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Rounds 4 and 5 of the TT took place at Keighley on the 16th and 17th July.

A great days sailing on Saturday in a breeze which was generally towards the top end of full size swing rig. Later in the day some sailors did change down to a full size conventional or low aspect full size swing after a few nose dives but the winner held onto his Swing Rig all day. Winner was once again Chris Elliott, with Peter Baldwin 2nd and John Brierley third, all sailing Uno’s.

After a slow start and delay of about 90 minutes due to a distinct lack of wind, 17 races were completed on Sunday in conditions that were difficult for the sailors, but more especially for the Race Officer, John Sharman.

The event started in swing rigs with about 4 or 5 knots of breeze, but by lunchtime, the breeze had picked up considerably averaging at least 8 knots, with gusts of around 15. Everyone therefore opted for a rig change, with a combination of low aspect swing and conventional rigs in use.

Unfortunately by the end of the day a number of sailors had gear failure so that having started with 10 boats only 7 were left racing.

Today was eventually won by John Tushingham in a Scurry, with Graham Elliott (Argon) second, and Peter Baldwin (Uno) third.

The locations for TT6 & TT7 have now been agreed as a weekend event consisting of two separate days of racing at the Two Islands Radio Yacht Club on Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th September 2022. Further details and NoR will be available in due course.

Here are the proposed dates for the TT Series in 2022.

There are a total of 9 TT events (including the Nationals) and so the Overall Series result will be based on 5 of these to count.

Now that the UK Nationals have been sailed, the positions in the Overall series have been updated. Graham Elliott has taken over the lead from John Brierley who has also been pushed by John Tushingham into third place overall. Full details on the final positions are available in the Table below, which is likely to be the final standing for 2021, with no more planned events.

Many thanks to the 32 helms who turned out at the four locations for this years TT series. Hopefully we will be back to something like normal next year and a more extensive TT series.

The day started with a heavy rain shower and minimal wind, although this was fortunately short lived and racing got underway after only a short delay. The wind was just as unpredictable as Saturday, with the strength and direction changing to catch the unwary out if you chose the wrong direction up the beat.

We had an extended lunch break whilst the wind decided to disappear and change direction for a while. The RO setup for a course off the far bank, but in the end all races were sailed from the near bank and a mark placed 60m or so away causing eyesight issues for some sailors with boat on boat and mark contacts resulting in a number of penalties to be done.

Mister consistent Graham Elliott, continued his form from Saturday with a string of top 3 places with only a thirteenth in one race early on Sunday being his worst result. So we ended up with 28 races sailed over the two days and Graham Elliott crowned Champion. John Tushingham secured second place nearly 50 points behind with Martin Gray topping out the podium only 4 points behind John. Derek Priestley was awarded a special prize for the “most improved” sailor of the event as he moved up 2 places between the results at the end of Saturday and Sunday, no doubt helped by two good results in races 27 and 28 after changing down to suit the increasing breeze at the end of the day.

Thanks must go to the Keighley Club for hosting the event and Race Officer Damian Ackroyd assisted by Judith Baldwin for running the races under trying conditions. Everyone was kept fed and well watered throughout the two days by Liz and her support crew in the galley and we were also grateful to the work undertaken by the boat team over the two days.

Event photographs from the excellent Sue Brown are in her Catsails Flickr account here

The fleet of 17 boats started the day with a light Southerly breeze, with sailing off the far bank, testing both the fleet and Race Officer with its pressure and direction changes. After 5 races the wind changed to become more from the South East and so the course was reset during a break allowing sailing from the near bank. This course was then used for the rest of the day.

Line honours in races one to eleven were shared between 8 different helms, with few helms managing to put in a consistent run of good results. Graham Elliott was one of the most consistent, which was further cemented by four race wins in the last five races. So at the end of Day 1 Graham is first, currently well clear of Tobias Laux in second and John Tushingham in third.

The current forecast for Sunday is for light winds and the potential of heavy rain for an hour or more in the late morning. I am sure that everyone will be hoping that the forecast turns out to be wrong.

Birkenhead RS & PC are holding two of their RG/DF65 racing afternoons over the next two weeks (4th & 11th September) as an opportunity to tune up before the Nationals on the 18th. Visitors are welcome to join in with the racing that starts at 13:00 and runs until approximately 16:30. Wind allowing, approximately 10 races will be run over the afternoon.

If you intend to come, please book a place for either day using the relevant “Upcoming Events” links on the home page of the Club website or via the following link https://birkenheadrspc.co.uk/?page_id=5193. This helps the club know and record the numbers and people attending.

The 2021 TT series consists of 5 events with 4 completed so far with 3 to count and just the Nationals to go. Overall positions have now been calculated and the results are shown below. Currently the top three are John Brierley on top followed by John Tushingham and then Peter Baldwin. That could easily all change once we get the results in from the Nationals. Not too long to go, so get your entries in.