Six of us arrived on a beautiful summers morning with a light southerly blowing straight down the lake.

We laid a very straightforward course using the two blue mark as a gate at the north end ,a shorter course was used for Alans 12 year old grandson who was sailing a bottle boat.

The wind did increase a little throughout the day and although fluky at times stayed fairly constant in direction.

It was all very competative with every skipper winning at least one race.Simon Johnson was really on form and won the day,surprisingly he only got the one win but all his other finishing positions were seconds,so he had a convincing overall win.

Alan spent some of his time instructing Mathew his grandson which was obviosly working as Mathews sailing was improving rapidly throughout the day,and he thouroughly enjoyed it.

Not sure yet who has won the series overall but I am sure this will be anounced soon.

Next up for the DF’s is the August holiday races .Two races both to count on 14th and 28th with a big prize at stake for the overall winner.

Martin Crysell

Click Here for Results: 2024-07-24 WWS 7 DF95

“”The easy way to get all the gear down the bank in one go ,put the plastic boat on the back of the car and the rubber boat on the back of the plastic boat . It works a treat !!!”

Report by Roger Stollery

15 races were run in uncomfortable wind conditions changing from southerly to westerly, initially causing strong swirling gusts and lulls and really heavy rain before settling down to even stronger gusts up to the 25 mile an hour forecast and bright sunshine after the barbecue lunch.

Once the wind direction had settled down RO Roger Stollery set a windward leeward course of 3 beats & 3 runs. Finishing on the run was exciting with decks awash, rudders in the air as most held onto their A rigs with fantastic speed achieved provided that you didn’t broach in the strongest gusts!

Variations made the beat difficult and those who picked the shifts and chose a rhum line course were the most successful. Nigel Barrow was the master of this and counted 6 wins to put him right at the top of the lunchtime leaderboard, with David Cole 2nd with 16 points followed by Shaun Wyeth with 19.

Nigel’s wizardry continued into the afternoon with another 6 wins, with the latest F6 design beaten only by Shaun in Race 10 and David in Race 11. Shaun took great delight in sailing the STARKERS with which he won the 2002 Marblehead National Championship, which had just bought back, whilst David was sailing the only GRUNGE in the fleet. It demonstrates again that you don’t have to have the latest Marblehead design to do well in this class. Indeed the oldest boat made 30 years ago to the ROAR EDGE design, which was then all carbon, was the most seaworthy downwind inspired by the tall bow and flared bow of Viking ships. 

This was the final event of the three GMYC Summer Series. The trophy for the Series was originally presented by Frank Parsons of model sailmaker Nylet at the very beginning of radio Marblehead racing in 1974. The best 2 of the 3 races counted for this Series and Frank came to watch the racing, chat and present the trophy and the prizes to the winners. Peter Stollery won the Series by his score of 190 in the first 2 events and could not be beaten at this event, but was unable to take part in this one, so Frank presented the trophy to Roger for onward transmission. Frank also presented the trophy to Nigel, who not only won the Series last year but was the highest scorer in this year’s event.

Today’s results:

1st Nigel Barrow, Frensham Pond, F6          15 points

2nd David Cole, Hampton Court, GRUNGE    35

3rd Martin Crysell, Guildford, PRIME NUMBER  41.9

4th Lewis Wyeth, Gosport, STARKERS CUBED     47

5th Shaun Wyeth, Gosport, STARKERS SQUARED  53

6th Colin Harper, London MYC, QUARK              63

7th Chris Watkins, Royal Temple, ROAR EDGE  73

Results of the GMYC Summer Series

1st Peter Stollery, Guildford, UP 190 points & winner of Nylet RM Challenge Trophy

2nd Nigel Barrow, Frensham, F6  187.5

3rd Barrie Martin, London MYC, STARKERS 155

4th Oliver Stollery, Guildford, F6 122.5

5th David Cole, Hampton Court, GRUNGE 110.7

2024-06-15 Nylet RM Challenge Trophy NoR

GUILDFORD MODEL YACHT CLUB

A small but enthusiastic fleet of 8 skippers assembled at Abbey Meads lake in overcast conditions but with a northerly breeze blowing straight down the lake, although it did have a tendency to go a bit easterly at times which made for some tricky beats.

It was good to see a reappearance of Shaun Wyeth in the fleet after a gap of some 20 years he was accompanied by his son Lewis.

Peter Stollery set a straightforward windward leeward course with a gate at the leeward end and this stayed for the whole day.

The racing got off to a good start for Peter  who narrowly won the first race from Nigel Barrow with Barrie Martin in third. Nigel then won the next 3 races leaving Peter in 2nd ,at this stage Shaun Wyeth had got a third and Oliver Stollery a 4^th but Lewis Wyeth had a good win in race 5.

Peter then went on to win a further 5 races on the trot as well as races 12 and 13, Race 9 was a Stollery lockout with Peter first and Oliver 2nd .David Cole who had had winch problems in the first race had gone home fixed it and got back to the lake in time for race 9 and was delighted to win two races in the afternoon as did Barrie.

As we started the 16th race within the last minute of the cut off time the wind started to leave us, so it was a good time to stop.

The 3^rd race in this 3 race series is for the Nylet Cup to be sailed on the 15^th June.

Report by Martin Crysell

The wind was a bit more south-westerly than forecast but of a reasonable strength, so there were some fast runs. We were delighted to welcome David Howard to this event and he sailed BOTTLE boat 92, so there were 2 of us sailing with the DF 95s of Mike Wilkie, Martin & Slieve as shown in the photo.

The violently changing variable wind made it difficult to sail, so David’s first racing event with his boat was a bit of a challenge, but by the end he had mastered getting round the windward leeward course. We all stalled at one point going to windward. Before the start of one of the races we had a collision which resulted in David’s jib being torn away from the forestay. Fortunately, I had gone with a spare rig and so was able to replace the jib.

Mike Wilkie was the star of the day sailing very well to win the event with Martin 2nd and myself 3rd having won the first race, and Slieve in 4th.

I’m afraid that because of current chaos in my study I have lost the scoresheet, but at least have started the schedule for the Summer Series.

Apart from the rather gloomy weather, conditions were near-perfect with a south south-westerly wind backing to southerly straight down the lake. Towards the end of the 12 race event the wind was much steadier from the south with a very good breeze, which allowed some exciting planing and even broaching on the runs. As you can see from the results, Barrie Martin was again master of the conditions with 6 first places and it was good to see Alan Viney come back after quite a break and getting 3 firsts to finish in 3rd place. Simon Johnson got 2 and sailed very well into 2nd place. 

With the recent heavy rain the water level at Abbey Meads Lake has risen again, so that it just covered the Environment Agency measurement post near the southern steps. Indeed all but the top step was covered with water as can be seen from the photo of Barrie launching his boat. I cannot imagine how the proposed River Thames Scheme to reduce flood levels is going to succeed when the ground levels at this downriver end of the Proposed Channel end up in already saturated ground resulting in these high ‘tide’ levels on our lake. However that is not our problem!

With the distribution of Roger’s Mini Bowsies at lunchtime, there was a discussion about items of rigging and setting of sails and a question of whether the additional line fore & aft line to the mainsheet line bridle ring was a requirement of the rules, in addition to the 2 main sideways parts of the bridle. I have checked with the latest class rules, current from 1 January 2024 and the latest V2 Rigging Instruction Manual (RIM) for putting the boat together. Only in the latest RIM is this third line and bowsie shown in only a couple of places in the images or in the words covering the bridle. So it would appear that they are not a requirement and you should not be protested for either not having one or having one. Why this is important to me is that it affects the number RMBs needed to make a set for one boat. I have just had a discussion with Alan, who had just fitted his and believes that RMBs would be good to have 2 more of, to go at the front of the jib boom to adjust the height of the boom of the deck and the tension on the luff of the jib, which would be easier to adjust than the rather cumbersome bowsies. Lighter and less windage too!

On the question of the mainsail and how to best rig it, this is not simple because each manufacturer has its own design for that sail & it’s luff curve and what one expert dictates may be relative to the luff curve of just one manufacturer. To give you an example of how the shape of the mainsail may be varied by the manufacturer I attach a markup in blue of the diagram on the inside back cover of the class rules. This is of course an exaggeration, but it is the manufacturers’ special luff curve rather than a one design sail, so there may be more than one answer to get the best shape for YOUR sail.

Going back to the rules question I carefully studied the current Class Rules and the Rigging instruction Manual. If in my recently renewed accreditation as an MYA Official Measurer, I was asked to be an Equipment Inspector for an event and was faced with this question at a hearing, I put together the considerations that would need to be addressed to answer that question of whether these lines are required by the Class Rules. I have already mentioned the decision that I have come to above, that they are not required. This is a separate attached document in which you may not be interested, but might help in the future if you are asked to fit one of these unnecessary fittings. 

I find the rules very sloppy and inconsistent and not helpful to the newcomer. Also because the attachment point of the mainsheet to the boom can be adjusted directly over the bridle it is not actually needed and goes against A5 Spirit of the Rules “…. and the cost of buying and maintaining the boat is kept under control to appeal to newcomers …”

The gloomy wet forecast didn’t stop 5 enthusiasts from enjoying 16 races in superb exciting conditions. The south south-west wind gradually veered to the south-west and was strong enough to give planing conditions on the run and at times it was more than the A rigs could cope with, as the strongest gusts resulted in nosedives and broaches. It was really great to see the fleet all in the line running flat out! 

When the wind became more south-westerly a strategic decision had to be made at the leeward gate, to stay in the strong wind near the far bank or follow the rumb line course in lighter and more variable winds on the beat back to the finish. Martin with his brand-new blue boat was the master of this and was only beaten 3 times scoring 11 wins, which you can see from the results. Slieve & Mike Barnes got 2 wins each to share 2nd and 4th places only interrupted by Roger’s single win.

At the last visit to Abbey Meads the water level had dropped ‘4 steps’ from the top of the bank flood level, but amazingly the recent rain raised the groundwater level, which feeds the lake, to within 2 steps of the top. This made the track on the west bank too muddy for vehicles, but okay to reach the western control area on foot.

We look forward to more exciting racing in a fortnight’s time on the 28th February.

This is one of the best Marblehead club events for some while, with a lot of superb racing between 5 good skipper/boat combinations. 16 races were sailed in a variable W or WSW A rig wind, which were completely unpredictable.  The relatively long start line set up some really good even starts, with very few incidents. The simple windward/leeward course with 3 beats and 2 runs and the short finish line close to the southern control area bank also made some exciting finishes. You could be a metre or so from the finishing line, but if you didn’t approach it with way on you could be beaten by a boat or boats passing either side of you with the speed that you so desired! This was both exciting and frustrating, but everyone won at least one race, even though they couldn’t match Rob Vice’s 7 wins, as he was unstoppable in these conditions sailing his UP. His son CJ started being a bit out of practice, but soon recovered his form with his GRUNGE to win 5 races. Very many thanks to Lockie Vice for taking the photographs.

Those local Marblehead sailors who didn’t take up Guildford’s invitation to race in this club event should consider the other monthly Saturday events on the calendar where you know that you will get good Marblehead racing without any weed, on well set courses. Go to the Guildford website on www.guildfordmyc.co.uk. Don’t worry if don’t have a Marblehead as the club can lend you the club boat for these events.

Happy New Year to you all! 

There is lots to report starting with my status as an Official Measurer. I attended the RYA Sail Measuring Course just before Christmas and have just received the certificate confirming that I can now carry on measuring your Marblehead or any boats/sails that need measuring.

The pictures of the flood on 10 January overtopping the edge of the bank at Abbey Meads at the top of the ‘tide’ is already on the website. It was an amazing sight and the strong north-easterly breeze gave some exciting sailing.

On the previous weekend Hampton Court ran a charity IOM event, which was won by the current IOM ace Craig Richards, but Peter sailing his old ISOTONIC finished 2nd and Oliver sailing his dad’s BRITPOP did well to finish 8th out of 20 and only 2 places and one point behind Nigel Barrow.

There was success again for the GMYC team at the GAMES 1 Marblehead event at Chipstead. It was very well run event in light and variable winds with David Allinson as RO and the hospitality at lunchtime and ‘those cakes’ were superb. Peter & his UP dominated both in the morning and the afternoon and after 12 races had to discard 2 seconds! Oliver is growing in confidence and sailed his UPROAR well, nearly always making good starts. In the very last race 12, Oliver and I were level pegging in the lead on the final run and we said that “we looked fast without number 39 in front!” However he misjudged the gate mark and caught his keel on the mooring line, which put him last and dropped his potential fourth-place down to 6^th.  There is a really good report on Yachts and Yachting’s website on this link: https://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/270623/MandS-Marblehead-GAMES-1-event-at-Chipstead 

Looking forward…

Now that the Wednesday morning event on 24^th has had to be cancelled, the next event is on Saturday 3^rd February sailing for the ICICLE Trophy, which is for both classes and we want to encourage as many Marbleheads as possible to turn up and enjoy some good racing. There are encouraging signs that the class is clawing back some of its popularity and there are plenty of very good boats available with very little outlay. Just available is Peter’s Marblehead PITSTOP, which was top UK boat in the 1991 European Championship in Hanko, Finland where Peter finished 3rd. Neil Beer, a member from that period is downsizing and wants to find a good home for this top-class boat, which would be ideal for club sailing. The boat is in good condition and complete with 5 rigs which also should fit current Stollery boats. A couple of pictures are attached, one of which shows Peter sailing number 39 when he was 17 years old!  Please ring Neil on (07845) 759526 for details if you are interested.

As the end of February is looking very crowded, with the Hampton Court DF 95 open on Monday the 19^th and the Marblehead District Championship GAMES 2 at 3 Rivers on Sunday 25^th followed by WSS 4 on Wednesday 28^th, so the committee have decided to bring forward WSS 3 from the 14th to the 7^th February.

 RPS 2024-01-18