Darin Ballington

I was at both events and personally favour an in/out gate with a set of spreader clearing marks. If we are honest, all options can create issues due to the control area and its proximity to the marks of the course with the prevailing wind direction. This is one of the limitations of our discipline. The higher the level of competition the more that the windward marks become an issue, the boats and skippers tend to be matched more equally and the competitive spirit higher, leading to more skippers arriving at the same time and more carnage and frustrations. We all know the issues and all fall foul of a misjudged lay line and the resultant pile ups, although never our fault!! If correct then the windward gate should reduce this by offering two options splitting the fleet, however as we know the gate tends to be used when the course setting is not easy so getting a fair split becomes difficult. To minimise the unequal gate they are usually placed closer together which then pushes more of the problem to leaving the mark. IMO the clearing mark option with an In/Out gives a further option to split the fleet equally as these can be offset to allow the gate itself to be within a visible range, and using the clearing mark to create a more equal next leg of the course. Pierre and team did this very well in France IMO and is the option I try to use when setting a course in difficult conditions, although it does then require more vigilance by skippers and race team to police.

Action starts on Sunday 17th, with build up on site from today. All the results, reports and media can be found via the event website. www.iomworlds2026.com

Hi Colin, the rankings have stood the test of time and work well. The recent “tweak” is just a blip and just needs a readjustment to bring it back inline.

As has been said, I think the principle is correct, the numbers are probably slightly off. It should also be noted that the actual ranking regulations can be amended easily, however the software to implement this has been in existence for a long time now and even a simple change like doubling the points has taken longer to record than was anticipated due to its complexity, hence why the 2026 ranking positions have only just been published. Any change that is considered requires either a simple solution, like Brad's option 3, or will require a complete rewrite of the software. Obviously there will be plenty of people who say "that's easy" but they will also have to follow up on their words... If we can agree on the weighting it can be introduced for 2027.

And I would anticipate that a sailmaker who makes a sail that is out of "spec" will offer to rectify- like any other business. That is different to have a certification mark on the sails. IMO it is a difficult subject where we either want to play by the "big boy" rules or we do our own thing, however it cannot be right to pick and choose which rules you adopt. I think the convention - certainly in the clubs I am a member of, is that measurers will offer the service to club members for free but may charge (usually donated to the club) for the non members.

Hi John, Give me a nudge on Sunday, I have a sheet of material that you can cut a couple of lid spacers out of in my gear. Darin

A straight plug connection is the easiest if you have a pot. Just make sure you “twitch” the rudder before launching to check you’ve plugged it in!

I’m sure that if you worded your enquiry appropriately and requested that any advice be posted on the MYA website that the TO would facilitate this. If you copy me in I will ensure that this is dealt with.

It’s not my place to advise this, but maybe a request for the Class/ MYA Tech Officer to ask the question of IOMICA would be useful. Graham doesn’t follow this forum so an email to him may be best.

Hi John, all good here in the frozen midlands! Well it did snow for a couple of hrs:) I think that you would need to ask the question of IOMICA but my take is that the rules are not changed by the 25 AGM at this time, and as long as the fitting complies with these then it’s still good.

Richard, who has informed you that it is illegal?

All good points, but they still need a paper copy at the finish line as a paper and pen can write the results down quicker when there are a bunch of boats finishing together.

Hi Stephen, You won’t go far wrong if you start with BG sails and design IOM rig setup guide and top tips. The MYA handbook for 2009 also has a good explanation of the basics as a great reference document. https://www.mya-uk.org.uk/kb/sail-trimming-before-going-afloat/ Each design has its own nuances but the basics of rig building and set up are common across all IOM. Once you have a rig set up that is constant and repeatable you can make changes and find the best results.

Having been caught out before, I always book accommodation with a refund option. Hopefully everything is ok for Woodspring.

Put a small triangle/ half circle of deck patch over the front of the pulley to allow the sheet to ride over the top.

The problem with rules diagrams is that they are rarely as clear cut as drawn. The diagram shown, which was fundamentally correct, does not show that the spreader was quite close to the shore, and the wind was gusting and swinging through 30/40 deg or so making the bear away inconsistent, boats were fanned in quite a large arc as they set up for the run. The other element that is missing in the information is that the windward boat bore away and hit the leeward boat as part of the spreader mark incident- hence the discussion about proper course. IMO, the 1st priority in the incident is for windward to keep clear and then protest leeward. (I'm sure that's what will happen in the future As important though is that if it went to a hearing the windward boat would need to persuade the hearing that leeward was not sailing their proper course. It not a cut and dry that you get to the spreader mark and immediately swing left or right to go the next mark for many reasons. Writing a procedure for rounding a spreader mark is just not that simple and as we know hearings are very unpredictable... Happy to be corrected

So, part of the problem is that too many people feel that redress is to be expected, and ask for it. At club level it is an easy way of diffusing a situation and in many cases at club/district level is just awarded to avoid delays or undue pressure on the volunteer race team.. This causes unrealistic expectation when moving to umpired events, where the umpires are there to consider and decide on unresolved incidents. Their major consideration is not the skippers standing around, it is in adjudicating on an incident to the best of their abilities. To bring it back to David's post, a jury will go back to the last known certainty. If the competitors and officials cannot establish any facts, then despite the entanglement they may not award redress. If the contact cannot be seen by the competitors or the officials then there is no certainty, so they go back to the previous known point, quite often this may be well before the two boats are even close to each other and any rules have not been switched on. The above is why the more experienced skippers will find a slot and defend this, both with their boat, and verbally (Politely!) alongside making sure that they can see their boat at all times.

Gordon, I think that in the previous version, if you were overlapping the windward start mark at the time of the start, the leeward boat had to give you room to pass the mark. Am I correct in this?

General interpretations, item 1 is very informative for judges. I think that too often they feel that a decision has to be made based on the rules, without taking into account the race course, conditions and circumstances. sometimes s… happens that no one can deal with.

Isn't the whole issue that in most instances of pile ups and frustrations at the windward mark it is because some/all/single skippers cannot judge the starboard lay line. The ensuing chaos is what causes frustration. This is not a rules issue but a course/skipper issue. Race management become wedded to port rounding as they feel that starboard rounding cause problems, but in many instances a starboard rounding closer to the control area is preferable.

As a confident person and having been introduced to radio sailing with observers from the start I enjoy the umpired events and observing in these events and have learnt a lot working with the umpires, but not every country or skipper is as confident and maybe more effort from IRSA should be put into education in this area.

“What has not been mentioned is the two recent International events mentioned were sailed from raised locked platforms over skippers walking a portion or the length of the course. These just ask for trouble, add undue expense and take skippers out of what they would normally experience. I appreciate they make some venues more suitable than otherwise but a course that can be walked have always been far better events in my experience, elevated or not.” It would be interesting to know the reasoning behind these decisions. I may be wrong but I get the impression that some of reasoning may be due to the increased video coverage?

BFD/UFD scoring are part of HMS/SHRS if sailing heats in radio sailing I think? If so the decision to change needs proposing for consideration. I don’t think it falls under the remit of WS/IRSA etc unless using A2 scoring without amendment. Might be wrong though 🤷

I feel that adding more rules is looking at the issues from the wrong end of the telescope. i have sailed at venues from Bournville to Datchet, West Kirby to Lake Garda and the rules have been consistent. The issue is not the rules, it’s the competitors. We can do a lot to help ourselves as a sport but until individual skippers step up and accept that they have infringed we wont change. It amazes me how many people (I include myself) leave no room for error at a distance mark leaving no way to deal with an issue. We all know those who come barrelling into an incident shouting “starboard” then complain when they get involved, almost as if they want to become entangled! We also know those who acknowledge their mistakes graciously, but also those whose pride does not appear to allow them to say “sorry, my fault”. Until we accept that clean racing is the quickest way around the racecourse we will be following the best across the finish line.

Great news that this long established club still has passionate members, I know there have been struggles over recent years but I hope this us the start of many more years of sailing on the lake.