Isle of Man Midnight Race at Tranmere Sailing Club

Tranmere Sailing Club held the 89th Isle of Man Midnight race on Friday June 13th. The race was also part of the Liverpool Yacht Club Wirral Implant sponsored long series. The weather was dry but overcast with a F4/5 NW so that all of the 72nM course from Liverpool to Douglas would be a beat!

15 yachts entered the race with yachts from Douglas, Southport and Holyhead. At the start there were many close tacking encounters. Once the Crosby channel was reached racing tactics had to become secondary to avoiding impeding the large commercial vessels. With wind over tide the shipping channel became increasingly lumpy and there were three retirements during this 15 nM phase of the race.

Overnight the wind increased to a good force 5 the crews, including the largest yachts, found the conditions wet cold and uncomfortable. After dawn the wind briefly became more westerly and moderated slightly. Tactical decisions were critical during the race as illustrated by Stuart Lofthouse’s Impala Skukusa and Richard Baldwin’s Superseal Tango who after 10 hours racing crossed within 100m on opposite tacks. Stuart’s tactics proved the more successful with him generating a lead over Tango during the next 7 hours which proved crucial in the final result.

As expected the large yachts were the first to reach Douglas with Glyn Sheffield’s Dynamite-Tee taking line honours and the 1894 Cup, ahead of Nick Ogden’s Ulula who was hard pressed by Neil Thomas in Mighty Max II who finished 39 seconds later.

46 minutes separated the first 7 yachts in the overall race with Stuart Lofthouse’s Impala Skukusa winning both the overall Grand Challenge Trophy and the Milburn tray as class 2 winner for the second time in three years.

In class 3 Richard Baldwin’s Tango was the first to finish winning the Puffin cup and coming second in the overall race. Their nemesis Jeanette and Dave Hardy’s Int H boat Hocus Pocus came in 45 minutes later to take second place in class 3 and fourth place overall. John Myerscough in his Sadler 32 Catch 32 completed the 100% fleet finish.

Overall Results:

Overall
1st Stuart Lofthouse’s Impala Skukusa
2nd Richard Baldwin’s Superseal Tango
3rd Glyn Sheffield’s Prime 38 Dynamite Tee

Class 1 IRC (TCF > 0.936)
1st Glyn Sheffield’s Prime 38 Dynamite Tee
2nd Neil Thomas’s Prima 38 Might Max II
3rd R Wooten’s Cheetah Cub

Class 2 IRC (TCF 0.871 – 0.935)
1st Stuart Lofthouse’s Impala Skukusa

Class 3 IRC (TCF < 0.871)
1st Richard Baldwin’s Superseal Tango
2nd Jeanette and Dave Hardy’s Int. H Boat Hocus Pocus
3rd John Myerscough’s Sadler 32 Catch 32