stuff put away , and a bit vote of thanks to Roger Bowtle who not only sorted or the electric outboard out and repaired it , he also sorted out a problem or two with my car , and also did the finishing line and the start line. Next up in a couple of weeks is round 10 , cant wait .

Not a lot of wind but enough for the six skippers who showed up , Peter Cogill was up early and had it all sorted with the help of Jen H and after a few hands coming together to help Adrian C who had a few problems namely a rudder servo , and we were soon racing on the East bank , All took a turn at watching the line and the first race was won by Jen H 69 in fine fashion, Adrian with his new rudder servo ( many thanks Richard ) took second spot and Richard third, Martyn took race two in the light and sometimes fluky conditions , Mick C suffered a knot failure, on his sheeting line that was easily repaired after raiding Jen’s toolbox. The weather was fantastic and enough breeze to keep these little wonders moving. As you can see from the results it was close racing with one or two green Carp trying to spoil the party. 7 races completed , with the wins being shared out , Jen the worthy winner by a tidy margin, so very well done , many thanks also to everybody who mucked in and made the morning a very pleasurable experience. One or two away this week so could well be back to full strength for round five next month .

Forecast was probably not the most appetising, and may have influenced the turnout, Ten skippers,, and Darin the OOD was at the lake early setting out the course and getting it organised and it was only just gone 8 am, several skippers were there early, and all were going to be rewarded with some great racing in almost perfect conditions. The breeze 60/70 % of top rig sometimes less, and sometimes more ,and straight down the East bank, was to give us some great races in a very competitive fleet, As usual and fast out of the blocks with his Brit Pop was Darin B 98 taking the first win from Roger C 30 in second and Mick C 46 in third, 5 different designs were on show, including the very quick design of Roger C 30 who continues to impress. Almost three full beats and two long runs, gave everybody a chance to get back, if they fell behind, the racing was close right through the fleet, Race two was Mick C 46 who seemed quite pleased with the way the Venti was going after a change in the settings to various aspects of the boat, he was followed home by Tim H 44 with his V10 , and third spot was Roger C 30 keeping a good ave going, A different winner for race three Pete W 65 , with Roger getting a 2nd , Tim taking 3rd ,,, Mick C 46 was in a great position in race three but was adjudged to have not finished correctly and had to retire , no points there then !!!!. Next race race 4 there was a tie up of three boats on the start line ( the two Micks and Darin ) and again Pete W 65 took full advantage to take the win , Tim H 44 in second and Martyn A 91 coming through to get 3rd, Coffee break came and went and still we had had no rain just beautiful sunshine, Not quite sure why but Darin B 98 was not having it all his own way, which is a very rare occurrence, Pete W also was not on top form despite winning three of the races. This was racing at its best , well it was for some, and at the end it would have been to tight to call out the winner, But Mick C ‘s Venti did appear to be going very well and so it turned out, He took the win on the day by a clear margin, Martyn A 91 finally getting to grips with his Brit Pop and taking second spot , with Pete W 65 on the podium , there will be one or two a little disappointed with the result, But I am afraid the grin was wall to wall on Micky Boys face when he saw the results , carefully worked out by Colin Helliwell who fastidiously does the results for us each week, Next weekend poss 8 Lincoln skippers will make the trek up to Fleetwood for the I.O.M ranking race, and with 60 skippers entered , and many champions of differing classes this will be a great event.

So many thanks for all those who helped out and of course well done Micky boy.

Write up done for Darin by Mick , probably not the words he would use but hey ho .

Results in the series so far below

A windless morning that caused a bit of frustration for the OOD and skippers, the wind direction was unable to make its mind up for more than two minutes at a time and the strength, well there was no strength, hence only 6 races. but in any case 7 skippers showed up on this otherwise warm sunny day and had some decent racing, which is what it is all about, Micky boy got off to a good start winning the first with Dave R 180 not too far behind and Jen H 69 taking third spot, Dave took the next with Martyn in second spot, both overtaking Micky boy with 10 yards to go to the line when micky boy hit a large green carp of which there were plenty today just basking on the surface and Micky boy just stopped dead in the water. As I said we started with 7 skippers but before we started Mike W 76 realised he was not going to be able to continue and called it a day. Richard J 699 was not having the best of days and as he said himself he was making far to many mistakes, Sam P 59 got better as the morning wore on, but Martyn A 66 just pipped him on countback, but on the day Dave R 180 kept his cool and with a great series of races never being worse than second, took the day. The series seems to be suffering at the moment with lack of numbers but I am sure this will pick up soon. Many thanks to everybody who mucked in and got stuff put away, and for the manor it was sailed in perfect. Well done Dave .