IOMMDCS & C 2018 R3 Watermead MBC Race Report.

In the run up to this event there were a lot of other distractions not least was bank holiday weekend and family duties, some of the MD skippers were over in Germany for the RM worlds, and then the weather forecast looked horrible. So, the entry was down from the normal levels.

10:00am Clive Bardell (PRO) called the skippers together for the briefing explaining the local restrictions and facilities and that no race would start after 16:00. The initial course was going to be a triangle and sausage with a leeward gate. The first race completed Clive decided to move the leeward gate slightly to accommodate some scale model boaters who were part of the entertainment in the park. There was a fun fair going on nearby, so we were entertained by music and fair rides all day.

Gordon (ARO) ran race 2 & 3 with a slight delay to the start of R2 as David Hope had caught his fin around the port end start mark. The fleet started on starboard then tacked on to a long leg to windward, before rounding to port and down to a spreader mark, then down to the leeward gate.

Gordon ran race 4 & 5 before the first coffee break. The weather was getting warmer and the breeze a light easterly, a lot better than the forecast predicted. The first windward beat was almost in drifting conditions, but the top boats were still the first to the mark. On the off-wind leg, it was close between Mike Kemp (37) and Rob Wilson (97) with John Howell (78) and Steve Haywood (57) breaking away from the fleet to get 3^rd and 4^th respectively.

Race 9 just before lunch started in a very light easterly, Chris Cook (48) having made a small adjustment to his jib setting raced to the windward buoy with the leaders only dropping back slightly to come second behind Rob at the end of the race, one of his best races in the day.

Race 11, the wind filled in a little and we had a good shifty wind to work with and John Howell lifting on starboard covering the fleet to reach the mark first, Mike Kemp had also had a good windward leg and was on his tail to the spreader mark. Rob shading Mike for second at the end but he could not get close enough to John who scored his second race win of the day.

Race 14 and the wind had filled in slightly from the NE, so the race team were talking about a course change, the problem was that now the wind was almost directly in our faces the start line would need to be parallel with the control bank. After a short briefing to explain the course changes we ran the final races on the changed course. It was not easy for either the skippers or race management to see along the line apart from on the larger landing stage, and so we thank the skippers for their co-operation in working with these changes. It did however produce a far better windward leg with a lot more tacking required to reach the top mark.

Race 19 was to be the last mostly due to the light winds returning, and we were getting close to the cut off time, Steve Haywood dealing with the conditions best with a race win that included lapping a couple of the boats at the back of the fleet.

Gordon, putting the scores onto HMS whilst the skippers and race team started the pack away, Clive (PRO) then called everyone together in the main carpark for the prize giving, with the top place going to Rob Wilson with an overall score of 29 points from 19 races.

A full set of results are here: IOMMDCS 2018 R3 Watermead Final Results

For the series results showing both skippers and club positions go to the “MD IOM Champion Skipper Series” tab and click on Results drop down menu.

Clive then thanked the Watermead team for race management and wished everyone a safe trip home. This turned out to be quite prophetic as on the way north we ran into a huge storm that bought motorway traffic down to 20mph, conditions in the Midlands being a lot worse than we had all day at Watermead MDC.

Watermead MBC are the hosts for the MYA IOM Veteran Championship over the 2^nd/3^rd of June 2018.