Seventeen intrepid IOM sailors shook off the somewhat ominous forecast and showed up to battle for honours at the first Coastal Cup event of 2026. They were rewarded with super winds, somewhat cool temperatures and bright sunshine!!
Racing began in light and puffy conditions and slowly built to solid A rig by lunch and then to the top of A in the afternoon. PRO Bud Fassnacht and his team set up a super double wind/leeward course along the outer dock that allowed excellent visibility over the whole course. Special thanks to Bud, Pat Dion, Al Oliver and Allan Gardener for the great committee work!!
It was a mix and match scoreboard throughout the day with a few exceptions. Blair VanKoughnett started off strong knocking off 3 firsts and a second in the first seven races, only to have a shroud break…putting him out for the day! This left Peter Grimm, Steve Kinsey, Bob Lewis and Jason Rhodes battling it out for the top spot in a tight fleet with some very heavy traffic at all the marks. At the end of 21 races it was Steve Kinsey who won the day with 8 firsts and counting nothing lower than a fifth. Congratulations to Steve for a well sailed event in his V11. On Steve’s tail was Peter Grimm in his duel colored K2…another solid performance Peter, well done! Rounding out the leader board was Jason Rhodes in his new Venti, and Bob Lewis in his venerable BritPop!
Special awards of Art Prufer’s custom engraved beer glasses were given to Bud Fassnacht for leaving his IOM on the dock to run the event, and to Harry Trombley for notching his first win in a Coastal Cup race in his brand new V12…go Harry go !!!!
Thanks everyone for attending and special welcome to Ryan Maheux for joining the IOM group.
Next up is Coastal cup #2 in Nanaimo in April, along with the optional Great Ocean Race ( a distance race around Protection Island)
More detailed information and entry forms to follow shortly.
Your Coastal Cup 2026 Committee