2016 M&S District Marblehead Interclub 3, GAMES 7 for the Arcadia Trophy

A great time was had at Abbey Meads Lake with the 16 races sailed in some of the best conditions that Guildford Model Yacht Club can offer. After a rather gloomy drizzley start, 8 competitors representing 3 clubs had a great deal of fun over the long beat and run course ideally placed parallel to the western control area. The fast planing runs were very exciting until the strongest gusts and power of the A rigs used by nearly all competitors drove bows under and rudders into the air.

The very first race gave an indication of how the results might turn out, as Peter Stollery, who was testing a new version of the UPROAR B rig managed to win despite having less power than the A rig competitors in the light airs. His father Roger, who was also testing a variation of the same offset pivot swing rig won Race 2 and Race 6, leaving Peter to win the other 6 races before lunch. The most consistent skipper apart from Peter was John Shorrock with five 2nd places and this took him to 2nd place on the leaderboard 7 points behind Peter, but 5 points ahead of Roger.

The sun then came out and the wind continued to increase during the afternoon, but 2 boats managed sail with their A rigs all day, although most were then in B. Mr Consistency, John Shorrock, sailing a QUARK managed to beat both the UPROARs to win Race 9, but then let them win all the remaining races. The wind direction gradually became more south-westerly as it increased and there were a few short breaks in the racing to pick up boats that had gear problems and had drifted into the bushes. Everyone enjoyed the incredible speed can be reached by these fast lightweight Marbleheads off the wind.

The disappointing entry from local clubs may be as a result of the closeness to next week’s MYA National Championship at Datchet, where there is a big entry from M&S District clubs. Those clubs not supporting this event missed a great opportunity to sail in breezy conditions at Abbey Meads and we hope that they will return to contribute to future events run by Guildford MYC later in the year.

The next M&S District Interclub event no. 4 and GAMES 8 is at Datchet on 7^th of August.

Results:

1st Peter Stollery Guildford UPROAR 15, 2nd Roger Stollery Guildford UPROAR 27, 3rd John Shorrock Datchet QUARK 30, 4th Alan Viney Guildford PRIME NUMBER 50, 5th Les Thorn Datchet PARADOX 65, 6th John Townsend Guildford ROK 76, 7th Phil Holliday Datchet QUARK  79, Peter Dunne Woking CRAZY TUBE TOO 81.