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Savvy Navvy 2024

2022 UK IOM National Championship

by John Owens 6 May 2022 14:09 UTC 30 April - 2 May 2022

Hosted by the MYA Scottish District at Castle Semple Loch, there were 65 entries comprising 57 from the UK and eight overseas (four from Sweden and one each from Ireland, Norway, Turkey and the USA). When competitors arrived for registration and pre-event boat measurement on Friday 29th April, it was a warm, sunny day with a gentle breeze for some informal post-travel tuning races.

Saturday was a different matter! Initially, it was overcast and much cooler. Following the Skippers' Briefing, John Owens (PRO) and Peter Baldwin (ARO) set a windward leeward course. Additional marks were also laid to accommodate the forecast wind shifts. Five seeding races were run with the winners being Brad Gibson, Rob Walsh, Graham Elliott, Odd Ornulf Stray (Norway) and Graham Bantock. The fleet was then sorted into five heats each for Races two and three and following Race 3, the fleet was sorted into four heats.

As the day wore on the waterproofs were donned and the rain came down. There was not a constant wind direction and the course had to be continually reset despite the additional marks. Amongst unconvincing mutterings of "there's no such thing as bad weather, only bad gear", the heats continued. At the end of day 1, five races had been completed with Graham Elliott leading with 10 points, followed by Rob Walsh (12 points) and Peter Feldman of the USA (13 points). The soaking-wet Race Team and skippers then rigged down and retired to the warmth of their accommodation to dry out, warm up and have some sustenance!

Sunday was dry (hooray!) but the wind conditions were again challenging for the Race Team to set fair courses. Castle Semple Loch is aligned NE-SW and the breeze was generally southerly. There were numerous frustrating delays due to significant wind shifts. In addition, with the start line just offshore from the control area, the windward mark had to be laid near at a fair limit of clear vision (if not beyond for some!) to have a reasonable distance for the first beat. The compromise was not ideal but you cannot control the wind direction. To compensate for the comparatively short course, three beats (rather than two) were sailed.

Unfortunately, the consequence of a short first beat was too many port tack boats chancing their luck trying to get through the starboard tack boats laying the mark with numerous collisions forming rafts of yachts. Following a number of heats where this behaviour recurred, a conversation was held with the fleet encouraging good sportsmanship and appropriate application of the Racing Rules of Sailing.

Throughout the day, each race was comprised of four heats per race with six boat promote/demote. Despite the challenging wind conditions, by the end of the day a further four races had been completed. In the lead was Peter Stollery (20 points) followed by Brad Gibson (also on 20 points), Rob Walsh (22 points) closely followed by Graham Elliott (23 points).

On Sunday evening the Event Dinner was held at the Bowfield Hotel and Country Club. Grateful thanks were extended to our sponsors who donated prizes - BG Sails and Design, Catsails, Housemartin Sails, Potter Solutions, Robot Yachts, Smartwinch UK, Soch Sails and P.J. Sails.

Monday, 2nd May was the third and final day with it all to play for throughout the fleet. However, the forecast was for fickle winds during the day making for another testing time for the race team and skippers alike. Despite laying a spread of marks, the very light and shifty winds made for slow progress and culminated in a delay of 90 minutes waiting for a breeze to return. Once it did return and a fair course could be laid, it was initially a similar course to the previous day beating into a southerly breeze.

However, for the last two heats, the wind shifted to the north-east and significantly increased. This breeze with the associated chop, really brought the boats alive in the A rig although one skipper in A Heat chose a B rig. This optimum wind direction allowed for an extremely long course to be set and some excellent racing was seen.

With only two further races on day 3 a total of eleven races had been completed across a range of wind directions, strengths and courses providing a test of skipper's skills (and patience!).

Congratulations to 2022 UK IOM National Champion Brad Gibson, second Rob Walsh, third Peter Stollery, fourth Graham Elliott.

Brad thanked the MYA Scottish District Race Team (with supporting members) for doing so well in very testing conditions to host such a high quality and enjoyable event.

More of Sue Brown's photos can be seen at www.flickr.com/photos/catsails/sets/72177720298571357

Patrick Smith has made a video of each day's racing at www.iomgbr.co.uk/2022-nationals-videos

Overall Results:

MYA Junior Skipper - Oliver Stollery (highest ranked under 18 skipper)
MYA Novice Skipper - Peter Feldman, USA (highest ranked skipper sailing for the first time in the UK IOM National Championship)
MYA David Perkins Memorial Award - David Smith (for his organisational contribution to the event over many months)
MYA Scottish District Boussy Medallion - Andrea Roberts

PositionSkipperSailNationHullR1R2R3R4R5R6R7R8R9R10R11Pts
1Brad Gibson42GBRBritPOP!113112423441122
2Rob Walsh25GBRBritPOP!17138176223227
3Peter Stollery39GBRBritPOP!283192913121131
4Graham Elliott9GBRBritPOP!1171101555320336
5Peter Feldman144USAKantun 233610154614131250
6Odd Ornulf Stray90NORKantun 212865101214126454
7Brian Summers7GBRBuzz III91557331815184566
8Graham Bantock95GBRAkziom15951214911205966
9Andrea Roberts127GBRBritPOP!34148682119141567
10Martin Roberts22GBRVanilla630139711586121777
11John Tushingham51GBRVision6122173019109581887
12Craig Richards112GBRVanilla2111911151221717351097
13Peter Walters65GBRVenti3912122125191071726110
14Ian Dundas38GBRFatboy42310211671413111521111
15Jeff Kay3IRLBritPOP!3101714961625162323114
16Jonas Samson60SWEKantun 22221827243077131113117
17Mark Dennis19GBRBritPOP!52225201927111281016123
18Tony Edwards75GBRBritPOP!41420131416203121248130
19Austin Guerrier6GBRV104262323294819151619131
20James Hadden87GBRBritPOP!93516362513131623914138
21Darin Ballington98GBRBritPOP!640224172127374276147
22Stephen Taylor43GBRVenti22021302220242622197157
23Thomas Enwall15SWEVenti833402413111722192524163
24Nigel Barrow29GBRBritPOP!724282218262221252120180
25Vernon Appleton73GBRBritPOP!66151637323428312731192
26Nigel Brown55GBRSedici216262927292935262822205
27Hugh Watson107GBRBritPOP!525272626243120242935206
28Derek Priestley67GBRDead Reckoning42741520353234494342213
29Dave Cockerill165GBRKantun 21057384534232318322225225
30John Taylor28GBRRubix842374855582527101829244
31Mick Chamberlain46GBRVenti532293328282630343452245
32Ulf Lindberg100SWEVenti832412532504437273334269
33Peter Cropper68GBRV10847563245333924283630275
34Tim Hand44GBRV10528373538454041292637275
35Colin McGinnis45GBRBuzz 3c951524031222829354544283
36Dave Allinson4GBRBritPOP!738374742374123373138289
37Robert Wilson97GBRBritPOP!936433140434340303032291
38John Cleave0GBRKantun 2519324958414838434028294
39David Lindsay23GBRV11639301837364766374857298
40Christopher Nichols35GBRBritPOP!1054462811183349625755304
41Jari Heiskanen109SWEKantun 2717243447665666333952309
42Bob Conner14GBRBritPOP!1034473952423032443840309
43Hasan Güven172TURBritPOP!737505723313744464645316
44Gordon Allison62GBRVenti950373741403743484239325
45Stewart Campbell50GBRKantun 2318335254345155555333331
46Mark Rose78GBRBritPOP!1243444143394539394760345
47Roy Stevens54GBRBritPOP!429314249564942505253348
48Richard Aucott16GBRAlternative1044453839444654564441351
49John Sharman61GBRVision1152584446525345453227354
50David Stewart30GBRCorbie I846555937384246414958362
51James La Roche57GBRBritPOP!1148394348535950604137370
52Anthony Marshall74GBRKantun 21349545833473747525549381
53Bill Odger37GBRV91245485252495553633743391
54David Northridge120GBRLintel MMX1456534650516333476146396
55Ian Sinclair141GBRSedici1160666044465060385247408
56Neil Davies58GBRBritPOP!1055595656483848585863427
57Mike Evans175GBRBritPOP!1253425057545256525959428
58John Berry12GBRViper1363635366555752405056439
59Oliver Stollery139GBRIsotonic741515561636062595654444
60Sandy Mackay158GBRBritPOP!1159496262575461535448446
61Mike Drew27GBRVision1161575453646252616061470
62Jen Hand69GBRBritPOP!1258606166615857576452476
63Eric Austwick32GBRAlternative1362616363606158546362494
64John Crix131GBRLintel MMX1265646559596563646264512
65Alan McKechnie59GBRVision1464626460626459656565514

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