BIIRW started off with a couple of light wind days, building to a fairly breezy day on Tuesday. The IOD fleet is the largest keelboat class racing with 14 entries from around the world, and it is great to see all the boats out on the line!
Sunday was a beautiful day with light(ish) winds and lots of wind shifts to mix up the fleet. Hughie Watlington (BER3) came out of the blocks extremely fast and won his first BIIRW race with style. He then went on to win race 3 as well (1-8-1 for the day)! Race 2 belonged to Bermuda as well with Somers Kempe (BER2) collecting a 4-1-3 for the day. Kevin Farrar (FIS) ended up tied with Hughie Watlington for 2nd at the end of the day with a 5-3-2 and Jan Petter Roed (NOR) just behind with a 6-2-5.
Day 2 was also fairly light winds, though there were a few puffs that had people adjusting controls to keep the boats going. Once again there were a number of passing shifts out there. the day belonged to Somers Kempe with a 1-1-1, stretching his lead to clinch the 'A' series with one race still to come. Hughie Watlington continued his consistent run at the top with a 3-3-4 closely followed by Kevin Farrar (4-5-3).
Day 3 was a completely different wind picture. Before BIIRW (which was moved a week earlier than normal this year due to a conflict with the J-24 Worlds in Annapolis), Jordy Walker (BER) commented that over the history of IIRW, the earlier it was, the more likely we would be to get a significant change in weather. This was certainly true yesterday with winds in the 18-20 knot range, testing boats and crews alike. Unfortunately there was damage on a couple of boats, with one boat officially being retired by the class due to complete winch failure. The most affected by this was Hughie Watlington (BER3) who (as the thirde Bermuda entry) had to give up his boat for the rest of the racing. True to form for Hughie and his crew, they decided to keep on racing in the damaged boat, hats off to them for a gutsy performance in rather strong conditions!
Day 3 belonged to Dan Faria (ILYC) with a 2-3-1 and Bob Constable (NAN) with a 1-1-4. Both of them had their respective boats flying and did extremely well in the breeze. The next boats were mixed with Kevin Farrar (FIS) turning in a 2-3-11 (over early in the third race), Somers Kempe (BER2) turning in a 10-5-3 and Jan Petter Roed (NOR) turning in a 4-7-2.
A special thank you is deserved by two teams in particular. Shawn Mulrooney (CHESTER) and Jim Dingle (NEPEAN) had a rig tangle at the start of Race 2. As a crew on another boat, I can safely say that it was painful to watch, and to be honest it could have meant the loss of two rigs. With great seamanship in the swells, the crews worked to separate the baots without significant damage (aside from a windex or two) and eventually continued to race. Well done folks!
Series 'A' was won by Somers Kempe (BER2) with Hughie Watlington (BER3) in second and Kevin Farrar (FIS) in 3rd. Series 'B' is currently being led by Dan Faria (ILYC) followed by Bob Constable (NAN) and Somers Kempe (BER2).
Wednesday is a lay day - and there are a bunch of repairs pending! The hope is that we will have 14 working boats ready for the start line on Thursday!
The results are posted on the RBYC website.