MYA IOM Northern District Championship 2025 at Weecher Radio Sailing Club

MYA IOM Northern District Championship at Weecher RSC © MYA

23 entries for the revived IOM Northern District Championship held at Weecher Reservoir on Sunday 17th August was a decent turnout and we look forward to building the numbers as this event becomes a major fixture in the racing calendar.

The 8 - 10mph NE breeze was exactly as forecast, a slightly tricky direction for the race officer John Tushingham and his team to set a perfect windward/leeward course but plenty of wind shifts in the warm conditions kept everyone on their toes, especially on the approach to the windward mark on every lap with very tight finishes being fought over throughout the day.

Apart from a technical issue in race three, Martin Roberts got his day off to a flying start winning four of the eight races before lunch to take an early lead from Graham Elliott. Others to show strongly at the front of the fleet were Peter Baldwin with two wins and Derek Priestley taking the top step in race three. Mick Chamberlain, Olly Murray and Roger Crates were sailing constantly at the sharp end but often just missing out on the finish line.

With eight races completed the fleet enjoyed a relaxed lunch break with a superb ploughman's lunch served up by Liz & Helen. The wind remained steady (ish) but the sun seemed a bit shy of breaking through the hazy grey clouds. It eventually made an appearance towards the end of the afternoon - it's always more satisfying to pack up and chat over the days racing when it's not tipping it down!

The afternoon racing carried on the very well mannered way it had been all morning, it was a pleasure to behold and a great example to the clubs newcomers who had come along to see how the professionals do it - thank you everyone. Graham Elliott came out fighting and a string of great results saw him take over the top slot from Martin despite falling fowl of the black flag in the final race.

Martin needing a win in that race to get back in front but suffered one of his worst results of the day. Olly Murray and Derek seemed to be having a bit of inter-club sparring going on all afternoon, despite Olly chalking up two wins to Derek's single victory and very much to Derek's obvious delight, Olly had to cede third place overall to Derek by a single point.

Looking through the overall results I have to give a big thumbs up to Keighley club member Stuart Lockwood whose 11th place well exceeded his own pre event forecast. Just proves that the top of the results sheet are not the only winners!

A big thank you to all the club members who helped prepare and run things on the day despite the slightly depleted water level. We all love the sun but can we just have a bit of rain soon - please.

Overall Results: