On Saturday 16th December 2023 the Illawarra Radio Yacht Club (IRYC) hosted their 2nd Annual IOM
Invitational Regatta which is an event focused more on the social aspects, rather than what can be the highly competitive side, of RC sailing and what a day it turned out to be with nineteen (19) sailors taking part in great weather and exhibiting some close sailing throughout the day.

The event started with a morning session of the first of eight (8) scratch racing in a single fleet, all with A rigs, heading out in a freshening westerly breeze but as the starting gun for Heat 1 went it was quickly realised that nice breeze had increased to top of B rig conditions with the changed conditions taking an early toll on some of the sailors and their IOMs.

The battle between all the boats was tight throughout the morning heats however, once everyone
changed down to B rigs from Heat 2, it was evident that Paul Jones in his K2 was going to be the boat to beat, closely followed by Team Vickers with Paul Morrish (V11) and Laurie Hinchliffe (V10), in at times challenging conditions. While there were several minor mishaps during the morning, overall, the sailing was very competitive with good results shared throughout the fleet however some weed floating through the course caused issues for several sailors at times.

Congratulations to the Scratch podium winners’ placings going to:

• 1st Paul Jones (LMRYC) – now 2 times winner 😊
• 2nd Paul Morrish (NRYS)
• 3rd Laurie Hinchcliffe (KoBSC/IRYC)

After an adjournment for lunch the afternoon was Handicap starts using our simple “20 second 9 division handicap system’’ but unfortunately due to some of the carnage from the morning session, and a few sailors choosing not to stay for the full event, only thirteen (13) sailors continued to go head-to-head or head-to-tail in B Rigs. Again, the handicap system appeared to work quite well with all sailors quickly understanding the start process and, in the end, it provided seven (7) winners from the eight (8) races.

The handicap system is aimed at providing the less experienced sailors an opportunity to get out the front in clear air and less traffic and have the more experienced sailors try to run them down over the standard2 lap sausage course. This year that chasing task proved too great for the winners of the morning events,even though at times a 2-3 minute handicap was nearly not enough to stop the scratch markers getting near the lead in some heats.

Allen Roberts demonstrated that consistency and good sailing pay. Other notable mentions with good results in this handicap event were from new IRYC member Kevin Costell sailing his new Plan B, Peter Zecchin sailing his 3D Alioth and the ever-consistent Neill Webb in his MadMax.Congratulations to the Handicap podium winners with placings going to:- 1st Allan Roberts (KBRYC)- 2nd Tom Phillips (BRYC)- 3rd Tim Bennet (BRYC)

My thanks go to the PRO and IRYC Club Captain, Warren Norrie, who ensured the event was ran in the
desired social spirit and to the support crew from the IRYC, including Lester, Vince, Allan, John, David,
Ralph and Rob, who all ably assisted during the day to ensure the event was a success. Also, another big thanks to the IYC Sailboard Division for working with the RC Division to ensure we all had enough space for everyone to run their events on the day.

Finally, thanks to the visiting sailors who traveled to support our event from Kogarah Bay Radio Yacht
Club, Lake Macquarie Radio Yacht Club, Basin Radio Yacht Club, Newcastle Radio Yacht Squadron and
Koonawarra Bay Radio Sailing Club.

The IRYC wish you all a Happy Christmas and a safe New Year and we hope to see everyone as our
traveling members support your Regattas in 2024.