SimonCornes

Thank you Lester. Firstly this boat hasn't been measured. Originally I was thinking of taking a hacksaw to the boat to remove a piece maybe 4- 5cm long and at least 13mm at deck level and roughly following the taper of the profile to make a mould for bath silicone. Using a rubber 'power ball' might be a much easier way to achieve the same effect without touching the hull and I have see that kind of thing on 6's and A's from time to time. I do feel though that having a bumper of some sort is pretty much an essential to be properly sociably responsible when sailing with others, irrespective of class rules.

Work proceeds on this boat at a snails pace but I have a question to ask about bow bumpers. This boat doesn’t have one - just hard, cold white fibreglass. In theory it should have a bumper made from an elastomeric material which in my book is bath silicon or carved from a flip flop but I wondered if a hollowed out squash ball held on with dynema would be acceptable? If so, would you unhook it for measurement purposes and then use said dynema ‘bridle’ to hold it over the very pointy bow?? Many thanks Simon

Thank you John

Thank you Wayne. I wonder how many people who race every week were wondering?? I suppose those aiming for the leeward side of the start line are automatically always ‘safe’ ?!!!🤣😂

Simple question— where is the start line? My initial thought was the leeward side of the buoys on the water marking the ends of the line, not a mark on the far shore or on the shoreline used by the skippers or observers. Someone recently suggested the centreline of the two buoys but I googled it today and Google AI says the windward side of the two start line limit buoys and I’m inclined to believe this but we know AI can be a very convincing liar!!

Thank you for your suggestions. I’m currently emailing K7 to see how much we’re talking. My quibble with RMG is the open nature of the winch - I like things in boxes or pots - but I know they work perfectly well!

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

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!

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?

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.

I guess they're trying their best at Datchet but it is a bit frustrating! On FB I've asked if they can indicate when the video might be available? If it was 5pm every day we'd know what to do!

Robert, look for https://www.iomworlds2026.com and take it from there!

I read a short while ago on the MYA Downwind FB page that the intention now was not to live stream but to show a recording of each race as soon as possible after it was finished. 4 fleets I believe so as the first race started at 10am then you would think that all 4 heats would have been sailed by now but no video yet. Maybe they're all in the protest tent after heat 2 ? !!

Nothing 'live' yet! If you got onto Facebook and search for IOM World Championship 2026 you will get about 2 minutes of recorded 'testing' before the boats are called off the water prior to the first seeding race starting at 10am. Nothing 'live' after that so far and the YouTube channel currently shows 'No Content'. I had heard that there might be a 'highlights' show later in the day at some point rather than live video but your guess is as good as mine!