2022 UK IOM National Championship

by John Owens 7 May 2022 02:09 NZST 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.

2022 UK IOM National Championship at Castle Semple Loch - photo © Sue Brown

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!).

2022 UK IOM National Championship at Castle Semple Loch - photo © Sue Brown

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

Position	Skipper	Sail	Nation	Hull	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	R11	Pts
1	Brad Gibson	42	GBR	BritPOP!	1	13	11	2	4	2	3	4	4	1	1	22
2	Rob Walsh	25	GBR	BritPOP!	1	7	1	3	8	17	6	2	2	3	2	27
3	Peter Stollery	39	GBR	BritPOP!	2	8	3	19	2	9	1	3	1	2	11	31
4	Graham Elliott	9	GBR	BritPOP!	1	1	7	1	10	15	5	5	3	20	3	36
5	Peter Feldman	144	USA	Kantun 2	3	3	6	10	1	5	4	6	14	13	12	50
6	Odd Ornulf Stray	90	NOR	Kantun 2	1	2	8	6	5	10	12	14	12	6	4	54
7	Brian Summers	7	GBR	Buzz III	9	15	5	7	3	3	18	15	18	4	5	66
8	Graham Bantock	95	GBR	Akziom	1	5	9	5	12	14	9	11	20	5	9	66
9	Andrea Roberts	127	GBR	BritPOP!	3	4	14	8	6	8	21	1	9	14	15	67
10	Martin Roberts	22	GBR	Vanilla	6	30	13	9	7	1	15	8	6	12	17	77
11	John Tushingham	51	GBR	Vision	6	12	2	17	30	19	10	9	5	8	18	87
12	Craig Richards	112	GBR	Vanilla	2	11	19	11	15	12	2	17	17	35	10	97
13	Peter Walters	65	GBR	Venti	3	9	12	12	21	25	19	10	7	17	26	110
14	Ian Dundas	38	GBR	Fatboy	4	23	10	21	16	7	14	13	11	15	21	111
15	Jeff Kay	3	IRL	BritPOP!	3	10	17	14	9	6	16	25	16	23	23	114
16	Jonas Samson	60	SWE	Kantun 2	2	22	18	27	24	30	7	7	13	11	13	117
17	Mark Dennis	19	GBR	BritPOP!	5	22	25	20	19	27	11	12	8	10	16	123
18	Tony Edwards	75	GBR	BritPOP!	4	14	20	13	14	16	20	31	21	24	8	130
19	Austin Guerrier	6	GBR	V10	4	26	23	23	29	4	8	19	15	16	19	131
20	James Hadden	87	GBR	BritPOP!	9	35	16	36	25	13	13	16	23	9	14	138
21	Darin Ballington	98	GBR	BritPOP!	6	40	22	4	17	21	27	37	42	7	6	147
22	Stephen Taylor	43	GBR	Venti	2	20	21	30	22	20	24	26	22	19	7	157
23	Thomas Enwall	15	SWE	Venti	8	33	40	24	13	11	17	22	19	25	24	163
24	Nigel Barrow	29	GBR	BritPOP!	7	24	28	22	18	26	22	21	25	21	20	180
25	Vernon Appleton	73	GBR	BritPOP!	6	6	15	16	37	32	34	28	31	27	31	192
26	Nigel Brown	55	GBR	Sedici	2	16	26	29	27	29	29	35	26	28	22	205
27	Hugh Watson	107	GBR	BritPOP!	5	25	27	26	26	24	31	20	24	29	35	206
28	Derek Priestley	67	GBR	Dead Reckoning	4	27	4	15	20	35	32	34	49	43	42	213
29	Dave Cockerill	165	GBR	Kantun 2	10	57	38	45	34	23	23	18	32	22	25	225
30	John Taylor	28	GBR	Rubix	8	42	37	48	55	58	25	27	10	18	29	244
31	Mick Chamberlain	46	GBR	Venti	5	32	29	33	28	28	26	30	34	34	52	245
32	Ulf Lindberg	100	SWE	Venti	8	32	41	25	32	50	44	37	27	33	34	269
33	Peter Cropper	68	GBR	V10	8	47	56	32	45	33	39	24	28	36	30	275
34	Tim Hand	44	GBR	V10	5	28	37	35	38	45	40	41	29	26	37	275
35	Colin McGinnis	45	GBR	Buzz 3c	9	51	52	40	31	22	28	29	35	45	44	283
36	Dave Allinson	4	GBR	BritPOP!	7	38	37	47	42	37	41	23	37	31	38	289
37	Robert Wilson	97	GBR	BritPOP!	9	36	43	31	40	43	43	40	30	30	32	291
38	John Cleave	0	GBR	Kantun 2	5	19	32	49	58	41	48	38	43	40	28	294
39	David Lindsay	23	GBR	V11	6	39	30	18	37	36	47	66	37	48	57	298
40	Christopher Nichols	35	GBR	BritPOP!	10	54	46	28	11	18	33	49	62	57	55	304
41	Jari Heiskanen	109	SWE	Kantun 2	7	17	24	34	47	66	56	66	33	39	52	309
42	Bob Conner	14	GBR	BritPOP!	10	34	47	39	52	42	30	32	44	38	40	309
43	Hasan Güven	172	TUR	BritPOP!	7	37	50	57	23	31	37	44	46	46	45	316
44	Gordon Allison	62	GBR	Venti	9	50	37	37	41	40	37	43	48	42	39	325
45	Stewart Campbell	50	GBR	Kantun 2	3	18	33	52	54	34	51	55	55	53	33	331
46	Mark Rose	78	GBR	BritPOP!	12	43	44	41	43	39	45	39	39	47	60	345
47	Roy Stevens	54	GBR	BritPOP!	4	29	31	42	49	56	49	42	50	52	53	348
48	Richard Aucott	16	GBR	Alternative	10	44	45	38	39	44	46	54	56	44	41	351
49	John Sharman	61	GBR	Vision	11	52	58	44	46	52	53	45	45	32	27	354
50	David Stewart	30	GBR	Corbie I	8	46	55	59	37	38	42	46	41	49	58	362
51	James La Roche	57	GBR	BritPOP!	11	48	39	43	48	53	59	50	60	41	37	370
52	Anthony Marshall	74	GBR	Kantun 2	13	49	54	58	33	47	37	47	52	55	49	381
53	Bill Odger	37	GBR	V9	12	45	48	52	52	49	55	53	63	37	43	391
54	David Northridge	120	GBR	Lintel MMX	14	56	53	46	50	51	63	33	47	61	46	396
55	Ian Sinclair	141	GBR	Sedici	11	60	66	60	44	46	50	60	38	52	47	408
56	Neil Davies	58	GBR	BritPOP!	10	55	59	56	56	48	38	48	58	58	63	427
57	Mike Evans	175	GBR	BritPOP!	12	53	42	50	57	54	52	56	52	59	59	428
58	John Berry	12	GBR	Viper	13	63	63	53	66	55	57	52	40	50	56	439
59	Oliver Stollery	139	GBR	Isotonic	7	41	51	55	61	63	60	62	59	56	54	444
60	Sandy Mackay	158	GBR	BritPOP!	11	59	49	62	62	57	54	61	53	54	48	446
61	Mike Drew	27	GBR	Vision	11	61	57	54	53	64	62	52	61	60	61	470
62	Jen Hand	69	GBR	BritPOP!	12	58	60	61	66	61	58	57	57	64	52	476
63	Eric Austwick	32	GBR	Alternative	13	62	61	63	63	60	61	58	54	63	62	494
64	John Crix	131	GBR	Lintel MMX	12	65	64	65	59	59	65	63	64	62	64	512
65	Alan McKechnie	59	GBR	Vision	14	64	62	64	60	62	64	59	65	65	65	514