A beautiful sunny day at Abbey Meads was the scene for the 40th Mermaid Trophy celebration of Marblehead racing. The only thing missing was the forecast steady north-westerly breeze. Full of holes and variation from north to west, the unpredictable wind provided a real challenge for the 14 competitors.
Darin Ballington sailing his GRUNGE handled this brilliantly in the morning with an amazing scoreline of firsts, with Peter Stollery and his UPFRONT chasing.
After lunch the wind became stronger and more westerly and Peter copied Darin’s performance with 5 firsts and his overall consistency won the day and the beautiful Mermaid Trophy.
Other race winners included John Cleave, who like Peter was at the first Mermaid and Colin Walton, who was sailing his GRUNGE out of his skin to finish third and take the Vic Cooney Trophy, as the best veteran.
New radio racer, Phil Elford, who was sailing a Marblehead for the first time also won a race sailing Roger Stollery’s UP, which was quite a remarkable achievement in such company. He is a full-size sailor and thoroughly enjoyed the excitement of sailing 13 very competitive races.
Brief report by Race Officer Roger Stollery 2019-03-24
Results:
1st Peter Stollery Guildford UP 19
2nd Darin Ballington Manor Park GRUNGE 28
3rd Colin Walton Manor Park GRUNGE 47
4th Martin Crysell Guildford PRIME NUMBER 61
5th John Cleave Ryde GRUNGE 64
6th Phil Elford 3 Rivers UP 85
7th Roger Pearce Frensham Pond PRIME NUMBER 90
8th Rob Vice Guildford UPROAR 91
9th Les Thorn Hawley Lake PARADOX 93
10th Tim Townsend Medway RYC ROAR EDGE 95
11th Alan Viney Guildford PRIME NUMBER 100
12th David Coode Guildford PIRANHA 127
13th John Townsend Guildford ROK 130
14th Nick Royse Frensham Pond CRAZY TUBE FREE 135
See the Gallery for Photos of the Event
