It is only just over one week until the 2008 Isle of Man Dinghy Championships hosted this year by the Manx Sailing & Cruising Club. This years racing takes place on the weekend of the 30th and 31st of August and will consist of three races held back to back on each day starting at 11.00am.

The dinghy champs always deliver some close and competitive racing, last years winners Russell and June Collister are on a 6th year winning streak and will be looking to make it number 7, but the racing at the dinghy championships is always a close contest and there are likely to be a quite a few boats vying for the top spot. Others to look out for include the National 18’s of Mick Kneale and Pete Barlow, the Ramsey based 200’s of Andrew Dean and Angus Jolly (although he may not be sailing) the ever present Dave Batchelor in his National 12 and the whole of the competitive Laser fleet, their may even be a couple of RS400’s out and about! Younger contenders to look out for include Youth Championship winners Joe and Kate Stockman and Laser sailors Ali Hinds and Ben Swindlehurst.

Take a look at the MSR archives for coverage and photos of last years event, the sailing instructions for this year are available below.

If you have any questions or require further information please contact MSR in the first instance.

2008 Dinghy Champs SI

Report thanks to Mick Kneale

The IOMYC regatta over the weekend of 16th and 17th August was hampered by rough weather on Saturday, so it became a one-day event on Sunday, sailed in a light to moderate SSW breeze. The cruisers had a 2-hour pursuit race around the club marks off Scarlett, Strandhall and Kallow Point. Pete Ashurst (Ruffian 23) managed to overtake the boats ahead to win back the trophy he won last year in the same event.

Cruisers: 1st Pete Ashurst (Ruffian 23), 2nd Phil Adams (Erikson 27), 3rd Dave Pownall (Sonata).

Sixteen dinghies took to the water and were given four races in less than 3 hours by the slick race management of Pete Hinds and Russell Armstrong. Smiler and Tom dominated in the RS400 by winning all four although timings were close. Top junior was Ali Hinds sailing her Radial.

Overall top ten:
1st Smiler & Tom (RS400), 2nd Pete Barlow & crew (Nat.18’), 3rd Dave Batchelor (Laser), 4th Simon Pressly (Laser), 5th Ali Hinds (Radial), 6th Mike Pridham (Radial), 7th Joe & Kate Stockman (Laser 3000), John Dowling & Terry Holt (Wayfarer), 9th Ben Swindlehurst (Radial), 10th Chris Hill (Radial).

Competitors and helpers enjoyed an excellent BBQ provided by the club social committee, before the trophies were presented by Commodore David Hill. Many thanks to the rescue-boat crews, race officers and catering volunteers for laying on a fun regatta day.

Report thanks to Mick Kneale

The final session in the Alice Cup dinghy racing series was sailed last Thursday 14th August at Port St Mary. Twelve boats turned out for two pleasant races in the bay. Race Officer Pete Hinds set a triangle followed by a windward/leeward. Smiler Williams and Tom Cringle sailing their RS400 showed the way in both although the winning margin from second was less than a minute in each case.
Top six:
Race one: 1st Smiler & Tom (RS400), 2nd Phil Hardisty & Kate Stockman (Laser 3000), 3rd Ben Swindlehurst (Radial), 4th Pete Barlow & crew (Nat.18’), 5th Ali Hinds (Radial), 6th Luke Collins (Radial).
Race two: 1st Smiler & Tom, 2nd Mike Pridham (Radial), 3rd Pete Barlow, 4th Ali Hinds, 5th Ben Swindlehurst, 6th Luke Collins.

Smiler and Tom won the overall series for the Alice Cup with three bullets out of the six races sailed.

The 2008 National 18 Class Championship (3-8 August) was hosted by the Royal Findhorn Yacht Club with the generous sponsorship of Benromach.

The 3 Manx entries in the 24-boat fleet, including 8 from Cork Harbour, 3 from England and 10 locals, regularly attend the annual event, which currently rotates round four venues: Findhorn, Portland, Port St Mary and Crosshaven.

Crossfire (303) was sailed by Antony Ellis, Nige Collins and Luke Collins, Miss D’Meanour (305) by Pete Barlow, Tony Randle and Rob Cowell and Gorrum (332) by Mick Kneale, Phil Hardisty and Donald Edwards.

Conditions were mostly light and variable winds, showery one day and sunny the next.  Thursday there was a decent breeze but the fleet couldn’t get out to sea through the shallow bottleneck entrance to Findhorn Bay. The onshore north-easterly wind raised breakers over the bar and it was deemed too risky, especially as a couple of days earlier a local boat had been rolled in the surf and broken its mast – and that was a quiet day!

Antony and crew started the week strongly, winning the Whitford Cup for races 3 and 4 . Mick and crew had a patchy performance but always scored single figure places. Pete and crew had a reasonable week except for missing a result as their new jib was ripped before the start of race 4. Only 8 races were sailed out of the 10 scheduled, as the Thursday was lost.

Manx race placings were as follows:
303 Crossfire: 11, 8, 1, 3, 7, 5, 7, 15.   305 Miss D’Meanour: 18, 14, 19, 25, 15, 10, 16, 14.   332 Gorrum: 7, 9, 3, 9, 3, 3, 2, 7.

The event was won by Cork sailors Colin Chapman, Martin Almond and Morgan O’Sullivan on 370 Aquaholics, with a scoreline of: 2, 3, 2, 6, 1, 1, 4, 1 – who also won the crown in 2004 and 2006.

Overall top ten:
1st Aquaholics (Royal Cork), 2nd Happy Days (Monkstown), 3rd Muchadoo (Royal Cork), 4th Jafiica (Royal Findhorn), 5th Gorrum (IOM), 6th Das Boot (Royal Cork), 7th Crossfire (IOM), 8th Don’t Worry (Royal Findhorn) 9th Hat Trick (Royal Cork), 10th Rhapsody (Tamesis),  plus 17th Miss D’Meanour (IOM)

The IOMYC Regatta takes place on Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th August.

Dinghies

Sat 16th - First Start 1430

Sun 17th - First Start 1030

3 races per session, 1 discard if all races are complete

Cruisers

Sat 16th - Pursuit Race 1, first starter 1430

Sun 17th - Pursuit Race 2, first starter 1030

Sailing Instructions as per IOMYC 2008 programme booklet.

Their will be a BBQ after racing on Saturday and a prize presentation and buffet after racing on Sunday with no charge to competitors and helpers

Info thanks to Keith Holden

The Laxey Regatta scheduled for 22nd June, 2008 was cancelled due to inclement weather. The new date is Sunday 3rd August, with a 12.00 start. There will be two races, back to back, with refreshments served in the clubhouse afterwards.