I.O.M Winter Series Round 8 at Lincoln Radio Sailing Club
by Mick Chamberlain 18 Jan 13:13 PST
18 January 2026
I.O.M Winter Series Round 8 at Lincoln © Mick Chamberlain
A bit of a damp morning, but it certainly did not dampen the spirit of the 17 I.O.M skippers 17. Rob was RO, and give him lots of credit he did a great job, as always plenty of help was on hand from the usual faithfuls.
It really was tipping it down when we all turned up and hung around for an hour and then dried up, not cold and a gentle breeze from, I guess the North East that gave us a nice beat and run on the South bank. Nine designs on show today, and Darin B had his Brit Pop back, not the Pikanto as suggested in the results.
First race kicked off right on time after the briefing, and it was Tim H 134 followed home by Darin B, and then Sam P 59 in his Venti. The breeze was light and just a little shifty, and you needed your wits about you, for the whole length of the course which was two laps.
Race 2 had Rob W 97 and race 3 Darin B 98 who was quickly getting into his stride and he then followed through with a couple of second places, before claiming another bullet in race 6.
The race wins, well Rob W 97 had three, Darin took a couple, Tim took one with Pete W 65 and Roger C 30 collecting the other two. We sailed 8 long races, and the racing to be honest was superb. Everybody will have gone home firstly with a plan of what to do next time but also with a smile, because despite the lousy weather the racing was had in a fine spirit.
You can all look at your discards and make some excuses, but at the end of the day, the fat lady sang and Darin stood on the top step, a fairly regular occurrence.
Round 8 Results:
| Pos | Hull | Skipper | Sail No | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | Pikanto | Darin Ballington | 98 | 2 | 18 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 13 |
| 2 | Britpop | Rob Wilson | 97 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 14 |
| 3 | Britpop | Tim Hand | 134 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 11 | 7 | 16 |
| 4 | Venti | Pete Walters | 65 | 4 | 8 | 18 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 23 |
| 5 | Venti | Mick Chamberlain | 46 | 8 | 6 | 12 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 27 |
| 6 | Venti | Sam Parker | 59 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 15 | 5 | 6 | 28 |
| 7 | Friday | Roger Crates | 30 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 10 | 18 | 1 | 4 | 30 |
| 8 | V10 | Paul Kelly | 144 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 13 | 7 | 9 | 32 |
| 9 | Alioth | Martyn Aspinall | 91 | 11 | 7 | 13 | 13 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 3 | 46 |
| 10 | Britpop | Tracey Ballington | 49 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 11 | 14 | 8 | 13 | 54 |
| 11 | Britpop | Jen Hand | 69 | 17 | 18 | 6 | 6 | 13 | 6 | 9 | 15 | 55 |
| 12 | Venti | Kevin Evison | 87 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 16 | 6 | 12 | 16 | 10 | 59 |
| 13 | Viss | Richard Jutsum | 89 | 16 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 14 | 8 | 15 | 11 | 62 |
| 14 | Venti | Adrian Cripps | 80 | 12 | 14 | 7 | 15 | 16 | 9 | 13 | 16 | 70 |
| 15 | Sedici | Colin Helliwell | 77 | 15 | 12 | 15 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 70 |
| 16 | Robot | Ron Austen | 175 | 13 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 14 | 14 | 82 |
| 17 | Proteus | Mike Holmes | 27 | 14 | 18 | 18 | 17 | 17 | 11 | 17 | 18 | 94 |