The report of the penultimate event of the Winter Series

When we arrived at Abbey Meads it was a beautiful sunny day, but very little wind. Martin relayed the forecast on his phone that ‘the wind was forecast to be 1 knot gusting to 1 knot from the north-east!’  In the background of the PDF photo of Slieve receiving his Improver’s Trophy, the Gordon Austin Trophy, you can also see that there was very little wind with a faint swell disturbingly the mirror finish of the water surface. 

Undeterred,  we launched the boats and they were moving,  so we raced from the start line sset opposite the west bank steps to the blue marks to the north, as the windward gate and back to the start line, which became the finishing line.  

6 races were sailed with a break for coffee after Race 4, which was needed because the level of concentration was immense. You were never quite sure whether your boat was moving and if it was, which tack it was on. Is it moving sideways or backwards were the questions arising from your boat’s movement or lack of movement.

In the first race Roger got away from the start initially with the big lead, but this was whittled down by the chasing pack and amazingly at the finish there was only a few feet difference when crossing the finishing line. The 2nd race belonged to Barrie with Martin 2nd. From then on it was Martin who shone and won the remaining 4 races, which gave him an unassailable lead in the Winter Series without having to compete in the last event WWS 7 on 13 December. 

Whilst still sunny and really quite warm, the last race was incredibly frustrating with the holes in the wind and it took ages with Martin and Barrie struggling to finish whilst Slieve & Roger nearly a leg behind were having their own private battle to chase the 2 leaders. After race 6 we decided that enough was enough and packed up early.

The race results are on the PDF and the results of the overall Winter Series results are attached separately.

Congratulations to Martin for having served consistently well throughout this series!

 Moving on from the event, we have some information about progress with The River Thames Scheme. Recently there has been work being carried out halfway between the bollards and the pedestrian route under the M3. They made a big mess some time ago digging a big hole to check on the groundwater levels. This time they have cleared another stretch and also cleared some of the undergrowth to indicate the route of this new channel through the wood. This is shown on the PDF with Martin explaining!

Close to the bollards there was also a large diameter water pipe, also shown on PDF and when we asked one of the contractor’s men, he said that his firm were on site to mend broken large diameter pipework which had been burst by pressure and it was nothing to do with the RTS directly. We also noticed a fortnight ago that two Environment Agency women were doing their monthly testing of the water quality, which was to do with the RTS. We have had no reaction to our contribution to the planning application and no reaction from Thorpe Park, so for the moment there doesn’t appear to be a threat to access to our Clubhouse.                                                                  Report by Roger 2023-11-3

2023-11-29 Winter Series scores

We extend a very warm welcome to you to come and have some competitive fun at our Christmas Open meeting for Marbleheads and DF 95/BOTTLE boats. We hope that you will come and enjoy racing in a relaxed mode at Abbey Meads Lake, Chertsey to get you into the party mood. This is very much a fun event, with festive dress for self/boat anticipated! As usual, we will be stopping for lunch when mince pies and mulled wine will be served. We do hope that you will come and join the party. 

This year the event is again the finale of the 2023 GAMES Marblehead series with the MIDGLEY MUG, Improver’s and Junior Prizes to be awarded along with the Brass Monkey itself and the trophies for DF95 and BOTTLE boat winners. There is all to sail for as the GAMES improver’s prize (best improver outside the top 10) and the MIDGLEY MUG are presented at this event. The latest GAMES schedule is attached.

Following GMYC tradition there will be no normal financial entry fee.  Instead, please bring a wrapped present containing something that you might like to win!   The racing will be organised for Marbleheads and DF 95/BOTTLE boats starting using the same countdown, but at different times. The Marbleheads will start first and the smaller boats shortly after. The latter will have a course handicap with the intention that all will finish together, but the small boats will be competing within their own classes.

The racing will be conducted using the RRS 2021-2024 modified by the MYA SSIs & the IRSA Short Penalty. The relevant notices are as follows:  BRIEFING – this will start at approximately 09.40 hours. RACING TIMES – the first race will start soon after the briefing at approximately 10.00 hours – no race will start after 15.00 hours and any race in progress at 15.20 hours will be abandoned. The closing date for entries for the event is midnight on Thursday 7^th December 2023. Please enter Marbleheads using the MYA entry system, but please ring Roger if you are entering a DF 95 or BOTTLE boat on 01483 421 801 or e-mail him on stollery117@gmail.com and include your MYA number if you have one. If you don’t have a Marblehead or BOTTLE boat, but would like to come for a bit of fun, please ask Roger to borrow a boat.  

ABBEY MEADS Lake is easy to find. From wherever you are travelling, follow the signs to THORPE PARK and go to the roundabout at their entrance. Then travel south on the A320 towards Chertsey and you may see the lake behind the hedge on your left. After a few hundred yards turn left off the road after you see the Chertsey Water Board sign. The what three words location is same-fame-cabin. If you arrive late and the inner gate is locked, the number 1617 will be left showing into the circular GMYC number padlock, but if it isn’t, put this number in and slide the button at the bottom to open and just slide the horizontal bar back and replace this after entry. Please make a note of this or print this NoR and refer to it when you are at the gate. We look forward to seeing you! 

We had a great day’s racing with a ‘record’ entry of 8 for these series events and 16 races were sailed in sunny blustery conditions, which gave some exciting racing on the off wind legs.

Roger welcomed David Cole, who was taking part in the series for the first time and he was presented with a ROF to help him see and react to the inevitable variable winds.

Before the briefing competitors were shown David Coode’s marvellous 19 page 1992 MYA League Results booklet, which was promised at the AGM; a marvellous piece of work David carried out over many years. 

A simple windward leeward course set with the start line becoming the leeward gate and a windward mark with a spreader. The rising ‘tide’ a metre above recent levels caused a problem because of the length of the mooring lines that needed adjusting. Despite this delay in the start of racing 10 races were sailed by lunchtime when the leaderboard was topped by Barrie Martin counting 5 first places. 

Keeping track of the wind variations on the beat was really difficult because sometimes a gust coming down from above made your on port tack instantly become starboard tack, without you doing anything with the rudder!  This variation often made stalling a problem if you weren’t quick enough to react to the change, because the strong gusts were briefly overpowering the A rigs. Approaching the finishing line was both exciting and frustrating; exciting if you were at speed chasing the boat in front and frustrating for that boat not getting a small puff just to get you over the line.

Also downwind the strongest gusts briefly caused broaching or going out of control, but the speed was exciting and the boats and spray always looked very impressive highlighted against the black gusts!

Martin was very unlucky at the start because in a collision his switch turned the radio off and gave him a big score. The switch problem was repeated in race 13 and he then acted as the race officer for the remaining races. To challenge Barrie there were 4 other race winners, but in the 4 final races he was in a class of his own, as you can see from the results.

Look forward to even more enthusiasm for the next event, WWS 6 on 29^th of November.

With the northerly wind forecast we were initially committed to using the west bank control area. After rowing the proposed course, I set a simple triangle with the furthest blue mark and a start and gate.

However it was clear after a couple of races that the weed was causing a problem, so Martin reset the course from the southern bank, which caused less problem. There were 7 competitors initially, which included Mike Barnes’ friend, Lanre who was on holiday from Nigeria and which added an international flavour to the event. As you can see from the pic page he enjoyed himself when he sailed my BOTTLE boat after lunch and allowing me to take photographs.

At home he sails a LIGHTNING dinghy and so was able to sail well, once he had got the hang of controls, which he found difficult to start with. His comment was that “It isn’t as easy as it looks!“

Anyway, he made good starts, as shown in photo 1. On this occasion photo 2, Mike Barnes 585 got the very best start and led the fleet to the windward mark C, photos 3 & 4. There were some very close finishes as shown in photo 5, with Slieve 11 showing his increasing expertise and leading the chasers to the finishing line.

Martin did well to win the event, but he would also have collected the prize (if we had one) for the biggest haul of weed, as he ran into a big patch right near the finishing line at the very end of the event, as shown filling half the dinghy in photo 6!

We enjoyed some fantastic racing in a strong and gusty south easterly breeze gradually veering to the southerly forecast.  The sailing was exciting, as off wind the DF 95s in A rig were often overpowered in the gusts, nosediving & broaching, but going really fast with the bluff shape of the BOTTLE boat throwing loads of spray everywhere.

We decided to use the west bank control area and set a small course in an area that was away from the visible patches of weed on the other side of the lake.  The start marks also acted as the leeward gate and the windward mark defined a small triangle to minimise the weed problem.  Initially there was a problem until the fleet had sailed up and down the course a few times where everyone had picked up weed and had to be rescued.  Slieve who managed to collect some weed on every launching gave up after a couple of races.

This left 5 competitors who really enjoyed the closeness of the racing the 16 races, which gave us 3 discards, which basically covered these early weed problems. Everyone was pleased to have a win and the final scores show how close the racing was, with just 2 points separating the first 4 places!

The closest finish was in Race 8 between Alan and Martin fighting to avoid last place (5th).  There was a bumper difference at the line with Alan taking the 4th place.  Had the result of been different this would have affected the overall result giving Martin 3rd place overall by just one point instead of Alan.  It was a really good day’s racing!

The photographs do not show all of us racing as Martin and I could not sail the last race, but my camera got some idea of the event, particularly the incredibly variable wind as can be seen in wind indicator angles of boats close together.

Two races were scheduled this year during August.

Both events were sailed in very light winds ,the first from the south bank avoiding the patches of slime that have been hanging around for some weeks.There were five competitor for this day which produced some very close racing,and each of the five skippers won at least one race.

For the next event on the 23rd we had expected to sail off the south bank again but the forecast westerly breeze turnd into a northerly,so we moved to the west bank which turned out to be the right decision.

The racing was again very close this time with six skippers sailing.Slieve seemed to have got his boat well tuned and produced some good results including winning the last race by some hundered yards.

Simon had some winch problems and had to leave early which hampered his results.There was plenty of good humoured banter on both days and Slieve was presented whith a bottle of wine for his ever improving performance.Most of us seemed to pick up small bits of weed at some stage but fortunately it has not been a major problem this year.

We stopped sailing at 1.30 this day as the wind faded to a complete calm.

Click here for the full results produced by Alan: 2023-08-23 Holiday Series 2 DF95

The final event of the series was a great success with 12 races sailed in really weird variable winds, basically from the SW and sometimes from the SE and anything in between.  

The best bit was the interruption at lunchtime for Martin’s hotdog barbecue and sharing a bottle of wine, which became the focus of lunchtime chat.  

You can see from Alan’s scoresheet that themost successful skipper was once again Barrie Martin, with his multiple wins.  The scoring was very close indeed for the runners-up with only a few points separating 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th and whilst we all suffered from falling into holes in the breeze we did enjoy the excitement of the racing and the close finishes.  These scores also affected the overall results for the Summer Series, which are also published.

Although initially catching the stringy weed which was attached to the blue marks upset Martin’s usual performance, he did win the Series and was presented with the lovely French copper trophy and was thanked for providing the barbecue.

Report by Roger Stoller

The GMYC Arcadia – GAMES 6 & BBQ this Saturday 22nd July, has unfortunately had to be cancelled due to lack of entries.

https://www.mya-uk.org.uk/report-and-results-mya-marblehead-ranking-3-4-datchet-water-saturday-15th-sunday-16th-july/

This was a record turnout of 9 competitors, even without Martin able to be at Abbey Meads.  Thanks go to Mike for bringing along his son and helping to set up for the day and recording scores.  With the latest lane restrictions at the A3/M25 junction and road closure between Addlestone & St Peter’s Hospital extended my normal 25 minute journey by over an hour, despite following the non-motorway route via Woking.

Fortunately, the wind was more south-westerly than the westerly forecast and allowed a reasonable course to be set from the west control area.  Photos do not reveal the excitement of the racing, which was very close at times and gave great flat out speed on some of the offering legs in the gusts.  Congratulations to Barrie who won 8 out of the 15 races and only counted second places in his total score!

The plastic boat suffered what might have been a disaster when one of the plastic rowlock fixings broke, but fortunately there was a rowlock hole at the stern to allow me to skull to finish the buoy laying.

This report will be attached along with Alan’s score sheet, the pic page & the overall Series Scores with event 6 included.

Roger Stollery 2023-07-13 

2023-07-12 WSS Summer Series 6 DF95

2023-07-12 WSS 6 pic page

2023-07-12 Overall Summer Series scores