IOM scratch racing from 23rd August

Today we had 8 skippers and boats come to the lake for IOM scratch racing.  We missed Mark Easton who is afflicted with "flu", Ray Silbereisen who was likely put off by the weather, Sean Wallis who is in QLD chasing a state title, plus Bill Fenwick and the Harrington blow-ins Lex and Jason Furnell.  Having a fleet of 8 despite these absences is most encouraging!  We welcomed Greg Reynolds for his first chance sailing IOMs using Graeme Elliott's BritPop.  We also welcomed David Jones, sailing a classic design from Ravenswood.  We nearly lost John Wade at the start when he had a transmitter model selection problem, but Phil encouraged him to stay and enlisted Lawrie's help to sort it out.  Thankfully Lawrie got the transmitter onto the right model and John stayed on.

We were met with overcast conditions and very light winds but conditions were comfortable and the rain waited until the end.  The forecast was for south / south-westerly "winds" of minimal strength so Lawrie arranged a course on the south side using the buoy bots.  There were no problems with the bots today.  As the winds freshened (well above the forecast) the bots seemed to hold better.  It seems they like to "lean into the wind".

 

Lawrie had scurried up a start box from Rosco which lasted 30 seconds into the first countdown then gave up for the day.  From then on we relied on Lawrie's smartphone playing a 60-second count-down, assisted by Lawrie yelling out the time increments.  Not ideal.  My appreciation to all sailors for putting up with this.  We made the best of it and there was no complaining.

 

Graeme Elliott was sailing his new Vickers V12, with gleaming deep blue hull and such new sails that he had to go with the default "00" identifier.  These fibreglass boats sure are eye candy!

 

The sheriff came out swinging as he always does, with his glossy red V12 zooming off for the win in Heat 1.  We noted a few times today that if Ian hit the lead, there was no catching him.  He won half the heats of the day but sometimes got bogged down in the bulk of the fleet, robbing him of consistency.  

 

Interestingly there was a good sharing of wins and podiums.  SHOUT OUT TO PHIL PLOWMAN who took third place in Heat 3.  This was no small feat given the flukey light winds at the start of the day and everyone being "fresh".  It is noted that Phil's attendances are the highest in all classes, so practise really does make progress.  John Wade also showed promise and achieved some mid-fleet finishes, so John is another one coming along.

 

Racing was mainly clean although up-and-comer Phil was involved in a couple of waltzes, one with Donks and one with Graeme Elliott.  The downwind dance with Graeme took both boats out of the heat as "DNFs".  It's OK, Phil!  More competitive racing means more chances for events like this.  Graeme got a redress which potentially finished him ahead of where he was otherwise coming, so you did him a favour! ?

 

David Jones showed he was a decent sailor, bringing his classic ride in mid-fleet on several occasions.  Very impressive considering this was in the company of two V12s and several other high-end designs.  It was suggested that the skipper and tuning are the largest determinants in boat speed, so it doesn't take the latest and greatest to win at this level.

 

On that note, Donks had an ever-improving day with his V8.  He missed heat 1 due to arriving late (travelling a long way to be at today's event) but he took 4 podiums in the last 5 heats, including 2 wins, showing his boat was plenty competitive.  At the end of the day, the two V12s were in the top 3, so the flash new boats sure seemed to work, or maybe it just spurred-on their skippers?  Graeme Elliott sailed very competitively all day and finished in the top 3 every single race (apart from his redress in the final heat).  The top 3 were all separated by just 2.3 points, so racing was very tight.  Lawrie staved off high-place finishes and his consistency was rewarded with the win overall from Ian Sherriff by just one point.  Lawrie was sailing a 3D printed Alioth V4 hull, so this is further proof that it doesn't take a moulded current design to win club racing.

 

Next event: Wednesday 26th August, DF95 handicap racing from 13:00.