Following on from the success of the IOM pop up events held at Lincoln Radio Sailing Club, the Midland District has agreed to trial a new format for the 2025-26 IOM winter series.

What’s different?
Well, all rounds will be hosted by the Lincoln Radio Sailing Club (LRSC) and held at the Scotland Farm Lake near Lincoln for a start. Also the race team will be made up of club members who will be sailing as well, with one of the more experienced skippers being assigned as Race Officer for the day.

It is hoped that this trial will encourage further clubs to get involved in the future, with the organisational load being shared amongst the skippers and giving other clubs the confidence to offer their lake.
The series will be about fresh air and sailing over the winter months and we welcome any MYA member, from any district, and all abilities. As with every visit to LRSC a warm welcome will be assured and experienced skippers will be on hand to give any help required.

The dates below have been compiled to coincide with LRSC IOM race days and to avoid the Northern District IOM series dates, hopefully encouraging skippers to travel.

The racing format will be standard across the series:
– 9.45am briefing, 10.00am start, with no race to start after 3.30pm.
– The urn will be on for hot drinks (bring your own cup) and entry will be £5.00 per head.
– Prizes will be token, as the reward will be the fresh air and friendship.
– Entry will be via the MYA online entry system with payment on the day.
– Series scores will be kept by the MD and published on the MD website.

Dates:
Rd1 – Oct 2025 –(already held)
Rd 2 – Sunday 16th Nov 2025
Rd 3 – Sunday 4th Jan 2026
Rd 4 – Sunday 15th Feb 2026 (Micky C’s Big Birthday Bash- possibly cake available!)
Rd 5 – Sunday 15th March 2026

More details and the Notice of Race can be found here: IOM Midland District Pop-up Events

Also:
Keep an eye out on the Midland District website for other IOM events being hosted by district clubs over the winter months, plus the MYA calendar for IOM Open meetings around the country.

Date for the diary: Midland District Champion Skipper Round 1- March 8th 2026 to be hosted by Bournville RS&MBC

Report by Sam Parker

Sunday 26th October dawned with the sun shining and if you were lucky a frost to make everything look all wintery. Today marked the start of the DF65 winter series, your OOD Sam arrived early to prepare, adjusted a few buoys, and set the course on the south bank.

At the start of racing, six competitors had signed up, including new member Ron Austin, who bought both a DF65 and a DF95 with him and left Scotland Farm smiling having had a great day’s sailing. The consensus was that it was a B rig day which is what we all set off with apart from Ron who only had his A rig with him.

The first race was a straight up and down beat/run but by the time the second race of eleven was due to start the wind was starting to veer so a dog leg was put in to give two beats and a good run back toward the clubhouse, this course being used for the remainder of the day, Many thanks must go to Martin who aided in mark movements for me and advice along the way.

Getting onto the racing it was Jen who in nearly every race got to the windward mark first and put in some sterling results to finish 3rd overall, but it was Martin who, with six wins took line honors with Mick a very close second on the day. The overall positions and points however cannot describe how close the racing was and barring the rain coming along for the last two races it was all very good-natured and great fun was had by all.

Many thanks must go to everyone, who helped to put the equipment away at the end of the day even though by now the rain was quiet heavy.

Thanks Sam

Another good day at the Farm , and after the High pressure and non events around the country last weekend , this was a welcome surprise, 12 skippers arrived , and Darin took charge, and got the buoys sorted to get a good beat and run course on the South bank. Rob Wilson got of to a flying start and took the bullets on the first three races the first had Micky boy 46 ,2nd and Mick Cooper 39 3rdm,, the second race had had Pete W 65 and Roger C 30 , the breeze being about 70 % of top suit but was pretty fluky and slightly one sided, and you could quite easily get caught out, 5 races and then we had coffee and some delightful cake care of Jen 69 not sure of the occasion but was very tasty , Race 6 commenced and was won by Darin with his spare Pikanto, the second of his three wins on the day, Tim after a fantastic weekend at the ranking was not going to well and I broached the subject, probably should have kept quiet but hey ho its what these youngsters do now and again, he did win race 9 but he knows he should have done better. We saw some great racing during the morning in the best competitive spirit all watched over by our latest new member Ron who said afterwards , that it was fantastic racing, and so Rob was on good form and took the days win with four first places Darin 2nd with three wins and Pete Micky boy and Tim taking one win each, well done Rob you deserved it, great day as usual and the stand in OOD did us proud.

RG65 TT Series Round 13 Lincoln 4th October 2025

As the named ‘Storm Amy’ approached the UK toward the weekend, there was some concern that the planned events at Lincoln may not take place. However, 12 entrants arrived for the RG65 event on Saturday to an improved forecast and they enjoyed a truly excellent day of sailing in strong winds that topped 30 mph at times. These small boats really showed their versatility in the conditions.

The Lincoln race team of Martyn Aspinall (PRO), Jen Hand and Pete Walters were well prepared with Pete having set courses on the South and East banks in preparation for the anticipated change in wind direction. Racing commenced on the East bank with a 2.5 lap course taking around 11 minutes per race.

After a retirement in race one (which was won by Alan Bennett), John T got to grips with the conditions and scored 3 successive wins. The remaining wins of the day were shared between John T, Toby, Alan and Peter.

The wind frequently swung to a more Northerly direction for periods of time during the racing. This provided great opportunities for positional changes and required an inventive approach to the start line which was selected from various buoys and poles on the bank/jetty and frequently changed between races. The wind eventually did eventually take a more Northerly direction and the final 2 races were conducted on the South bank.

A key factor to success for the skippers was maintaining boat functionality. The attrition rate was high (on boats and competitors) with only 6 boats from the initial 12 being launched for the final race and 5 finishing. Only 2 boats completed all the races without retirement.

At race 14, the event was wide open to winning by the leading three skippers. Alan suffered his fourth retirement in this race however, which scuppered his victory chances. Although Toby maintained his consistently good result record for the final 3 races, John T took 2 wins to take the day on count back from Toby. Congratulations John, hard luck Toby!

Many thanks go to the competitors for turning up on such an off-putting forecast and to Chris for his enthusiasm that ’the boats would cope’. Thank you to Jen for braving the elements as scorer and inputting the results to HMS. Thanks also go to Peter for his invaluable rescue boat handling skills which were tested as he pro-actively moved buoys and collected disabled boats in the strong winds. The day was a great success ….. and we remained dry!

Author: Martyn Aspinall