ND Final Round and Overall Results
Well, the winter series got off to a windless start last November at the Blue Lagoon, followed by a tricky day at Birkenhead but the final round on February 11th delivered almost perfect racing conditions and long windward/leeward courses. The initial entry of 22 boats dwindled to 19 by the time the warning signal sounded for the first race. Racing as a single fleet the startling was busy but the fleet were enjoying mid range A rig conditions, it was tight at the front with Darin Ballington taking the first race with his new Britpop from Rob Walsh. This clearly spurred Rob on to greater things taking the next four races in a row with Darin not far behind. Peter Baldwin was never far adrift of these two despite suffering a ‘mechanical’ in race 4. The wind had been building steadily throughout the morning and it was clear that a change down to B rig was necessary, so the Race Officer called an early lunch break for the rig change and a chance to warm up.
Whatever Darin had for lunch clearly agreed with him, scoring three wins in the next four races, a run that was only interrupted by Peter Baldwin showing great speed to win race 8. At this point Darin and Rob were tied on points at the top. During a short tea break Rob did a bit of rig ‘tweaking’ and came back flying to win the next four races in fully powered up B rig conditions. The final race of the day saw these top three skippers fighting it out for the honour of winning the last race, and it was a close one, Darin took the win from Peter and Rob to end a day of superb racing for competitors and spectators alike.
Consistent sailing from Derek Priestley(and co-skipper Shaun), Gary Parkin and Simon Fairman filled the next three places overall.
So, Rob won the day and with it, the 2023/4 Northern District IOM Series. The Markland trophy is his again to keep polished until next winter. Until then we are all looking forward to some warmer weather racing. Thank you to all the clubs and volunteers who have made it such a successful series.”
Keighley Results – IOM_winter_series_round_5
Series overall results – ND WINTER SERIES 2023-2024 FINAL V2
