IOM Ranking round 3 and 4 at Datchet Water Radio Sailing Club

by Nigel Barrow 8 Jul 20:16 BST

The winner with Windsor Castle in the background - IOM Ranking round 3 and 4 at Datchet © David Adam

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 two courses ready with all the facilities for starting, registration, food for the Saturday night barbecue and all the other paraphernalia that goes with an event of this nature.

There are, lies, damned lies and weather forecasts. Mother nature cooperated over some of the weekend but threw in a few curved balls to keep the PRO on his toes.

Saturday saw winds of approximately 12 to 20mph from the SW for most of the day, straight down the East shoreline, until there was a near 90 degrees shift late in the afternoon. There was a debate as to whether we move to the other side of the reservoir, but as it was so late in the day, and we had achieved 8 races which provided each competitor with two discards, the PRO decided to draw stumps and retire to the clubhouse for the BBQ and the odd beverage.

The direction remained unchanged until 7pm when it annoyingly shifted back to the SW. Oh, how mother nature can frustrate sailing events.

Crowded starts - IOM Ranking round 3 and 4 at Datchet - photo © David Adam

On Sunday we were blessed with light winds blowing straight down from Windsor Castle. It is a difficult wind direction as you must set the windward mark so far offshore, it is hard to for observers to read sail numbers if there are any incidents. The forecast was for North Westerlies which would have been perfect but sadly struggled to establish itself as a few thunderstorms moved over the lake to upset the regular wind pattern.

Amidst all of this, competitors had to wrestle the wind shifts to collect valuable ranking points for World qualification next year. Bearing in mind there were 5 past World champions in the fleet, competition for places would be tough.

On Saturday there were 38 competitors split into two heats meaning there was an excess of twenty boats on each start line. After a briefing from PRO Peter Baldwin and event organiser Phil Holiday, racing got under way at 10am.

Beating away for the clubhouse - IOM Ranking round 3 and 4 at Datchet - photo © David Adam

In the two seeding races, Brad Gibson and Darin Ballington lead the fleet across the start line. Brad was in his Post punk design and Darin in Brad's 2011 designed Britpop. Close behind were Rob Walsh (Venti) and Roger Crates (Venti). From the results of the seeding races, the fleet was split into A heat and B heat and there would be a six-boat promotion from B heat and 6 boat demotion from A heat.

As the day progressed familiar names lined the leader board with Brad winning four of the 8 races and with an additional 2nd and 5th, won the day. Rob Walsh was 2 points behind with 2 wins, a 2nd and two 3rd. Peter Stollery (Britpop) was 3 points behind in third, Craig Richards (Proteus) in 4th and Graham Elliott (Britpop) in 5th.

On cessation of racing competitors retired to the upper deck of the clubhouse with great views over the reservoir, for well-earned refreshments at the BBQ cooked by Graham and Elaine Hetem.

The coming storm - IOM Ranking round 3 and 4 at Datchet - photo © Ben Harker

Sunday dawned cloudy with a forecast of a good breeze straight down the North bank of the reservoir. Why then was the wind blowing softly from due west from Windsor castle straight onshore. As the morning went on it did cooperate a bit, but racing was interrupted with periods of calms, thunderstorms, and light shifty winds. Only in the very last race did the wind fill in as promised.

Because of the weather we only achieved 4 races. Such a shame because Zvonko Jelacik arrived to watch the racing whilst his family toured museums in London. It was his first visit to Datchet since 2017 and an opportunity to meet up with old racing friends.

Because of the variable conditions, it was hard to be consistent but again Brad Gibson did enough to win by two points from Chris Harris. Peter Stollery, Martin Roberts and Rob Walsh made up the top 5. There were only two points difference between 4th and 9th place.

As a test event, Datchet made a good start with many learnings taken from the weekend. The next IOM test event will be the National Championships over Easter next year with the Worlds following in May.

Brad Gibson giving his vote of thanks - IOM Ranking round 3 and 4 at Datchet - photo © Nigel Barrow

Ranking 3 Results:

Pos	Design	Sail No	Helm	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	Pts
1	PostPUNK	42	Brad Gibson	Birkenhead RS&PC	1	1	6	1	2	9	5	1	11
2	Venti	25	Rob Walsh	Fleetwood MY&PBC	2	4	3	4	1	3	1	3	13
4	Britpop	39	Peter Stollery	Guildford MYC	3	5	1	3	3	2	4	5	16
3	Proteus	112	Craig Richards	Datchet Radio Sailing	6	11	4	2	5	1	2	2	16
5	Britpop	9	Graham Elliot	Birkenhead RS&PC	4	2	2	7	12	8	6.2	18	29.2
6	Britpop	98	Darin Ballington	Lincoln RSC	1	3	8	14	8	17	11	6	37
7	Pop	26	Josh King	Windrush RYC	5	6	9	11	20	11	3	7	41
8	Britpop	75	Tony Edwards	Yeovil DMBC	4	7	15	19	10	6	6	8	41
9	Venti	30	Roger Crates	Bridlington MBS	2	8	10	13	4	14	10	11	45
10	Venti	65	Pete Walters	Lincoln RSC	3	10	5	8	11	18	12	12	49
11	K2	6	Austin Guerrier	Datchet Radio Sailing	6	12	7	15	6	10	17	10	51
12	AKZIOM	95	Graham Bantock	Chelmsford RYC	8	20	23	6	13	7	8	15	57
13	Proteus	54	Nigel Barrow	Datchet Radio Sailing	13	24	28	9	16	4	13	4	59
14	Britpop	168	Martin Roberts	Birkenhead RS&PC	7	23	38	5	7	21	9	17	66
16	Britpop	134	Tim Hand	Lincoln RSC	15	13	12	16	9	20	33	14	79
15	Venti	64	Rob McIntosh	Birkenhead RS&PC	11	23	26	37	17	12	7	9	79
17	Buzz 6	7	Brian Summers	Tayside RSC	9	30	16	12	14	16	14	16	81
18	Venti	46	Mickey Chamberlain	Lincoln RSC	18	19	17	17	19	5	39	36	95
19	Britpop	127	Andrea Roberts	Birkenhead RS&PC	7	18	32	23	30	13	18	23	102
20	Britpop	122	Ben Harker	Huntingdon RYC	16	29	13	18	29	24	15	19	105
21	V12	23	David Lindsay	Datchet Radio Sailing	9	14	11	10	23	39	39	39	106
22	Britpop	35	Paul Plested	Birkenhead RS&PC	10	15	23	29	21	25	28	20	114
23	V11.5	45	Paul Middleton	Fleetwood MY&PBC	8	17	23	39	28	26	21	21	116
25	Britpop	60	Dorian Crease	Two Islands RYC	20	26	25	20	15	22	16	28	118
24	Britpop	97	Robert Wilson	Lincoln RSC	14	33	24	21	23	23	25	13	118
26	Venti	93	Rob Dyer	Eastleigh & District MBC	5	9	14	22	37	37	39	39	124
27	SV	67	Oliver Stollery	Guildford MYC	10	16	23	24	26	37	29	26	125
28	V12	20	Dave Potter	Birkenhead RS&PC	14	38	31	26	24	15	30	22	131
29	Britpop	154	Roy Stevens	Scarborough MYC	12	31	18	25	25	27	27	30	134
30	Britpop	91	Martyn Aspinall	Rotherham MYC	12	32	34	31	18	30	23	24	138
31	Britpop	49	Tracey Ballington	Lincoln RSC	13	27	19	27	35	32	31	25	142
32	Britpop	181	Greg King	Windrush RYC	16	28	36	32	27	19	26	29	145
33	Britpop	14	Bob Conner	Woodspring MSC	11	25	27	37	34	31	32	31	157
34	Britpop	129	Malcolm Stewart	Emsworth Radio Sailing	15	38	30	30	32	28	36	27	162
35	V9	66	Noah McIntosh	Birkenhead RS&PC	17	34	35	28	33	29	22	36	163
36	Alioth 4	56	David Lapes	Three Rivers RYC	18	35	33	33	31	37	24	32	171
37	Britpop	19	Mark Dennis	Chelmsford RYC	17	23	29	39	39	39	39	39	186
38	Vickers V10	21	Tim Lewis	Three Rivers RYC	20	39	39	39	39	39	39	39	215

Ranking 4 Results:

Pos	Design	Sail No	Helm	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	Pts
1	PostPUNK	42	Brad Gibson	Birkenhead RS&PC	1	6	1	4	6
2	Britpop	21	Chris Harris	Windrush RYC	3	3	5	2	8
3	Britpop	39	Peter Stollery	Guildford MYC	2	2	4	5	8
4	Britpop	168	Martin Roberts	Birkenhead RS&PC	6	8	11	1	15
5	Venti	25	Rob Walsh	Fleetwood MY&PBC	5	1	9	11	15
6	Britpop	98	Darin Ballington	Lincoln RSC	3	9	6	6	15
7	Britpop	9	Graham Elliot	Birkenhead RS&PC	6	7	3	8	16
8	Proteus	54	Nigel Barrow	Datchet Radio Sailing	5	4	7	13	16
9	Proteus	112	Craig Richards	Datchet Radio Sailing	1	14	2	14	17
10	Pop	26	Josh King	Windrush RYC	4	16	8	7	19
11	Venti	64	Rob McIntosh	Birkenhead RS&PC	8	5	10	16	23
12	AKZIOM	95	Graham Bantock	Chelmsford RYC	4	10	19	10	24
13	Britpop	75	Tony Edwards	Yeovil DMBC	9	17	25	3	29
14	V12	23	David Lindsay	Datchet Radio Sailing	7	20	15	9	31
15	Venti	93	Rob Dyer	Eastleigh & District MBC	2	22	18	12	32
16	Venti	46	Mickey Chamberlain	Lincoln RSC	7	11	20	18	36
17	V12	20	Dave Potter	Birkenhead RS&PC	8	15	14	15	37
18	Britpop	97	Robert Wilson	Lincoln RSC	10	13	16	17	39
19	Britpop	154	Roy Stevens	Scarborough MYC	14	12	22	25	48
20	SV	67	Oliver Stollery	Guildford MYC	12	29	13	23	48
21	Britpop	60	Dorian Crease	Two Islands RYC	13	18	17	20	48
22	Britpop	134	Tim Hand	Lincoln RSC	20	21	12	19	51
23	K2	6	Austin Guerrier	Datchet Radio Sailing	11	28	21	23	55
24	Britpop	127	Andrea Roberts	Birkenhead RS&PC	13	23	39	24	60
25	Britpop	47	Rohan Williams	Datchet Radio Sailing	9	26	26	26	61
26	Buzz 6	7	Brian Summers	Tayside RSC	12	27	23	39	62
27	Britpop	122	Ben Harker	Huntingdon RYC	11	31	31	23	65
28	Venti	65	Pete Walters	Lincoln RSC	10	19	39	39	68
29	Venti	30	Roger Crates	Bridlington MBS	18	24	28	27	69
30	Britpop	35	Paul Plested	Birkenhead RS&PC	17	25	33	29	71
31	Alioth 4	56	David Lapes	Three Rivers RYC	15	30	27	33	72
32	V11.5	45	Paul Middleton	Fleetwood MY&PBC	16	38	24	34	74
33	Vickers V10	121	Tim Lewis	Three Rivers RYC	16	35	30	30	76
34	Britpop	14	Bob Conner	Woodspring MSC	15	33	29	35	77
35	Britpop	91	Martyn Aspinall	Rotherham MYC	14	32	34	32	78
36	Britpop	44	Mike Willett	Two Islands RYC	17	37	36	28	81
37	Britpop	49	Tracey Ballington	Lincoln RSC	18	34	32	31	81
38	V9	66	Noah McIntosh	Birkenhead RS&PC	19	36	35	36	90