IOM Veterans National Championships th & 8 th May 2016 Hosted by Birkenhead RSPC

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Crystal Miles
5 years ago
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1 IOM Veterans National Championships th & 8 th May 2016 Hosted by Birkenhead RSPC The View from the B fleet. Four members of Team Killingworth travelled down to Birkenhead on Friday the 6 th May to take part in the IOM Veterans Nationals. The Team comprised Brian W Anderson, Simon Robinson, Roger Errington and John Hardisty. The latter two accompanied by their wives. Roger and his wife Pam stayed in a cottage in a little village on the West of the Wirral peninsular. The rest of the team roughed it in a Premier Inn at Bromborough which is about 12 to 15 minutes south of the lake at Birkenhead. Team members had different itineraries on the Friday so arrived at the hotel at different times, Simon visited Dave Creeds workshop on the way, The Holy Grail of IOM s. Roger set off in morning and arrived early enough to have an afternoon s practice session at the lake accompanied by about a dozen other skippers. Obviously some of these guys were taking this event very seriously. John H had played a round of golf in the morning before setting off so arrived at the hotel early on in the evening. Brian set off after lunch and visited the lake just to make sure of the route for next morning before traveling over to West Kirby to view the excellent sailing facilities there. Still not sure about sailing in salt water though. The lake is man-made and rectangular in shape which looked to be approximately 150 x 60 metres. Apparently it was constructed as part of a work creation scheme in or around Slightly less than waist deep it is ideal for setting out the course markers with easy access with waders. The club house is a large 1930 s building which was built to last with steel covers on all of the windows and doors and a substantial security fence all around the building to try and keep the local scallies out. Above the clubhouse door is a sign which reads:- Home of Champions. The following is not a heat by heat account as the heats went by in something of a blur but a flavour of the event. Saturday Day 1. We checked in at the club house and presented our IOM boat Certification papers. We also took the opportunity to check our boats on the scales as the organisers had indicated that they could do random weight check to ensure that all of the boats were legal , skippers briefing and the course was explained and the skippers were split into two seeding races which were posted on the heat board. A strong warning was issued to all skippers not to leave anything lying around unattended or visible inside the cars parked in the car park as the local scallies would have it away. The event had attracted 34 skippers so we would be sailing in two fleets. Officer of the day was Graham Elliot ably assisted by Brad Gibson and Martin Roberts along with other Birkenhead club members. With such illustrious and knowledgeable observers the skippers got away with nothing at all. Racing commenced with the seeding races and Brian was bumped into the B fleet, the other three were good enough to secure places in the A fleet. The wind was shifty throughout the day and varied wildly in strength to keep the skippers on their toes. The breeze died off later on in the afternoon, particularly approaching the finishing line where it was all too easy to be passed by a few boats only a few feet away. We are used to having a big calm area at the first mark and at the finishing line at Killingworth but it caught most of us out at some time during the weekend.

The Lake In race two Brian was unlucky to narrowly miss out on promotion to the A fleet by finishing in 5 th place only a few feet behind the 4 th place boat.

2 The Lake In race two Brian was unlucky to narrowly miss out on promotion to the A fleet by finishing in 5 th place only a few feet behind the 4 th place boat. The first 4 in the B fleet are promoted to the A fleet. Finishing in the bottom 4 in the A fleet will get you demoted to the B fleet for the next heat. With 20 in the B fleet racing was always going to be hectic and simply keeping out of trouble may have been the order of the day but achieving it was a true test of skill and nerve and often proved to be extremely difficult. A single penalty turn could easily cost 10 places in the fleet, tacking at the wrong time or getting headed in a gust could lose you 6 places. As one of the locals said, Beat the lake and you will beat the other boats. Birkenhead is a true test of the skippers ability. At the lunch break we enjoyed a buffet lunch of sandwiches and cake with tea or and coffee all part of the entry fee. Results at the lunch break. Roger and Simon tied on points in 7 th and 8 th places. John - 15 th place. Brian - 26 th place. Brad Gibson seemed to spend most of his time with his waders on in the lake adjusting the start line buoys. At times he was still adjusting right up to the last minute of countdown to give the best possible start in the shifty breeze. He was also jumping into the lake to separate boats which had become entangled. When not in the pond he was an observer. Time between the heats gave the skipper s time to calm down after the previous heat, top up with liquids and ready the boat for the next heat.

Results at Lunch on the first day. Suitably replenished we carried on racing, fighting tooth and nail for every point. The heats were both physically and mentally tiring.

3 Results at Lunch on the first day. Suitably replenished we carried on racing, fighting tooth and nail for every point. The heats were both physically and mentally tiring. A heat saw the skippers walking five times up and down the lake a distance of roughly 600 yards. Trying to dodge the other boats as well as the other skippers on the lakeside path left us physically and mentally shattered after 9 races taking us up to the 5 pm finish. In the last heat of the day John and Simon managed to work themselves into a position where they were relegated down to the B fleet and would keep Brian company in the B fleet the following morning, True club camaraderie if ever I saw it. Star of the day was Simon in a magnificent 6 th place, with the same points as the skipper in 5 th place. Simon had an excellent 2 nd place in heat 6. Roger was in 8 th place only 6 points behind Simon with three 4 th places to his credit. John was consistently in the middle of the pack and was in 13 th place, best heat place was a 5 th place. Brian sailed all day in the B fleet his performance could best be described as consistently inconsistent. Best heat place was a 5 th in the B fleet, he managed to get up into the middle of the fleet in some heats but he also flirted with the boats at the back of the fleet on occasions. The threatened heavy rain and thunderstorms didn t materialise until much later in the evening. We decamped to the hotel for a long soak in the bath before a team meal and drinks. Roger and Pam joined us after they had eaten in their cottage. Off to bed, and then back out again almost as quickly as Brian had completely forgotten to charge his Transmitter and receiver batteries in readiness for the following day. Quick chargers are a wonderful thing.

4 Results at the end of the first Day. Sunday - Day 2. The rain had gone and it looked as though we had a hot and sunny day ahead of us. We assembled and checked the boats and Simon discovered that he had what appeared to be an intermittently operating sail winch. Batteries, Receivers, Transmitters were all changed, all to no avail. Time was quickly running out as the first B heat was called but there was no way that Simon could sail with the boat in that condition. Brian and John readied their boats for their first Race of the day leaving Roger to assist Simon. Brian and Roger took turns to help Simon when the other was sailing. By now a spare RMG winch had been installed in the boat but it wasn t responding as it should when programmed. Brian grabbed Brad Gibson half way through one of the B heats and sent him off down the lake to try to help Simon. Help and advice also came from other skippers. Someone finally offered Simon the loan of a spare Li-Po battery, Hey Presto, the Winch performed as it should. Deck patches back on and he sailed the rest of the day without any real problems. Sadly missing three heats meant that he had to carry some other bad scores which he would normally have discarded. Further investigations at home will no doubt highlight where the actual problem lay, was it the battery or the extension lead or something else? Racing continued a pace and John discovered just how difficult it is to get out of the B fleet taking about five heats to get back into the A fleet. Roger also had an excursion into the B fleet but came straight back up again. Brian seem to suffer a bit as the wind increased, at times it was on the very top of the A rig. The gusts could go from a gentle Where has the wind gone? to a howling blast which buried the boats causing many collisions and penalty turns. The last race of the day was particularly frustrating for Brian having been up in a good 8 th place when a sudden gust stopped the boat dead head to wind, recovering in about 14 th place only to have the boat blown over and screwing out whilst surfing downwind to the splitter marks. Recovering after the knock down left Brian frustrated in last place unable to catch the boat in front. Racing was close all day leading to some frantic close quarter action. Skippers at this level are far more vocal than we are accustomed to a club level, hailing for water and warning the port boats.

5 Final Results at the end of day 2. We sailed a total of 19 heats, 9 on the first day and 10 on the second day. An excellent event which was well organised with good weather, good company and great sailing. Roger was the star man of the team finishing a magnificent 7 th overall and only 3 points away from 5 th place. He managed to win heat 17 and was loudly clapped and cheered across the line by the rest of the team. He also had a 3 rd place as well as four 4 th places and two 5 th places. John ended up 15 th he would have been a lot higher up the fleet if he could of fought his way out of the B fleet quicker. Once into the A fleet he put together a 3 rd and two 5 th places in the last few heats of the day. Simon ended up in 16 th place, his event was ruined by his problems with the winch and he did well to work his way back up the table. He had two 2 nd places, two 5 th places and two 6 th places but his time in the B fleet cost him a lot of points. Brian ended up in 29 th place sailing the whole event in the B fleet. His best place was 5 th place missing promotion by a few feet. He also had two 7 th places and two 9 th places. It is often difficult to work out heat finishing positions from the score sheet when in the B fleet as the numbers of skippers in the fleet can change. The prize giving took place in the clubhouse. The event was won by an emotional Phil Playle sailing his Vision. In second place was Tony Edwards with his Britpop. In third place was Mark Dennis with yet another Britpop. Roger was stopping an extra night but for the rest of us it was time to pack up and make our way home to reflect on a fantastic two days of racing and What might have been in terms of personal results.

6 Roger powering away downwind. Roger in full flight Not sure about those tell tails.

7 Racing was very close at times Simon heading the B fleet downwind, Brian is off to the right. The photo only shows 16 boats of the 20 boat fleet.

8 Simon is overpowered in a gust. A sudden gust hits John s boat

9 Yet another gust but John just manages to stay upright. John heading the pack. Tony Edwards No 75 eventually finished 2 nd overall. No 19 Mark Dennis finished 3 rd overall.

10 Brian ghosting alongside Andrew Peter s Widget. Brian chasing hard, Jen Hand (69) leading the way. Jen was the only lady skipper.

11 Brian rounding the mark. Brian alongside Jen hand no 69. Lots more photos can be found here:- Brian W Anderson

American Lake Sailing Club

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