IOM MDWCS Series Review

After last year’s MD IOMMDCS a few questions were raised about the series participation and how it was structured. It was noted that the average number of skippers participating in the events had reduced, and that the main concentration of clubs supporting the series by running and sending skippers to the away events was in the north of the District.

The series participation in the summer IOMMDCS & C also saw a slight fall in attendance, along with some comments about the average skipper not having a chance and that the racing system does not encourage the skippers to sail in every event. The series had been won after the third event due to the discard structure. So this is what generated the series structure review.

The original intention of the series was to provide district IOM sailing for the clubs and giving the club skipper a stepping stone into competitive yacht racing. By asking MD clubs to host an event we get the chance to sail at other venues and this in turn supports their club activities.

Earlier this year a few skippers gave me their thoughts on the series structure and having reviewed them we came up with 4 options for discussion.

Prior to the formal business of this year’s MYA Midland District AGM I proposed a change to the Deed of Gift for the “Gibbs Trophy” which is sailed for by MYA MD club skippers as the basis of the winter IOM series. A short discussion followed and the IOM skippers in attendance were generally in favour of option 4. (MHSRS).

Thus, I think that a trial of MHSRS for this winter’s IOMMDWCS will be the ideal opportunity to let host clubs and skippers become familiar with the system, a further review at the end of the series will be undertaken prior to making any changes to future series.

A short explanation of how the new structure works is detailed below.

The basis of the MHSRS system is that the complete series will be run as a Single Race, with several heats run at different locations, each heat will be transferred from the race results into the overall skipper position spreadsheet, and as the series progresses the number of heats counting will be equal to 80% of those sailed. This allows for discards, and they can be from a single event or from your worst scores in a series of events if you have sailed more than the minimum required. This encourages series participation, whilst still allowing for you to miss an event and win the overall title through great sailing in the other heats.

This new series structure will not add to the host club event race management workload, the host club just runs the event using the MYA SSI’s and HMS as normal and then sends a full copy of the HMS after the event to the MD RATS (Race Assistance Team Support) who will add the results into the spreadsheet and post on to the IOMMDCS website.

The host race team will have their efforts recognised by them being awarded points equal to their average of the events they raced in.

Why not run an event as part of your club series, all you have to do is separate your club sailor’s positions from the final results to use in your series.

This saves Midland District IOM date clashes and you will have support in running your event from others experianced skippers.

The updated Deed of Gift for the “Gibbs Trophy” has been posted under the About Tab.

There is also an example of the new scoring spreadsheet posted under the Results tab, it features the results from last summer’s IOMMDCS & C.

IOMMDCS Trustee.