IOM Autumn Race 11: 12th Nov 2024, Jobbo’s Round The Cans

What a day today, after countless days of flat calms we had a moderate northerly, can’t get much better!! This was great since we had two new skippers this morning, a big welcome to Steve and Derek, with conditions like today’s hopefully they will return.
I must apologize that I omitted to welcome them before racing started, we got slightly sidetracked with Nigel’s boat going to inspect the lilies and getting a little caught up. Fortunately he rescued it with Hugh’s assistance.
Though the wind came from the north, there were still big shifts up the beat where it sometimes paid to go right and other times it paid to go left. A bit of a toss of a coin to know which side to go, but if you got it right there were big gains to be made. On one run the wind gusted to the point where the boats just broached making it difficult to manage the leg, however this was short lived.
Racing was close with 5 separate race winners, with John M winning the day from John T and Martin.
By midday the wind had virtually faded completely so we stopped the series racing a little early to ensure we had time to complete the Jobbo’s round  the Cans Trophy race. As happens at Setley, the breeze returned, giving  a good close race won by John T, with John B second and Nigel third.