IOM “Woodie” Sail Day – Forcett Lakes 20.4.24

[Bodge]

IOM “Woodie” Race Day – Forcett Lakes

20th April, 2024

Fifteen keen skippers turned up today at Forcett Lakes venue (south of Hobart, near Lewisham) to sail their wooden IOMs. The number of boats was a record for this event and we believe it could grow into the future.

The weather was perfect, clear skies, temperature in the mid-high teens, 5-10 knts from the NW. Hats and sunglasses were the order of the day. The format was handicap racing, with 15 sec penalty for first, 10 sec for second, and 5 sec for third, cumulative with no drops, so every race counted.

We ended up completing ten races, calling it quits around 2pm so we could all enjoy a well-earned BBQ after racing. The highest handicap ended up at 45 sec with 14 of the 15 skippers enjoying a podium finish or two, thus attracting a handicap penalty.

Close racing was the order of the day which kept our PRO, Leigh Behrens on his toes scoring the close finishes, with nine different skippers enjoying a race win.

Due to near drought conditions in the south of the state the lake level was the lowest most of us could remember, which resulted in eight boat rescues. Ironically, we were all advised about the potential mud bars from Pete Webberley and who ran aground first …. Sorry Pete 😊, your waders did come in handy today!

Whilst the majority of the skippers were from the south of the state, we did enjoy the company of Peter Haworth from up north (2.5 hr drive) and Ian “Dicko” Dickinson from the North-West (4 hr drive). Thank you both for making the trip south.

First place today with a clear margin, was Wayne “Buzzy” Behrens with 2 race wins on 41 points. (Wayne is the brother of today’s PRO Leigh …. Hmmm 😊 Only Joking chaps). Second place thru to fifth place was only separated by 6 pts with myself, Ian “Bodge” Hey taking second on 58 pts, with Phil “Trout” Jackman third a further 2 pts behind.

Congratulations to all skippers that participated in a very enjoyable, social day, with a special thank you to Pete Webberley who supplied the rescue boat, waders, BBQ and tent to keep the sun off the PRO 😊.

A big thank you also to our PRO, Leigh Behrens who did a fantastic job keeping the races moving along , together with scoring the results and calculating handicaps, thank you! 😊

 

Ian Hey

 

Next proposed “Woodie” days at Forcett Lakes:-

·       17th August, 2024 and

·       9th November, 2024

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[Peter Sylvester]

Great summary of a fantastic and enjoyable days sailing.

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