The Isle of Man Yacht Club


IOMYC Regatta 2009

Report by Mick Kneale

The IOMYC 2009 regatta was sailed over the weekend of 18-19 July.
It turned out to be a dinghies only affair, with many cruisers away sailing and those remaining, showing little sign of enthusiasm except for Pete Ashurst’s “Red Shed” flying the flag.

Anyway, 21 dinghies enjoyed a cracking two sessions with the wind hovering around westerly both days. Saturday, the breeze was fresh for races one and two and during race three it swung 4 points right and fell away after the leaders’ first lap. Sunday, the breeze was light with occasional moderate patches but a lovely sunny day over a picturesque Carrick Bay.

RO Pete Hinds assisted by Russell Armstrong set an excellent selection of four windward/leeward and two P-courses from the Yellow Peril, managing to run races to suit the widely varying boat types like clockwork. Safety-boat crews in the two club RIBs were kept busy, especially on Saturday, with some boats breaking gear or crew getting tired in the testing conditions.
Interesting to note that asymmetrics won 4 out of the 6 races, the RS400 revelling in the heavier stuff and the 200s potent when it quietened down a bit.

Until Smiler and Tom broke the 400’s main outhaul in race 2, they really did look favourite.
The fleet was competitive right through the handicaps and the average corrected time difference between first and sixth was just 2 minutes – and only 74 seconds in race 4. How we ever managed before the average lap system came in is now unclear. Handicap racing doesn’t get much better than this – and a lot better than no racing at all!

The club was open all day Saturday (also entertaining members of the Castletown club with a BBQ lunchtime) and after racing, competitors and helpers were treated to a “regatta tea” provided by the club Social committee (after catering for the splendid Castletown visitors).

The BBQ and Social committee were in action again before the boats came ashore on Sunday - yet again operated by Commodore David Hill and his team of stokers to feed the ravenous sailors.
The full overall results are on the race sheet. Mick Kneale’s National 18, crewed by Phil Hardisty and Stu Brew (Kiwipedia) won the event by only one point from Smiler and Tom (RS400), with Angus Jolly and Connor Christian(RS200) making third. Best junior was Ali Hinds (11th overall) and best Laser Simon Pressly (4th overall). Well done to young Amy Shute who stuck it out to complete all six races in the relatively tiny RS Tera. It must have been daunting on the start line surrounded by much bigger, heavier and faster boats.