This was a marvellous event, despite the restricted entry of 6, which was for club members only. It was marvellous because this was the first Marblehead event since the Mermaid at the beginning of March. There was a good west north-west wind and on occasion at the very top end of A rig with some exciting planing and rudders in the air etc. Competitors had travelled quite a distance and were rewarded by some good competition, with close finishes. In addition, Rob Vice brought his new orange GRUNGE to be raced for the first time and Peter Jackson was trying one of my Winder fins on his home-made UP.
Thanks to the help from Martin Crysell, who was disabled by broken bones in his right foot at the last minute and Charles Wand Tetley, whose radio gear failed after the first race, 16 races were run. Both Rob and I let them sail our boats for a few races, so everyone had some sailing and we all enjoyed the sail and the reminder that sailing these boats is great fun. Martin won 2 races and Peter Jackson was delighted to have won a race with his souped up UP. The remaining races were shared by myself and Rob, but whilst I won 6, Rob won 7 and so took the ‘hard’ part of the BRASS MONKEY trophy. The story is probably best told not by the attached scoresheet, but in the photographs, which were taken by Robert and I when we were not racing in Races 6, 7 and 8.
We learned to install the new landing stage on the south bank at right angles to the steps as shown on the photographs and it felt very firm and stable. With the ‘tide’ being relatively high, we won’t need to use it for launching our shallower draft boats in the first event 2021 on Wednesday 6 January.
