Mark, Author at The Guildford Model Yacht Club

ALE on Wednesday 6th is cancelled and GAMES 4 on Sunday 10th June is postponed until Sunday 24th June

Dear All,

Unfortunately, GMYC are unable to run these events, on the published dates for which we apologise. We hope that this will not upset your diary and we hope you will come and support our GAMES Interclub event on 24 June.

I personally hope that there will be good support for the ALE event on Wednesday 4th of July, as I have a group of friends coming to sample radio sailing and so it needs to be a good do, so please put this in your diary and come along for a fun afternoon.

Cheers, Roger

By Mark|2018-06-05T23:39:02+01:00June 5th, 2018|Categories: Games|Comments Off

Marblehead World Championship – Biblis Germany

Dear All,

This Marblehead World Championship 2018 was a marvellous event and huge thanks have to go to the full-size sailing club Segelverein -Biblis E.V and their hard-working and welcoming members who gave up their own sailing to create this event, which was instigated by Henning Faas, who is well known to GMYC members by his visits to our club.

The weather was superb with hot sun every day, which drove competitors and supporters alike to head for the shade if possible, as shown in the first two photos. Apart from the Tuesday and last day, Friday, there was very little wind and a lot of time on Wednesday and Thursday mornings was spent just waiting for the breeze to fill in.

There were lots of abandoned races as a result of wind speed and direction not being steady enough for long enough to complete a heat. However these periods of waiting were great for putting the world of model yachting to rights and making new friends. In my particular case such a friendship was created out of a rather embarrassing collision between UP and the top Russian, sailing Phil Holliday’s old QUARK, when we were close to the finishing line. This was quite unnecessary as we were both in a promotion position. Fortunately he got redress as I was on port.

As this event was the pinnacle of what is regarded as the Formula One class of radio sailing, the standard of boats, rigs and sails was superb, but it was the skippers who made the difference between boats of the same design.

No doubt you will have seen the results on the 2018 World Championship website, with Peter on the podium in third place behind Christophe Boinault and Brad Gibson on top, both sailing GRUNGEs. The Brits did well with four in the top six with Chris Harris sailing Nigel Winkley’s NIOUTRAM brilliantly and Graham Bantock in 6th. Rob Vice did well and was delighted to pull himself up to 24th by the end of the week, unlike myself as the third member of the Guildford team, who had an embarrassingly poor event just going down from C heat to E heat and then not being able to get out until the last day when I climbed to B heat, but could go no further as we had run out of time and race 13 was abandoned. I was not alone as Martin Roberts had the same problem, only managing to get out of E on Thursday.

There was a great variety of rigs on show with only a few conventional A rigs, mainly beautiful ones on Walicki boats. In particular, there were several with strut attached to the mast a foot or so above the jib boom to hold the clew down in lieu of an offset pivot.

There were a great variety of fin constructions with bulb weights all looking on the light side. Christophe Boinault’s GRUNGE looked very light with obvious overhangs and like Peter his ballast was 3.2 kg as opposed to Brad’s 3.35 kg. Christophe won the first three races in very impressive style, but suffered a bit when the wind got to the top of A rig.

Peter reckoned that I was unlucky having two lots of weed, given two penalty turns by an umpire who had not seen that I was in the right, a battery failure and by a three times delayed start after which the wind died when I was in B rig.

My performance was not impressive, but the UP was and I was delighted that Peter got on the podium making all the effort of creating a new design well worthwhile, after his previous WC’s had resulted in lots of fourth places.

The Guildford Team camped and this was a great success and Oliver and Nathan had an absolutely marvellous time with the Ballington girls, lots of swimming both at the club and the campsite, where there was a real beach down to the water. The only downside was on Thursday night, when there was an almighty thunderstorm, sheet lightning, strong winds and heavy rain. Fortunately our two tents survived, but the open marquee alongside the clubhouse and you can see in first photograph was completely wrecked.

On the way back to catch the Eurotunnel train in Calais, Rob and I had a five hour debrief and put together some ideas for improvements. For Rob it was to improve his rigs which he has been developing whilst sailing the UPROAR over the last two years in order to fit to his new UP, which she didn’t finish in time for this event. For me it was ideas to improve the stability by simple means and possibly to reduce fin drag. There were many new boats which must be good for the class as those that are discarded will benefit those that might like to change their current boats.

Finally, there is just a reminder that we are running GAMES 4 interclub event on Sunday the 10th and I hope that you will give this your support. A Notice of Race will go out shortly.

Cheers, Roger

By Mark|2018-06-20T23:41:59+01:00June 4th, 2018|Categories: News, Sailing|Comments Off

World Marblehead Championship – Biblis Germany – May 28th – June 1st 2018

Roger is off to the World Marblehead championship this afternoon, meeting up with Rob and travelling with him by car through the tunnel on the first train tomorrow morning and then driving to BIBLIS, which is between Frankfurt and Mannheim. You should be able to see the Guildford team’s performance on the championship website. 10 rater championship starts today and finishes on Saturday and Marblehead start Monday to finish on Friday, 1 June. Good luck chaps!

Link to Site: http://worlds2018.marbleheadclass.org

By Mark|2018-05-24T21:31:11+01:00May 24th, 2018|Categories: News, Sailing|Comments Off

Mermaid Trophy 2018

Compared to the cold wind, rain and mud at the Norwich ranking event two weeks earlier, 11 entries and Guildford race team enjoyed balmy weather. 12 races were sailed in really difficult light weather conditions that varied from calm to just 5 mph and constantly changed direction.

By lunchtime the main direction of the wind had changed 90° and so Race Officer, Martin Crysell, wisely changed to the western control area to give a better windward leeward course up and down the lake for the basically north-westerly wind.

The early races were won by four different skippers, Peter Stollery sailing an UP. Rob Vice sailing an UPROAR, John Cleave with his brand-new GRUNGE and Roger Stollery with his UP. The lunchtime leader board was dominated by Peter and Rob with a score of just seven points each. Mention has to be made of the enthusiasm for Marblehead racing by Vinnie Zammit from the Norwich club. He travelled to West Kirby and competed in their open event on the Saturday and then drove another 200 miles to Abbey Meads for a further 12 races on Sunday, in search of more practice for the coming World Marblehead Championship in BIBLIS Germany at the end of the month. His enthusiasm was rewarded by three podium places for his pink STARKERS with second places in Race 2 and 10 and a special prize for the furthest travelled.

With the variable wind there was an element of luck involved and Roger admitted to having a lot of it! On several occasions on the final beat to the finishing line, he often took an indirect route to find the wind and at great speed catch or beat the leading boats becalmed nearer the control area.

Competitors thanked Martin and Alan Viney for running another good Mermaid under difficult conditions. As well as the Mermaid, the Ted Gearey trophy for the best improver during the event and the Vic Cooney trophy for the best veteran were presented to Roger.

More information about Marbleheads can be found on the website www.marbleheadsailing.wordpress.com.

Results:

1^stRoger Stollery Guildford UP 19

2^ndPeter Stollery Guildford UP 20

3^rdRob Vice Guildford UPROAR 25

4^thJohn Cleave Ryde GRUNGE 39

5^thVinnie Zammit Norwich STARKERS 42

6^thDavid Adam Woking PRIME NUMBER 46

7^thRoy Pearson Guildford PRIME NUMBER 62

8^thPeter Dunne Guildford STARKERS 80

9^thJohn Shorrock Datchet QUARK 83

Roger Stollery, 2018-05-14

By Mark|2018-05-18T14:47:36+01:00May 18th, 2018|Categories: Sailing|Comments Off

News from Roger Stollery

Dear GMYC members,

In view of the forecast of heavy rain tomorrow morning continuing into the afternoon tomorrow’s ALE is put back one week to Wednesday 9th May, when hopefully the weather will be warmer and less wet! Having suffered the cold north-easterly winds and rain over both days of the ranking weekend in Norwich, I have only just dried out all my stuff and don’t fancy another day in the rain!

As the MERMAID is coming up on the following weekend, on Sunday 13th May the committee decided that the morning of the ALE should be a gardening session to get ready for the weekend. The plan is to start at 10 o’clock and run seamlessly into the sailing at 2 o’clock. As it is a growing time of year the grass needs mowing and we need to make an attempt to cut other vegetation like the brambles with our ‘new’ brush cutter, loppers etc. If anyone has any free time in the morning we would be delighted to see you.

The Notice of Race for the MERMAID is available and shortly will have the MYA online entry set up. This event is not a ranking event and is for ordinary club members as well as those treating it as a tuning event by those going to the Worlds. You would be most welcome to come and spectate if you don’t want to sail as I’m sure there will be some good racing to watch. However, if you do want to sail PLEASE get your entry in early using the online entry system.

Although the weather conditions at the Whittlingham lake, Norwich were very unkind, the racing was good and the Guildford entry did well. It was A rig conditions on Saturday and I surprised myself to be vying for the lead with Brad Gibson and his all-conquering GRUNGE design in the seeding race and finished second with my UP. However, it was Peter’s UPFRONT that dominated the day to count six 1sts, a 2nd and a 3rd and beat Brad Gibson’s unbeaten six-year event record with his GRUNGE. This is very encouraging in view of the Worlds in Germany being only a month away.

There was more wind on Sunday and most used B rigs, with some using C rigs in some of the stronger and gusty winds. In the seeding race I was again seeded with Brad Gibson and am delighted to say that I beat him in a one-to-one racing situation. As this was the first race of the day it was filmed and so I hope to be able to show this when Norwich member Eric Curtis completes his editing. From then on, I went downhill and had a few technical problems, but Peter maintained his performance and came 2nd to Brad ahead of half a dozen well sailed GRUNGEs. Rob Vice was also doing well with some good placings with his UPROAR but had to leave early and he performed better than the results on the Marblehead website show.

Cheers, Roger

By Mark|2018-05-01T22:01:37+01:00May 1st, 2018|Categories: Afternoons, News, Sailing, Work Party|Comments Off

GMYC Mermaid Trophy & GAMES 3 – Sunday 13 May

The Mermaid 2018 is different this year, brought forward to the summer only a couple of weeks before competitors go to BIBLIS Germany for the Marblehead World Championship. This gives you the opportunity for a final tune-up session in good competition, or just a good sail at Abbey Meads, one of the best lakes in the country.

Mermaid 2018

GMYC warmly invite all Marblehead sailors to enjoy the best of Abbey Meads Lake and help us make this a really good event in a keen, yet friendly atmosphere !

The current IRSA Marblehead class rules will apply and the racing will be governed by the RRS 2017-2020 and MYA SSIs. The usual Guildford race team will do our best ensure a well run event on a superb radio sailing water.

The relevant notices are as follows:

REGISTRATION– from 0900 hours. All boats will be checked in the length/depth gauge. Rigs may be checked for compliance with the class rules and certificate.

BRIEFING– this will start at approximately 0945 hours.

RACING TIMES– the first race will start soon after the briefing at approximately 1000 hours – no race will start after 1700 hours and any race in progress at 1730 hours will be abandoned.

In addition to the Mermaid, you will also be racing for the Ted Gearey Trophy for the best improver (best place improvement after Race 3). The Vic Cooney Trophy will also be awarded to the highest placed competitor over 60 years of age. There will also be a junior prize.

Please make your boat and PSN certificate available at the registration table as soon as possible after you arrive. We will inform competitors in advance if there is a requirement to modify sail numbers or add a prefix ‘1’ to avoid clashes.

Please enter preferably online via the MYA website or by email or to Roger on stollery17@sky.comor by phone on 01483 421 801 by of midnight on Thursday 10th May. The entry fee is £7.50, to be paid at registration.

Guildford’s waterat ABBEY MEADS lake is easy to find. From whatever direction you are travelling, follow the brown signs to THORPE PARK and go to the roundabout at their entrance. Travel south on the A320 towards Chertsey. After a few hundred yards turn left off the road, where signposted ‘Chertsey Water Treatment Works’ and where you should also see a sign, RADIO SAILING. If you are coming to watch and arrive whilst we are racing, dial 1617on the black number padlock and press the button on the bottomto open the gate.

By Mark|2018-05-03T00:08:52+01:00April 25th, 2018|Categories: Games, Sailing|Comments Off

GMYC racing 10 raters at Frensham 25 April

Frensham 10 raters 25 April 2018

Some of GMYC members spent the day at Frensham today racing 10 raters.

Brief report by Roger: We had some horrible rainstorms followed by calms and associated changes from the perfect westerly wind direction. However the racing was good and occasionally there were some very good screaming planes off the wind. I was very pleased with the way my UP was going in the lighter and top end of A rig and at lunchtime I was leading. However the best of the 10 raters, David Potter from Birkenhead and Dave Andrews from MYSA caught me up when I changed down to B rig for a couple of races. All four Guildford boats finished in the top 10 of an entry of 18, 12 10 raters and six Marbleheads. From what I can remember Martin was sixth, Alan was eighth and John Townsend 10th. We all enjoyed it apart from the rain!

By Mark|2018-05-03T00:15:13+01:00April 25th, 2018|Categories: Sailing|Comments Off

Elstead Cutter 22 April

Dear All,

For the third club event in a row at Abbey Meads we had a fantastic day yesterday with plenty of wind from the south which made exciting sailing off the wind. The really warm sunny weather made the lake really sparkly to match some of the racing. The usual crowd were joined by Peter Stollery, who was delighted to be able to try out his new boat UPFRONT in A, B and C rigs and Nick Royse sailing his CRAZY TUBE FREE like the rest of us in either A or B rigs. The latter were necessary when the wind made it uncomfortable to use the tallest rigs at the end of the morning. Whilst the wind was mainly southerly like both the previous ALE events there was a bit of south-westerly in it during the afternoon which eventually caused us enough frustration to stop racing mid afternoon when the area in front of the Western control area became too calm. The total of 15 races were sailed with 10 of them to count for the trophy.

The event for the Elstead Cutter was completed at lunchtime when Peter Dunne had to leave. This was a handicap event and Peter improved the most against his handicap and won the trophy again with a positive score of four percentage points. Peter had made a fantastic job of cleaning this magnificent trophy and so he can enjoy the fruits of his labour for another year. The results are attached.

Peter Stollery used his C rig in the afternoon racing and despite it looking very short and small won most of the races mainly through his skilled sailing. He didn’t win the last race and gave Nick Royse, still in A rig, the chance to score a win. Peter reckoned that this may be the only time he will be able to try out this rig on his UP before the Worlds in Germany. However the way the weather is going it could be a repeat of the preparation for the 1992 Marblehead Worlds on Long Island, New York where light winds were also predicted and in every single big event leading up to it in the UK there were strong winds. This led Peter and I to practice at Elstead Moat which is surrounded by trees and not renowned for much wind, whilst Martin Roberts and Mike Weston sailed in the early hours of the morning under car headlights to get some light weather tuning practice!

Apart from the ALE event on Wednesday 3rd of May, our next event at Abbey Meads is the MERMAID trophy, which has been moved to the summer as the final practice event for the Marblehead World Championship in BIBLIS Germany. This decision was also to use the best of Abbey Meads Lake which has no weed in the summer to attract Marblehead sailors from Three Rivers and Hampton Court who usually do have this problem. Please find attached the Notice of Race for this event and we would appreciate early entry via the MYA online entry system. Martin Crysell has offered to be the Race Officer and Alan Viney and Peter Dunne have volunteered to help him. This NoR is hot off the press and will be sent out to Marblehead sailors everywhere and the websites in due course.

Finally, there needs to be a change in the programme as the GAMES event set for 3rd of June is when many potential participants are still in or travelling back from the Worlds. GAMES 3 at Abbey Meads has been moved back a week to Sunday 10th of June. See the revised A4 programme attached.

Cheers, Roger

By Mark|2018-04-25T11:41:52+01:00April 25th, 2018|Categories: Evenings, Games, Sailing|Comments Off

Elstead Cutter club event this Sunday 22nd April

Dear All,

This is just a reminder of our club event on Sunday. There is a decent A rig breeze from the west forecast by XC weather so there should be some good sailing as we have experienced in the last two ALE events, so don’t miss out again and come and have some good racing. My son Peter is hoping to make up for his disappointment he was already on the M25 when we had to cancel the Courage Cock because of the snow making travel inadvisable south of the M 40. That experience doesn’t seem real now that we are now in summertime temperatures.

Attached is a photograph recently sent to me by another Guildford member who joined as a teenager in 1956, (I joined in 1964 as 19 year old). This shows the rather relaxed assembly of cars, motorcycles and boats at Elstead moat, which was then our sailing water. The boats were 10 raters and 36″. Perhaps we are lucky that at Abbey Meads we can still get our cars just as close to the sailing water as in this image of our club from 60 years ago.

I look forward to seeing you all on Sunday.

Cheers, Roger

Elstead Moat

By Mark|2018-04-20T17:17:56+01:00April 20th, 2018|Categories: Sailing|Comments Off

2018 Videlo Globe report by Roger Stollery

Frensham Pond SC Model Yacht Group ran another successful Footy Open Videlo Globe Trophy on Wednesday 11th April and attracted entries from three MYA districts. Despite the foggy conditions with a steady, but cold 8 mph wind, all the competitors enjoyed the day’s sailing with 18 races completed.

Footys are fun

Racing these little boats is always fun and the wind direction allowed the Race Officer, Roger Stollery to set an unusual course with the leeward mark in a narrowing space between two dinghy jetties, which just added to the fun. On the beat the jetty obstructions allowed port tack boats to hail the starboard boats to tack, adding another interest to the strategy at the start and beating back from the leeward mark. Being so close to the racing is a big advantage and caused Charles Smith to comment after the event “quite apart from the jetty work it was so nice to race on a course we could all see easily”.

The racing

As soon as racing started it was clear that the two Peters from Abington Park were going to dominate the event. Peter Jackson sailing his IBEX design won Races 1 and 3 with Peter Shepherd sailing his FAT BOY SLIM coming second and then going on to win Race 2 and another 10 races! The remaining races, except Race 9, which was won by Keith Parrott sailing an ICE, were won by Peter Jackson. Some of the finishes were very close indeed and in Race 16 it almost needed a photo finish between Keith and Peter Jackson; Keith took second place from Peter.

The boats

Footys are popular with model maker sailors, because there are a huge number of free plans on the Footy website including simple competitive chine boats made from balsa that are easy and quick to make. Peter Shepherd designed his own very beautiful little circular section FAT BOY SLIM and built it in balsa five years ago. Weighing less than a jar of marmalade at 410 grams, including 275g of ballast, its lightweight construction and bluff bow has helped to win many events including this one. It is interesting to note that the recent IOM European Champion KANTUN 2 also has this bluff bow feature at the waterline.

FAT BOY SLIM is narrow and fits in the Footy measuring box diagonally whereas the wider and more powerful axially measured boats are usually heavier because of their bigger hulls. The jury is still out on which type is best because both provide really good close racing.

The 2018 National championship

On Sunday September 16, Footys from all over the country will be gathering at Frensham Pond again for the Nationals. In order to encourage young people to race there will be a Junior Championship in the morning run in conjunction with the main event, with the results and trophies awarded at lunchtime. The under 18’s may then continue to sail in the main Championship, which is coming to Frensham Pond, because it is popular and one of the best places for racing these boats. Details can be found on the Footy website, www.sailfootyuk.com.

Top 6 Results:

1^stPeter Shepherd Hollowell SC FAT BOY SLIM 19

2^ndPeter Jackson Abington Park IBEX 26

3^rdKeith Parrott Frensham Pond ICE 41

4^thCharles Smith Frensham Pond ICE 56

5^thColin Robinson Cheddar Steam ICE 70

6^thJohn Haine Frensham Pond ICE 77

By Mark|2018-04-15T16:00:07+01:00April 15th, 2018|Categories: Games|Comments Off

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