2025 IOMMDCS&C R1 Bournville RS&MBC Results.
I turned up at Bournville lake at 8:20am to see that the lake was perfectly still, and my first thought was that we were in for a difficult day, but the sun was out, and it felt like perhaps spring had arrived after what had been a cold wet winter.
The initial entry had been 21 but due to a few cancellations we actually booked in 15 skippers, and so our PRO Graham Robinson announced that we would race as a single fleet. It was good to see old friends again with perhaps Robbie McIntosh being the furthest travelled. Lincoln RSC also had a few entrants, and it was good to see them supporting the series.
A few skippers ventured out onto the lake for a test sail and whilst things were still calm at least the yachts were moving, and we were going to get a race. Graham R and his team John Ind, Peter Court and Ian Green set out a course that would have everyone starting across the pool as the zephyrs were from the SSE direction through the carpark. From there he sent them down the lake on a diagonal course to tack back across the club house side, and finally up to the start area for the finish line. By the time that a change in the course was made we had got three races in with Chris Harris sailing a Forkilo taking two wins and Rob Wilson taking the other.
Darin Ballington was sailing a Cockatoo which could have been twenty years old, and when I asked him about it, he said that he had recently refitted it and wanted to see how it went. Well with two second places in the first three races I would say not too bad.
We took a break for a brew and biscuits and resumed sailing around 11:20am with the water now showing some disturbance on the surface around the middle of the pool, the wind having backed to SSW. It was not quite the time to change the start line but that was certainly a consideration. If you got into the slight breeze and made a gap between you and the others fairly large advantages could and indeed were made, so the fleet were quite well spread out at times.
Eventually the breeze settled into a more westerly direction which enabled Graham R to move the whole course and start line down to the easterly end of the pool, allowing for a more conventional beat and run type course. The wind was now across most of the surface, but there were still holes that could easily catch you out. Typical Bournville conditions and one of the challenges you should try. An inland park venue is completely different than some of the larger venues that we sail on.
Graham and the team called lunch around 12:45 after having completed 8 races, which considering the conditions at the start of the day was excellent going. Stephen Hodgkinson had been out and collected a couple of trays of sandwiches for lunch as part of the race entry fee.
It was now a lovely warm sunny afternoon, and the conditions were ideal so with the co-operation of the skippers Graham managed to keep things moving along nicely, and he completed a further 8 races just before 16:00. Scores were calculated and the prize giving was held in the club house where Stephen Hodgkinson did the presentation.
The result was Chris Harris in first place with 32 points, 2nd was John Burgoine with 50 points and 3rd after a tie break was Darin Ballington on 51 points.
A full set of results are here: 2025IOMMDCS&CR1BournvilleRSC
It was nice to see quite a lot of Bournville RS&MBC members come down to the pool and watch the proceedings, next time lads bring yachts and join in.
A piece of news that was told to me by Vic Bellerson is that both the Bournville RS&MBC club house and pool are now Grade Two listed. That should be really good news for the future of the facility.
The next event in the IOMMDCS&C will be at Lincoln RSC on 21st April as part of the MYA IOM National Championship. Midland District club skippers’ positions will be copied across from the National result and used in our district series. So, if you have not got your entry in do so quickly.
Pictures by Bill Green & Gordon Sears.
