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Outside-in gate at the windward mark - by John Ball Thanks and congratulations to the sailors, IOMICA, MYA, and the volunteers who put on a great show at the 2026 IOM World Championship at Datchet Water, UK. The windward mark. Initially, we saw the conventional windward mark with an offset, but many boats arrived together, on both starboard and port tacks and there were many incidents. The RC switched to an outside-in windward gate. The outside-in gate has one big advantage – it usually splits the fleet over the two marks, reducing congestion, but it also has one big disadvantage – there is no longer an offset mark to separate the boats rounding and bearing away from the boats still approaching each mark. Look at the diagram, below. Boats rounding the right-hand mark – mark to port, is quite conventional, with the proviso that while the boat bearing way is on stbd and has ROW over an approaching port tack boat, the stbd tack boat is subject to R 16.1 as she alters course. Green cannot just turn down and interfere with Blue. As they are on different legs, R 23.2 also applies, and the ROW boat is not interfering IF she is sailing her proper course. Boats rounding the left-hand mark – mark to stbd, has all the issues of a stbd rounding – see my web site https://sites.google.com/site/johnsrcsailingrulesandtactics/ and Chapter 3 bonus item – ‘Weather Mark – the ‘Dreaded Marks to Stbd’, but with no offset, they have the additional problem that they are on port and as they bear away to the run, have to stay clear of any approaching stbd tack boats. Yellow has to stay clear of Pale Blue. As they are on different legs, R 23.2 also applies, and the ROW boat is not interfering IF she is sailing her proper course. John

I have an Alioth with a Revolution winch. It’s been great for 12 months but yesterday I switched the boat on and the winch was s..l..o..w !!! I had a bit of a fiddle as the sheeting had moved out of its normal range so the sails weren’t fully in . No joy with altering the end point on the TX and now the winch doesn’t move at all! I’m hoping it’s fixable and I know a man who can, maybe, but if it has gone to join the winches in the sky, what do I replace it with ? RMG 280? Red Ant Stinger? Chinese winches don’t seem to be an option as my iPhone refuses to accept SMS from Ali Express so an S100 isn’t an option!! I know Bill G is the agent for RMG but is there a U.K. agent for Red Ant? Or can you something better?? Many thanks Simon

Now that coverage seems to be established on the edit and publish later model, I think It’s important to mention the quality of the pictures and especially Nigel Barrow’s commentary. This has been informative, analytical, entertaining and engaging throughout - well done, we have benefitted from your disappointment in not getting into the championships - better luck next time.

Mark I will take them, please keep aside for me. Can we PM each other tomorrow to sort out the finer details. Regards JT

Two Futaba T6J handsets with bound receivers R2006GS and supporting instruction manuals. Happy to sell as a pair or separately (discount for 2) Note: One has a missing spring in battery section (probably easy fix)….. so will provide a power pack for that one. Mark.rose47@btinternet.com Aiming 70 each Ono

Ned 1 Classic IOM Great starter boat Comes with No1 rig No2 rig Sail bag Various new bit fitted No certificate Stand not included £165 Contact Chris 07766651066 Boat in Poole Dorset

Yellow Spanish built hull with 1,2&3 rigs, BG Sails. Stand & Rig Box. Regular winner at Frensham before I bought it Late 2024. Little used since. Complete less radio. £1500 ono Paul Tickner 07818 413515 Little used Grunge RM and Defector 10R also available

Many thanks John

They indicate the age category of the entrants and their eligibility for prizes in those categories. As listed in the NoR the category are as follows: U26 (under 26) Open OP (26 - 55) Master M (56 - 65) Grand Master GM (66 – 70) Great Grand Master GGM (71 – 75) Legend L (76– 80) Fantastic Legend FL (above 81).

Whatever it is you have made a great job of the restoration.

It would be nice if the camera control switched to cover the front boats - we get left watching back markers round a mark while Nigel's commentary has moved way down the course. Just watched Race 6 - much better tracking of the lead boats John

I think it is a Triple Crown. Flare at the bow, and max beam aft of the middle of the boat. John

Can anyone identify the maker and name of the yacht I've been gifted.I have restored the model from very poor condition to very nice.One local member has suggested it to be a Dave Creed design. Would like to know any details/year etc. Thankyou.

Selling a swap out white hull for DF65 £45 Also an A set of Joysway sails £25. Call or text if interested: 07508 331155

I have a DF95 Hull only used a few times. It’s in great condition. It’s a white hull with Red decals. £65 Also a joysway A set of sails £35 and C set of sails £30. Text me if you want any of these. 07508 331155

On the results HSM spreadsheet there is a column titled CAT. What do the various entries stand for? Thanks John

In some DF95 Opens I've sailed in, accidental contacts with marks too far away to judge were permitted although contacts between boats were not but then, at that distance, it's one opinion against another!

Results are https://www.iomworlds2026.com/results/ Nigel Barrow is compering the videos (with a few hours delay for upload) on YouTube, he's doing a good job of covering the progressions as they happen. Mark Jardine seems to be giving lots of mentions on Y&Y website - quite a bit of kudos i reckon, for a 'big boat' site to be giving our sport big coverage

I see the windward mark spinning quite a bit, without signs of subsequent penalty turn. But that's with benefit of camera zoom - no idea how skippers/observers can tell, esp. from fairly restricted/fixed angle of view. (Is/was there a dinghy class which stopped bothering with touching a mark being an infringement..?)

I have seen/heard a couple of references to a daily report of the event. Can't see any link to it on the IOM 2026 page. Anyone know if it exits/where it might be?

I imagine it's a limited control area for skippers and observers - observers should not be in a better position to view marks than skippers. Its a big course mind you - judging some of those windward marks and trying to lay them on a starboard tack from far out must be very difficult, mind you the starts are pretty frantic to! What struck me was that we had the benefit of cameras which probably gave us much better images of what was going on at marks and the film showed an awful lot of barging and windward boats leaning on leeward boats! Maybe the course is just too far out?

How close to the windward mark for the skippers, observers and umpires? Is there a long control area, or a fixed position? John

I watched all of the seeding races and then only the A fleet races for races 2 and 3 as life is too short! The impression I got was that they would upload races on later days as soon as they could but it must have been a good 3 1/2 hours if you'd watched all of yesterday ! I also noted that they said that the couldn't afford the live streaming that the Australians had managed due to the exorbitant cost in the UK which is a sad reflection on how we pay through the nose for everything! I don't blame the MYA for being sensible.

So nothing else so far..,

When we eventually got it, terrific video and extremely good commentary (well done Nigel). I look forward to seeing more. Any chance of drones or are we too close to LHR?