Lincoln RSC IOMMDWCS R5 31st March 2019 Race Report.
After an excellent week’s weather for early March we arrived at Scotland Farm to a slightly grey start and a swinging easterly breeze, and Mick Chamberlain in the club boat setting a new course.
Some of the early arrivals had gathered around the club house and were getting stuck into the excellent bacon butties and coffee. Once feed a few skippers had rigged their boats and were out on the lake testing, it looked like a good top suit breeze with a long windward beat in the offing.
This was appreciated by the race committee as they had decided to run the entry as a single fleet, we initially had 20 pre-entered but only 18 were signed in ready for the briefing.
The briefing started on time, but the wind had moved more round to the east, so Mick made the decision to quickly reset the operating bank to the other side, this meant another trip in the boat to reset the start line. This done we were underway at 10:10am, with the bank side flag fluttering nicely. The course was a long windward beat, a short hitch and then a run to the leeward gate, two laps and a final half leg beat to the finish line. It quickly became obvious that the wind had once again shifted more to the north east and so the starboard tack was favoured, this lead to a close race between Darin (98) and David A (111) who quickly spotted the shift and so they broke away from the pack to have a race long battle, leading the pack by the line was Graham (16).
Mick decided we would stay with the same course for race 2 and then make the change, once again both Darin (98) and David A (111) were at the front of the fleet this time followed closely by Chris M (17) and Dave D (135). Once all boats were off the water, we all decamped back to the bank where the cars were parked, and Mick was once again in the boat. He set a new course that had a shorter beat and then a broad reach before a further beat. This allowed him to establish a steeper angle on the second windward leg whilst keeping the start line relatively close to the bank.
The wind was slightly stronger now and the top boats were pulling clear of the fleet by good boat handling and better speed, so the difference between the fleet grew to almost a leg sometimes.
Whilst walking the bank I spotted some new faces and so it was good to see a couple of the home club sailors getting their first experience of the IOMMDWCS series. There was also a couple of spectators who stayed most of the day watching and gaining an understanding of the racing, lets hope they take it up and join in with the Midland District IOM sailing.
Race 4 saw Rob (97) get his act together after two unusual 10th placed scores in the first two races he got the top spot, with Darin (98) and David H (11) chasing him hard. A local sailor Chaz (99) then reported a problem with his winch and this ended his racing for the day.
The next race saw a split off the start line where half the fleet tacked onto port and went towards the bank whilst the others stayed on starboard chasing the stronger wind out in the lake. With the longer windward course it allowed you to recover from an average start, so who got to the windward mark first? I am pleased to say neither it was a good mix of the shorter route on port mixed with the longer faster starboard tack that mixed at the mark. Rob (97) was now on it getting a second win.
Mick called a short break for tea, which allowed everyone to check their boats over. The wind had settled down and the sun had started to break through.
Racing continued at a steady pace, and we completed 7 races by lunchtime, even with a big course.
During the lunch break Mick called everyone together for the Scotto, local lotto draw, we had purchased tickets at the booking in and Gordon was asked to draw out the winning tile. Out came number 9 and the winner was Bill McPhee who got £25.00.
The finish line team and scorer then put totals into the computer, whilst the bacon was being cooked. Do you know how hard it is to sit next to frying bacon whilst you are outside working?
Lunch was obviously good for Darin despite his time being taken helping others get the best from their boat by helping with the trim, as he then went on a run of 6 straight race wins. Rob (97) was also putting in consistent race finishes and so was David H (11) and John S (43) this allowed them to pull away from the pack to fight for the top four places.
So, having completed 14 races by 16:00, we gathered together for the prize giving. After a short speech saying thank you to all the Lincoln volunteers, which were applauded by the skippers the prizes were presented, Darin the clear winner followed by Rob and then a tie break for third between David H and John S which the HMS computer scoring system broke in favour of Dave. This was his first visit to our IOMMDWCS series, and he had come up from Chelmsford RYC, so good to see you and congratulations.
Mick says “another good day’s sailing at Scotland farm” For a full set of Lincolns RSC R5 results click here: IOM MDWCS 5
Thanks to Mick and the gang and they have offered to run an event again next season.
Now to the overall series results.
So, after 5 rounds of MD IOM winter Champion Skipper 18-19 events we had 41 different skippers attending at least one meeting, whilst two skippers (David Alston and Roy Johnson) sailed all 74 races available, congratulations to them for supporting the series.
5 skippers sailed more than the minimum counting races and so were eligible for race discards, and now all rounds have been completed they have been applied to the series scores.
The new IOMMDWCS 2018-19 is Rob Wilson of the Leicestershire RYC, who sailed 64 races and so got 5 race discards which were made up from his non-attendance at the Bournville RS&MBC event and good sailing at the other events. His race average was 4.14 per race start.
So many congratulation Rob, and we will be presenting the IOMMDWCS shield at Manor Park RSC on 14th April, so get your entry in now to challenge him at the summer series.
We have a summary result for the series here: IOMMDWCS 18-19 Final results pdf
And a full Excel worksheet here so you can check how you did at every event here: IOMMDWCS 18-19 Final results with discards protected