Please select your home edition
Edition
Leaderboard June to September

GBR IOM Ranking Events 3 & 4 at West Lancashire Yacht Club

by GBR IOM Class 28 Jun 2018 09:54 BST 23-24 June 2018
GBR IOM Ranking Events 3 & 4 at West Lancs © Damian Ackroyd

The IOM Class made a return to Southport and West Lancs Yacht Club after a long break, the class this year has seen a return to good entry levels which boasts multiple world champions to newcomers to the class and sport.

Day One

Day one saw skippers descend at the West Lancs Yacht Club and Marine Lake to bright sunshine, soaring temperatures and a good breeze from the North West.

With the briefing concluded the seeding races got away on time and were duly won by Gavin Watson, Peter Stollery & Rob Walsh.

With the wind slowly picking up throughout the day with some big shifts it wasn't long before boats were nosediving downwind. Picking a path to the windward mark at times was tricky but rewarding when the correct decisions were made. Ideally keeping to the middle of the course was a good idea but with the shifts coming from either side with good pressure the most notable gains were always from the extremities. If you did happen to lose a few places upwind the same gains were always available downwind with more passes throughout the day than I can care to remember.

Peter Stollery who has just returned from a podium at the Marblehead Worlds mastered the conditions recording an unstoppable six points after one discard over seven races, Rob Walsh took out second place by a single point from Graham Elliott who finalized the podium.

Darin Ballington took out fourth place on 32 points with Gavin Watson taking fifth position on countback from Martin Roberts. The score sheet was close no matter where you finished overall. With the day over after some great racing the fleet descended upon the West Lancs Yacht Club bar for a class barbeque and refreshment.

Day one results can be found here (PDF format)

Day Two

Day two dawned with Skippers arriving at West Lancs Yacht Club to be greeted by similar conditions to the day before albeit a bit less breeze from the WNW but brighter sunshine and higher temperatures.

Obviously, the class barbeque had gone down well with plenty taking the West Lancs Commodores speech to heart, where more alcohol consumption will improve results. With that in mind there were plenty of sore heads found around the boat park from some that had not only enjoyed the social at the club but the fruits of Southport's nightlife.

Racing once away got off on time with a course similar to Saturday but with the startline and leeward gate aligned correctly for the new WNW breeze.

The Seeding races were won by Martin Roberts, Derek Priestley and Graham Elliott. With racing moving at a good pace Rob Walsh took a firm control of the event posting consistent scores and was never found below A Fleet, a feat only matched by Martin Roberts showing a good return to form of years past.

Conditions were similar to day one with each side of the course paying with the hope always being that you never got caught the wrong side of a big shift once one arrived.

With a good start becoming increasingly important to control the fleet and be in a position to tack on shifts in clean air, general recalls became common place by race four with most skippers pushing the boundaries.

With the fleet still pushing their luck by race five PRO Peter Baldwin aired the U Flag catching a number of seasoned skippers off their A game, most notably Graham Elliott who took the wrath of the U flag in races five and six and the end to a top ten finish overall.

Rob Walsh took the win with a convincing nine points after six races with fellow South West skippers Gavin Watson and Tony Edwards taking out the podium.

Once again the scores were tightly packed with Martin Roberts taking fourth place by two points from John Tushingham and Paul Allen and Rob Wilson chasing hard in sixth and seventh.

Day two results can be found here (PDF format)

A massive thank you must go to the race team at West Lancs headed by Peter and Judith Baldwin and Damian Ackroyd, meticously prepared and on the button.

Also, thanks to Alan Tickle club organiser and all members of West Lancs Yacht Club and the multitude of volunteers that helped make the event a great success, every detail had been taken care of with no detail overlooked, providing excellent facilities and catering with a warm and friendly atmosphere to all competing IOM skippers.

Thanks West Lancs.

Related Articles

IOM Ranking round 3 and 4 at Datchet
A useful test event for the Worlds next year Datchet Radio Sailing are hosting the IOM World Championships in 2026 so this ranking event would be the first test event to check the club logistics are in order. The organisers had put in a huge amount of effort getting ready. Posted on 8 Jul
IOM Summer Series Round 5 at Lincoln
More fantastic racing in tricky, shifty, gusty conditions More fantastic racing at Lincoln for round five of the summer series. It was tricky, shifty, gusty conditions for the 14 skippers who took part in Lincoln Radio Sailing Club's Sunday series round 5. Posted on 16 Jun
Scottish District IOM Travellers 2 at Paisley
Truly scrumptious lunch laid on at Barshaw Park Twelve skippers from throughout Scotland gathered at Paisley on a dullish Saturday morning for the second Scottish Travellers event of the season. Six Scottish clubs were represented. Up to eight different boat designs were entered. Posted on 10 Jun
IOM Met and Southern District event at Datchet
There were family battles between father and son, or brothers Datchet Radio Sailing are the hosts for the IOM World Championships in 2026 and put on stellar conditions for this round of the district championships. The event was run by Hugh McAdoo, Jim La Roche, Phil Holiday, Richard Jones and Nigel Barrow. Posted on 3 Jun
IOM Summer Series Round 4 at Lincoln
An intense and enjoyable morning's racing Wow, what an intense and enjoyable morning's racing, June 1st, at Scotland farm was, for the 14 skippers who opted to race. Posted on 1 Jun
Scottish IOM Travellers 1 at Kinghorn
A dip in the loch was required for one competitor to retrieve a lost keel The 2025 MYA Scottish District IOM Travellers 1 event took place at Kinghorn Loch on 17th May 2025. The event was hosted by the Kinghorn Radio Sailing Club. Richard Ennos (RO) welcomed the thirteen competitors to the event and gave the skipper's briefing. Posted on 27 May
I.O.M Summer Series round 3 at Lincoln
New boats are christened There was not a lot of sun, but a breeze from the North East'ish was going to make this a fluky day, and so it was. Posted on 19 May
I.O.M Summer Series Round 2 at Lincoln
Back to normal club racing after the very successful Nationals Back to normal club racing after the very successful National Championship, held in April. I arrived at the lake, good and early, Roger C, and Mick boy already there, getting things sorted. Posted on 5 May
IOM Eastern District Team Event at Norwich
A fantastic day of competitive radio sailing The Eastern District Team Event held on 27th April 2025 at the Norwich Model Yacht Club (NMYC) proved to be a fantastic day of competitive radio sailing, with eighteen skippers from six clubs across the region battling it out in a lively series of races. Posted on 28 Apr
Scottish Wooden Hulled IOM Championship
Tight racing in light winds on Forfar Loch The weather forecast was not good, very light SSE going south after midday - not the best direction at Forfar Loch which is aligned WSW-ENE. As it turned out, there was enough east in the breeze to set a short conventional windward-leeward course. Posted on 28 Apr