2023 IOMMDWCS R1 Bournville RS&MBC Results

Yesterday we managed to get the rescheduled Bournville RS&MBC round of this year’s IOMMDWCS event completed. Initially there were 26 confirmed entries but for one reason or another we had 19 book in. The forecast in the early part of the week was showing that it would be a light wind event what with a high pressure system sitting over the whole country, and with Bournville being almost right in the middle that is what we got.  Bill Green the (PRO) and Stephen H had indicated that what wind there was would be from the SSW direction and so the course would have to be set so that the first beat would be across the pool. This made it very ifficult to try to put all boats on as a single fleet, so the race team agreed that it would be best to use two fleets. This turned out to be a good decision as it gave the skippers more room on the start line and reduced the number of incidents, this was helped by the fact that with access for the skipper to the top end of the pool meant that you were close to your boat at the start.

Bill called the skippers together at 9:50 for the briefing and said that he would run the seeding heats on a short course to see how things went. The first seeding race was won by Graham Robinson, and the second by Darin Ballington. Whilst the heat board was being updated Bill noticed that the breeze was also filling in down the far end of the pool and so he announced a course change for race two, this would see the fleet zig zag across the pool three times giving several tight beats. Racing continued like this for the rest of the day. Bournville members helped out all day with start and finish line duties and observers, so the other heat could get a hot drink and biscuits and cake. The temperature was 8C but at times it felt colder and so a coffee break was appreciated. We had completed race 5B then Bill called a lunch break where everyone gathered in the club house and were asking me for the scores so far. At this stage Darin B had 3 wins sailing his old Widget, the other win going to John Burgoine sailing his K2, John B then got his second win straight after lunch, with Tracey B getting a third place in that race, they obviously had a good lunch. Dorian Crease, Craig Richards and Rob Wilson were also placing high in each race so it was getting tight for the top five order.

Having completed 8 races Bill said that the 9th would be the last for the day, at the end of race 8 the scores were 13, 14, & 14 points for the top three places so it would come down to the final race. Darin B got away at the front of the fleet and brought it home in first, then Dorian C finished 7th and Craig R finished 5th so it was now down to discards between them. See the final score sheet here for all the placings. 2023 IOMMDWCS R1 Bournville race 9 The series scores are here: 22-23 IOMMDWCS Skippers 13-2-2023

Bill Green called the skippers together in the club house for the prize presentation, with top place bing Darin Ballington who was presented with a Mercedes Benz picnic hamper and a few beers to go in it. Dorian, Craig, John B, and Rob W got bottles of wine. In fact everyone who attended was a winner today as we had a good event in what could have been difficult conditions, along with biscuits, cake and coffee with friends what more would you need on a Sunday.

Bill G, thanked Stephen H, Mark D, Lisa, Vic B, Barry and Anne  for all their help during the day, and the skippers for making the PRO duty reasonably easy by their rule observance and good grace.

The final round of the IOM Midland District Winter Champion Skipper will be at Manor Park RSC on Saturday 4th March. The NOR has already been published and the MYA race entry system is open.