2015 Fred’s Big Toephy, 8th February 2015

The opening event of the 2015 Footy Traveller’s series was sailed at Abbey Meads Lake, Chertsey and hosted by Guildford Model Yacht Club in glorious sunshine. 12 competitors from 6 clubs enjoyed 12 races in very variable wind conditions, from the lightest of breezes to a steady wind from the North requiring a change from the biggest rigs to 2 rigs smaller just before the break for lunch.

PRO, Hugh McAdoo, set a long windward/leeward course and because there was very little wind to start with, this took over a quarter of an hour, requiring a lot of concentration to get the best performance. Peter Shepherd crossed the finishing line first, sailing his home-made wooden FAT BOY followed by Roger Stollery and his corrugated plastic chine SUPABUG design. The latter turned the tables in Race 2 and this was to become a familiar pattern as between them they won 9 of the 12 races. This was interrupted just before lunch, when Alan Viney sailing his moulded plastic ICE won Race 6 in the increasing wind. Top of the leaderboard at lunch was Peter, just one point ahead of Roger.

The wind seemed to have peaked at lunch and from then on the wind came a bit more from the west and gradually decreased towards the end of the racing. After Roger won Race 7, Peter won the next 2, when the Vice children arrived to join in the fun. They immediately had an impact on the results because 16-year-old CJ Vice showed his mettle to win Race 10 with his brother 11-year-old Gabriel finishing 5^th sailing their ICE boats. The next race required a lot of concentration as there were many holes in the wind and once again CJ came to the front after struggling a bit at the beginning of the race. This time 14-year-old Lockie Vice backed up the ‘family‘ performance with a 6^th. However, it was the narrow designs, FAT BOY and FAT BOY SLIM sailed by the Peters Shepherd and Jackson that took the honours in these light conditions with CJ 3^rd and Gabriel 4^th.

At the prizegiving, Hugh McAdoo thanked the competitors for their sportsmanlike behaviour, as there were no protests and penalties were carried out without needing to be hailed by the observers. As well as awarding Fred’s Big Toephy to Peter Shepherd and the prizes for the event including the junior prizes, the prize for the best novice (never having finished in the top 3 in these events) was presented to Alan Viney.

Also, as is traditional at the first event of the series, the 2014 Traveller’s Trophy was presented to David Wilkinson, who had travelled the most miles competing in all but one of the 9 Open events in the series.

The next event in the 2015 Footy Traveller’s Series is the Mad March Hare at Cotswold Model Yacht Club on 19^th of March where we are expecting to welcome more juniors to sail these super little boats. Details can be found on the really excellent website www.sailfootyuk.com.

Results:

1^st Peter Shepherd Abington Park FAT BOY 18, 2^nd Roger Stollery Guildford SUPABUG 22, 3^rd Peter Jackson Abington Park FAT BOY SLIM 30, 4^th Mike Ewart 2 Islands ICE 34, 5^th Alan Viney Guildford ICE 46, 6^th David Wilkinson Cotswold IAMBUS 47, 7^th Keith Parrott Frensham Pond ICE 61, 8^th Sid Sims Birmingham ICE 67, 9^th Peter Dunne Guildford SUPABUG 78.

As the Vice squad arrived later than expected their scores were not incorporated into the main results but made up a separate junior competition.

1^st CJ 4, 2^nd Gabriel 10, 3^rd Lockie 10.