Tim Long

The Bournville Club in Birmingham is hosting the final round of the Midland District RG65 Championship this coming Sunday and whether you sail a development class RG65 or a restricted class DF65 you’ll be made very welcome at the splendid club which used to form part of the Cadbury empire. For entry details and a NoR head over to http://df65racing.co.uk/ and click on the events page.

The Bournville Club in Birmingham is hosting the final round of the Midland District RG65 Championship this coming Sunday and whether you sail a development class RG65 or a restricted class DF65 you’ll be made very welcome at the splendid club which used to form part of the Cadbury empire. For entry details and a NoR head over to http://df65racing.co.uk/ and click on the events page.

And the winner is.....Mr Brad Gibson. Congratulations on retaining the IOM European title after a week of nip and tuck racing in conditions that took many team GBR skippers a while to get used to and saw a few top UK skippers struggling down the board. Brad found himself in control from the beginning and looked to be building a solid lead as the event went on until Spanish skipper Juan Marcos Egea made a mid week charge up the board to take the lead from the GBR skipper. Through the latter stages of the event the lead changed almost race by race however at the final reckoning BG took the event after 15 races with 68 points from the Spaniard who finished just two points behind with 70. Third place went to Frenchman Olivier Cohen who was never too far from the top of the board for most of the week. Current World Champ Rob Walsh came in 5th with a good solid performance throughout the week he steadily climbed through the top ten as the week went on. GBR skippers Graham Elliott and Peter Stollery made good recoveries during the second half of the week after struggling initially during the early part of the event. They finished the week in 10th and 11th places. Current UK IOM National Champ Tony Edwards had a mixed week with a couple of great results early on in the week followed by a couple of not so great finishes and concluded the week with some solid results in this tough field of European skippers to finish 17th overall. Josh King had a good solid week at the office and finished a creditable 23rd overall followed closely by Martin Roberts in 25th and Uncle Derek in 26th who looked very racy early in the week and perhaps peaking a little too early before dropping down the board during the second half of the week. Graham Bantock didn't seem to reach his potential and finished the week in 29th place with a couple of good results towards the end of the event. Remaining GBR skippers Trevor Binks and Greg King finished the week in 43rd and 46th place and like other GBR skippers they saw their results improve as the event wore on. Congratulations to all those skippers that took part and the organisers for putting on the event in a fantastic location which provided a challenge for both the skippers and the organisers with wind direction changes, currents causing marks to drift and proper waves which is something that some skippers hadn't seen before! Well done Team GBR! Final HMS results sheet is available on the event website - http://www.iomec2014italy.com

As many of you may know the IOM European Championships take place at Vela Club Campione del Garda in Italy from the 27th September until Friday 3rd October with GBR fielding a very strong team of 11 skippers at the event. Current World Champion Rob Walsh is joined by 5 former World Champions, current European Champion, Brad Gibson, three former European Champions, Tony Edwards, the current UK National Champion and several other top UK skippers including our very own MYA president Derek Priestley. Along with the strong GBR entry there 76 skippers from 17 Countries taking part in the event which kicks off on Saturday 27th September with measurement and registration taking place before racing starts in earnest on Sunday afternoon with the seeding race in which Heat C looks like a good one to win with four GBR skippers involved. From then on the racing will be of the highest standard with top skippers from all over the world looking to take the title of top European skipper. Racing continues in the idyllic setting of Lake Garda until Friday afternoon when we will see a new European Champion crowned. For more details and to follow the event as it unfolds please check out the event website - http://www.iomec2014italy.com Good luck to all those involved, especially the GBR team.

Morning all, The Footy class has a very good website with lots of useful information on it for those keen to get involved with this class. Check it out here - http://www.sailfootyuk.com/

Morning all, There is a website for the RG65 UK Class Association which contains lots of useful info on this exciting development class. Check it out here - http://www.rg65.org.uk/

Morning all, There is a dedicated website for the Dragonforce 65 UK Class Association which has all the details you might need about these great little yachts. Check it out here - https://dfracinguk.com/

Looking outside the box on this one so bear with me. Wherever the nationals are held there are always competitors who seem to grumble about either location or organisation or the fact that the breeze never came from the favoured direction. There are also those who have an advantage because it is their home water and they know about the stream that flows into the pond just by the finish to give you a lift etc etc. Why not neutralise all of this and find a suitable venue (such as has been done for 2014) and hold all the MYA class nationals there. The water is only sailed during nationals and it is a venue that is new to competitors and needs to be learnt. Race teams etc can be drafted in as required but any venue is probably chosen because it has a number of good facilities at or around it. Don't shoot me down on this one, it is only a suggestion but without willing clubs coming forward to host events it seems like a logical one.