Category Archives: IOM

HOLD THE DATE – 20th September…. !!

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You may have spotted that Datchet Radio Sailing was due to hold the Ten Rater Nationals on September 19th/20th.

We are back sailing again after the huge drought-driven water-level drop, but now on the 200 acres of water at the far end of the reservoir. After much soul searching, the Club came to the view that although the arrangement (1 mile drive from the clubhouse) is fine for Club Racing it would inevitably bring challenges (course laying in certain key wind directions, facilities etc) for running a National Event. Reluctantly, we had to cancel.

Boo to the drought….

BUT HOLD THE DATE !!! Mark 20th September in your calendar. We are going to try a Pop-Up not ever offered before – at our wonderful Clubhouse and on the Water. You don’t have to be a Club member, but if you are even vaguely interested in IOMs and live within a reasonable drive you might be really keen to put your name down.

Numbers will be limited….

Watch this space !!

Datchet IOM Worlds – Coming Up….!!

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It’s 3rd June. About ten days after the Worlds.

We are nearing the end of duties now. For myself, I’ve put the scoring systems away (the team are having a lie down!) and I am working hard to close the Championship accounts, …and already we are helping re-use the Worlds legacy knowledge to support Jim and the boys running the DF65 Nationals this weekend coming. Good luck to the East Kent Members at Barton’s Point !

In the rear view mirror, you get to appreciate how much we have learned putting many months of hard work behind us. In the coming days and weeks we shall look to reflect and digest – and place some of our knowledge on this website to help other Clubs run their events. In coming weeks, we are thinking of reporting to you on:-

  • the Robot Race-Buoys Age has finally arrived. What’s the Business Case?
  • the Amazing IOM2026 dedicated Website
  • Parallel Scoring : how to plan you’ll actually reach the last day… with flawless and audited results
  • Live-streaming and What we Learned
  • Making the Commentators’ life slightly easier : hand held tech commentary aids
  • The Hugely Important Role of Volunteers, How to Pull It All Together
  • What Drives Cost to run a Championship at this scale
  • How to Plan and Execute a Regatta at this Scale
  • Those Amazing Worlds Trophies provided by Robot Yachts – What it takes to Design and Make Trophies like that (if I can talk Tony and James into telling us!)
  • AI and writing Press reports quickly !! (Yes – a lot of what you read was AI generated !! Frighteningly good.)
  • Flags, banners, special flags and …. Flagpoles!
  • Campsite Management and building an enduring Club Asset
  • Scrutineering and Workflow
  • WhatsApp : Totally Central to Organising and Running a 2026 Championship
  • Special Technologies that can lend a hand : Satellite Comms, Waterproof Tablets, Portable Credit Card Readers, Buoybots, RTK, Application of AI – and more
  • Just how much do 84 competitors and 40 volunteers drink in a hot week?
  • Auditable International and Domestic Banking … not as trivial as you’d think
  • Do we learn anything for the Future of Our Sport

If there is anything else you’d like to hear about, simply let his know via the Contacts page of this website.

Datchet IOM Worlds – Hull Designs – An Embarrassment of Riches !!

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We are somewhat spoiled for choice, don’t you think??

We have three major builders dominating the fleet with around a quarter of the fleet a piece. Hugely mixed results and they are all terrific! 2026 was a brilliant year for one of the strong contingent of V12s to win – a poignant note to mark Ian Vickers’ departure from life.

And how old is the BritPOP! design now?? Amazing – and the 2026 GBR National Champion sailed one of the first three to be built! How terrific is that!! 12% of this fleet in 2026 :).

Plus, I have a feeling that the K2R is one of the first K2’s built.

Then if the original IOM Charter was to encourage new designs, just look at that! Proteus and the other unique designs were almost 20% of the fleet.

A special note about Craig Richard’s Proteus. As a project, it seems like it has only been going 5 minutes and already three boats entered into the Worlds. In fact, Craig sailed his Proteus to two 1st Places during the 18 race worlds. Brilliant, really brilliant !! For those of us at Datchet who have lived through the Proteus story – especially David and Nigel, it’s quite something – for Craig and for 3D printing technology. We shall be hearing more and more of Proteus, I’m sure.

Superb – An embarrassment of riches. A golden era is upon us !?!