IOM East District Series Open at Huntingdon Radio Yacht Club

by Dave Green 7 Apr 08:07 BST 5 April 2025

Huntingdon RYC hosted round 2 of the IOM East District Series on Saturday 5th April and were delighted to have 33 entries which included 5 skippers from outside of the district. Attendance appears to be growing in the East District with both events so far this year Norwich and Huntingdon both having high numbers and pleasingly more of the district clubs are attending.

The weather was ideal with sunshine and a good breeze at the top end of rig 1 but the wind was extremely shifty with plenty of big gusts which caused many broaches and plenty of skippers occasionally struggling to control their boats. Many changed down to rig 2 during the day some because of rig failure some believing it was the way to go and at times it was but if you could hang on in the gusts rig 1 was generally faster.

Huntingdon Radio Yacht Club IOM Open - photo © Andy Wa

Race officer Andy Baldock and his assistant Val Brooking and all the race team did an excellent job setting a nice long upwind downwind course and they kept the racing flowing at a good rate all day. The galley was run by the 2 Karen's and as is now standard at Huntingdon events free cake was available all day baked by Stephen Brown who makes exceedingly good cakes. Thanks must go to everyone that was on duty and Huntingdon members who sailed but also helped in some way running the event.

With 33 entries the event was run with 2 fleets with the seeding races being won by Buzz Coleman and Dave Green. It was a difficult day with the conditions and the number of boats on the line so as normal staying out of trouble and consistency paid off. Buzz Coleman and Nigel Barrow both sailed extremely well all day and at the end after 9 races both were tied on 11 points with the same number of firsts same number of seconds, but Nigel Barrow won the event by having 1 more 3rd place than Buzz Coleman, 3rd was Tony Guerrier 4th was Dave Green, 5th was Pete Walters and the last of the Prize winners was John Gill in 6th.

A bottle was also awarded to Geoff Josey for completing all the races which given the amount of gear failure on the day was an achievement.

The youngest entrant Hayden Wallace celebrated his twelfth birthday but sadly had some teething problems with his new boat and had to retire from the event from race 5.

Nigel Barrow, the day's deserved winner paid thanks to the race team and all the helpers and made mention how pleasing it was to see a healthy attendance with so many making the effort to travel.

Huntingdon Radio Yacht Club IOM Open - photo © Andy Wa

Next Huntingdon Open Meeting is the DF95 Open on Saturday 4th October.

There are a good selection of quality photos on hryc.co.uk/photos

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Sailor	Club	Design	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	Pts
1	54	Nigel Barrow	Datchet RCS	Proteus	2	3	1	2	1	6	1	1	3	11
2	12	Buzz Coleman	Coalhouse Fort RYC	Vision	1	1	5	1	3	2	6	2	1	11
3	50	Tony Guerrier	Three Rivers RYC	Venti	2	8	6	7	4	1	2	3	10	25
4	77	Dave Green	Huntingdon RYC	BritPOP!	1	2	18	5	5	5	5	6	6	29
5	165	Peter Walters	Lincoln RSC	Venti	3	11	3	3	6	8	9	5	4	32
6	175	John Gill	Chelmsford RYC	Spock	6	5	2	9	9	3	10	11	5	39
7	39	Glenn Meekcoms	Coalhouse Fort RYC	Vision	5	12	7	4	2	14	12	8	8	46
8	11	David Hope	Chelmsford RYC	Alioth	6	10	4	8	8	15	3	10	17	49
9	71	Ben Wallace	Huntingdon RYC	Rockstar	4	4	10	6	10	10	11	13	29	55
10	0	Ian Nolan	Norwich MYC	BritPOP!	4	6	14	15	14	19	8	9	2	57
11	64	Oli Knowland	Alton Water RCSC	Alioth	15	34	15	13	7	4	7	4	12	62
12	85	David Lapes	Three Rivers RYC	Alioth	9	13	11	14	13	12	13	12	7	77
13	110	Martin Brooking	Huntingdon RYC	BritPOP!	9	20	17	11	11	11	16	14	13	85
14	46	Phil Davenport	Huntingdon RYC	BritPOP!	15	26	19	21	12	9	17	7	11	90
15	2	Geoff Ball	Eastbourne & District MYC	BritPOP!	3	9	12	12	16	21	23	25	17	90
16	60	Neil Copeland	Chelmsford RYC	KMR	11	15	8	10	15	17	25	15	29	91
17	48	Andrew Johnson	Huntingdon RYC	GSB‑MKIII	10	22	21	17	20	13	4	17	19	100
18	24	Graham Lewis	Harwich & Dovercourt MBC	Venti	5	14	16	27	19	20	14	16	17	101
19	44	Mike Willett	Huntingdon RYC	BritPOP!	11	7	13	16	18	23	21	21	21	107
20	61	Stephen Brown	Huntingdon RYC	BritPOP!	10	18	20	29	25	7	15	18	24	112
21	68	Mark Quayle	Norwich MYC	BritPOP!	12	27	9	18	34	26	30	19	9	120
22	139	Mick Cooper	Lincoln RSC	Venti	8	23	24	22	21	18	19	22	18	128
23	56	Robert Mitchell	Harwich & Dovercourt MBC	Vector	7	17	27	31	17	25	20	24	20	130
24	185	Andy Seymour	Coalhouse Fort RYC	V8	16	34	22	20	22	16	18	23	23	137
25	73	Tim Dye	Harwich & Dovercourt MBC	Kantun S	14	19	26	25	27	24	24	27	22	154
26	66	Terry Wright	Chelmsford RYC	BritPOP!	14	24	28	28	28	22	22	29	17	155
27	79	Geoff Josey	Broads RYC	Kantun S	12	28	29	23	24	27	27	26	25	164
28	45	Andrew Wigley	Huntingdon RYC	GSB WispR	7	16	23	32	34	34	28	34	34	174
29	17	Vinnie Zammit	Norwich MYC	Vision	13	34	25	20	23	29	34	34	34	178
30	8	Stuart Reynolds	Norwich MYC	Vision	13	21	30	26	26	28	34	34	34	178
31	146	Alan Cooke	Huntingdon RYC	GSB Kainos	18	34	32	30	29	30	26	20	26	179
32	88	Hayden Wallace	Huntingdon RYC	GSB WispR	8	25	31	24	34	34	34	34	34	190
33	14	Graham Nelson	Norwich MYC	Alioth	16	34	34	34	34	34	34	34	34	220