The Ranking 1 and 2 event at Scarborough

There are those who have sailed IOM's for a long time and tried all the options available to them, and they settle on one design or another with a tried and tested rig. I reached that position last year with a Britpop and scored my best results. The boat was easy to set up, superbly balanced and quick. However, some things played on my mind. Was there an even quicker design out in the market place, how long would my current boat last for and what other rig options were available to me. I haven't found a faster combination to date but the search is proving to be so interesting and educational. Being retired, I have the time to look.

I am relatively new in the game, there was a lot to test out and I am one to experiment for better or worse. Moulded sails, new shroud systems, different fins and bulbs and of course, a much needed improvement in my sailing skills. I started with the Alioth and then worked with Craig Richards on the Proteus project which still has a way to go. The great thing about tuning with Craig is you sharpen your sailing skills in the process.

The winning equipment in summary

So the spoils this weekend went to the usual suspects. In the top 10 on Saturday there were 7 BG designs, 2 Venti and a Proteus. On Sunday in more breeze there were 5 BG designs, 2 Venti's, 2 Proteus and a V9. The majority of the sailors carried BG sails.

Josh King had a stellar Sunday sailing a POP design discarding a 4th place. On Saturday Brad cleaned up in his Post Punk design discarding a 3rd. Congratulations to both. It should be said that most of the top 20 skippers have been sailing these boats for years and the fleet could be classed as one of the most competitive ranking fleets in the world and pepered with past world champions

How was my weekend

Saturday was a below par day for me. I was getting good starts but no good at holding a lane. My boat has weather helm and if I could not see the boat at the start it would head up rather than sail straight and fall back into the second or third row. This is a rig setup issue not a design issue. The end result was I struggled to get round the weather mark in any position other than the back of the fleet. The one race I rounded fourth, I took the wrong leeward gate and lost 6 places in an instant. I put it down to being one of those days. Each first beat felt like groundhog day and not helped by being taken out by port tackers at the windward mark even when rounding well to windward of the mark.

The positive side of Saturday was that I recovered well and got back to mid fleet in each race and maintained my position in A heat for the day.

Sunday was a better day. Good starts and other than one race, top 10 finishes.

Where do we go from here. On the design front that is down to to Craig but on the rig front I have work to do. With the new shroud setup, the mast is too straight from the hounds to the deck and I need to rake the spreaders back more to induce more bend so I can get an even bend through the entire mast length. The other thing I need to work on is close quarter racing.

The Venue

Scarobough proved to be an outstanding venue. A large gravel pit with a spit sticking out into the middle of the lake with course option for all wind directions. An on site warm cafe serving hot drinks and food all day with an excellent dinner on Saturday night. The camp site within 2 minutes of the sailing club with hook up for motor homes. The competitor control area included land 20 feet above the water providing excellent visibility. The Club also prepared marks of an international standard with a rotating section so you could see when boats hit the mark. The mark layers are challenged because the depth of the lake varies from 7 to 70 feet so if you drop a mark with too short a length of rope you lose the mark.

Despite those challenges the club members did us proud. A lot of preparation went into this event as the club had not run one for a long time. With the outside support of Derek Priestley, Peter and Judith Baldwin, the club ran an event that was of the highest quality. We will be back.