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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.

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.

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.

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.

Ranking 3 Results:

PosDesignSail NoHelmClubR1R2R3R4R5R6R7R8Pts
1PostPUNK42Brad GibsonBirkenhead RS&PC1161295111
2Venti25Rob WalshFleetwood MY&PBC2434131313
4Britpop39Peter StolleryGuildford MYC3513324516
3Proteus112Craig RichardsDatchet Radio Sailing61142512216
5Britpop9Graham ElliotBirkenhead RS&PC42271286.21829.2
6Britpop98Darin BallingtonLincoln RSC1381481711637
7Pop26Josh KingWindrush RYC5691120113741
8Britpop75Tony EdwardsYeovil DMBC4715191066841
9Venti30Roger CratesBridlington MBS281013414101145
10Venti65Pete WaltersLincoln RSC310581118121249
11K26Austin GuerrierDatchet Radio Sailing612715610171051
12AKZIOM95Graham BantockChelmsford RYC82023613781557
13Proteus54Nigel BarrowDatchet Radio Sailing132428916413459
14Britpop168Martin RobertsBirkenhead RS&PC72338572191766
16Britpop134Tim HandLincoln RSC15131216920331479
15Venti64Rob McIntoshBirkenhead RS&PC1123263717127979
17Buzz 67Brian SummersTayside RSC93016121416141681
18Venti46Mickey ChamberlainLincoln RSC18191717195393695
19Britpop127Andrea RobertsBirkenhead RS&PC718322330131823102
20Britpop122Ben HarkerHuntingdon RYC1629131829241519105
21V1223David LindsayDatchet Radio Sailing914111023393939106
22Britpop35Paul PlestedBirkenhead RS&PC1015232921252820114
23V11.545Paul MiddletonFleetwood MY&PBC817233928262121116
25Britpop60Dorian CreaseTwo Islands RYC2026252015221628118
24Britpop97Robert WilsonLincoln RSC1433242123232513118
26Venti93Rob DyerEastleigh & District MBC59142237373939124
27SV67Oliver StolleryGuildford MYC1016232426372926125
28V1220Dave PotterBirkenhead RS&PC1438312624153022131
29Britpop154Roy StevensScarborough MYC1231182525272730134
30Britpop91Martyn AspinallRotherham MYC1232343118302324138
31Britpop49Tracey BallingtonLincoln RSC1327192735323125142
32Britpop181Greg KingWindrush RYC1628363227192629145
33Britpop14Bob ConnerWoodspring MSC1125273734313231157
34Britpop129Malcolm StewartEmsworth Radio Sailing1538303032283627162
35V966Noah McIntoshBirkenhead RS&PC1734352833292236163
36Alioth 456David LapesThree Rivers RYC1835333331372432171
37Britpop19Mark DennisChelmsford RYC1723293939393939186
38Vickers V1021Tim LewisThree Rivers RYC2039393939393939215

Ranking 4 Results:

PosDesignSail NoHelmClubR1R2R3R4Pts
1PostPUNK42Brad GibsonBirkenhead RS&PC16146
2Britpop21Chris HarrisWindrush RYC33528
3Britpop39Peter StolleryGuildford MYC22458
4Britpop168Martin RobertsBirkenhead RS&PC6811115
5Venti25Rob WalshFleetwood MY&PBC5191115
6Britpop98Darin BallingtonLincoln RSC396615
7Britpop9Graham ElliotBirkenhead RS&PC673816
8Proteus54Nigel BarrowDatchet Radio Sailing5471316
9Proteus112Craig RichardsDatchet Radio Sailing11421417
10Pop26Josh KingWindrush RYC4168719
11Venti64Rob McIntoshBirkenhead RS&PC85101623
12AKZIOM95Graham BantockChelmsford RYC410191024
13Britpop75Tony EdwardsYeovil DMBC91725329
14V1223David LindsayDatchet Radio Sailing72015931
15Venti93Rob DyerEastleigh & District MBC222181232
16Venti46Mickey ChamberlainLincoln RSC711201836
17V1220Dave PotterBirkenhead RS&PC815141537
18Britpop97Robert WilsonLincoln RSC1013161739
19Britpop154Roy StevensScarborough MYC1412222548
20SV67Oliver StolleryGuildford MYC1229132348
21Britpop60Dorian CreaseTwo Islands RYC1318172048
22Britpop134Tim HandLincoln RSC2021121951
23K26Austin GuerrierDatchet Radio Sailing1128212355
24Britpop127Andrea RobertsBirkenhead RS&PC1323392460
25Britpop47Rohan WilliamsDatchet Radio Sailing926262661
26Buzz 67Brian SummersTayside RSC1227233962
27Britpop122Ben HarkerHuntingdon RYC1131312365
28Venti65Pete WaltersLincoln RSC1019393968
29Venti30Roger CratesBridlington MBS1824282769
30Britpop35Paul PlestedBirkenhead RS&PC1725332971
31Alioth 456David LapesThree Rivers RYC1530273372
32V11.545Paul MiddletonFleetwood MY&PBC1638243474
33Vickers V10121Tim LewisThree Rivers RYC1635303076
34Britpop14Bob ConnerWoodspring MSC1533293577
35Britpop91Martyn AspinallRotherham MYC1432343278
36Britpop44Mike WillettTwo Islands RYC1737362881
37Britpop49Tracey BallingtonLincoln RSC1834323181
38V966Noah McIntoshBirkenhead RS&PC1936353690

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