Dinghy Reports

Write up by Jerry Colman

What a fantastic day at the MS&CC Easter Regatta! It’s traditionally scheduled for Easter Saturday (April 4th this year) and also traditionally delayed due to weather as occurred this year due to the appearance of Storm Dave. The postponed event took place on Sunday 19th April in gorgeous sunshine and a light to moderate (but shifty) North Westerly breeze so with Ramsey Bay looking at its best. The Regatta consisted of three races held in succession with no discards so every position counted and any slip-ups could be costly.

19 teams took part in the event with a strong squad from the Isle of Man Yacht Club presenting a powerful challenge. Your correspondent duly entered the Finn dinghy but was disappointed to find that the mice in the garage had been living in his best sail and seemed to have found the reinforced mylar to their taste so I had to swap it for an old one thereby obtaining an early excuse for a rather lacklustre performance. Click her for the full report- IOM Copiers Easter Regatta.

Unfortunately our original Easter Regatta date clashed with Storm ‘Dave’ so we’ve had to postpone the event, our new date is now Sunday 19 April.

This is a One Day Event with three races to be held “back to back”, with racing starting at 11.00 and expected to be fully completed at 14:30 – IOM Copiers Easter Regatta 2026-Sailing Instructions.

We hope to see as many competitors as possible in Ramsey Bay on Sunday 19 April to open our season with the IOM Copiers ‘Easter’ Regatta.

There will be a Prize Presentation directly afterwards which will be followed by a complimentary Regatta Tea for all competitors, race officials, family, friends and social members.

As this event is part of the ‘Traveller Series’ it’s hoped that this Regatta will be fully supported. Competitors of all ages and capabilities are welcome! Please contact Ralph Kee, Dinghy Captain on 490704 or helen.j.kee@gmail.com for further details or check out our Facebook page.

Write up by Jerry Colman

Tom Watterson (RS Aero 7) sailed just well enough to take the March Series on Sunday from Dave Batchelor (Supernova). Both finished on 11 points after discards but Watterson had 3 first places against Batchelor’s 1 so countback gave it to Tom. Next down the leader board came Ralph Kee (Laser standard), Joe and Eric Whitelegg (Enterprise) and Jimmy Cope (Tera PR) with a win each, showing quite a spread amongst the fleet’s top performers by age, boat type and in the wide variety of conditions we endured.  Click here for the full report – Watling Streetworks Winter Series – 22 March 2026

Write up by Jerry Colman

Back from the RYA Boat Show in Farnborough, your correspondent was looking forward to a pleasant sail around Injebreck to refresh his love of the sport but after launching came a warning that conditions on the lake were a bit much for the seniors with the big rigs. He discreetly retired together with junior Jake Walker (RS Tera) while Dad James (Streaker) and 6 others decided to tough it out despite the gusts and the fairly frequent capsizes that Jake and I observed from the bank.

It was mostly time spent righting capsized boats that controlled the results so we now have within the fleet some well-practiced capsize recovery experts as well as more useful experience of taking full advantage of the gusts by maintaining a strong grip on the tiller, leaning out in the appropriate direction and trimming the boat with the bow up to encourage planing. Full report – Watling Streetworks Winter Series – 1 March 2026

Sunday morning saw the final round of the February series of the Watling Streetworks Winter Series in conditions that have not been seen for some time – the SUN!!  The fact that it was half term and the forecast was not great meant that the crews making it to the start line were down from previous rounds.

With the forecast south westerly the wind (not a breeze) was blowing mostly up the valley with the usual Injebreck lumps and bumps.

Making by far the best of the conditions junior, Thomas Watterson (Aero 7) popped out to the front of the fleet early on and by the end had a commanding lead both on the water and after the correction.  Second place went to James Walker (Streaker) who could have, perhaps achieved more if he had been on the right side of the line at the start. Click her for the full report – Watling Streetworks Winter Series – 22 February