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Report 2020-02-15 by Roger

There were only 4 of us, but we had an absolutely fabulous days sailing in south south-westerly winds that were forecast from 25 to 48 mph. When winds are so often light you dream about such days! We sailed 12 races and seeing our Marbleheads going so fast was a real delight.

In reality the winds on the water were probably 12 to 24 mph and needed C2 rigs to be comfortable in the gusts. Peter Dunne only had a C1 rig and struggled occasionally and had to be rescued a couple of times and didn’t sail the last 5 races as this might have endangered his rig. Instead, he kindly acted as starter and scorer.

As the severe storm ‘Dennis’ produced these winds it is likely that you don’t need anything smaller than C2 at Abbey Meads, although Martin did try C3 at the end of racing at about 1 o’clock as some of the gusts were getting really strong and heavy rain became uncomfortable.

Roger’s UP dominated the racing by being exceptionally quick to windward, as well as downwind with its offset swing rig, in a similar performance that Peter demonstrated with his UPFRONT in C2 at Fleetwood last year. Roger didn’t have it all his own way as Martin won 3 of the races with his PRIME NUMBER and one of them in his C3 rig. Long distance club traveller, Peter Jackson, improved his UP performance as the day went on and got close to the leaders, after having good races with Peter.

After having many disastrous events in 2019 with C2 rig failing, Roger was delighted that the redesign passed this test without a problem.

Photos in Gallery

10 entries from 5 clubs sailed 15 races on a blustery day at Abbey Meads lake, Chertsey. Race Officer Martin Crysell set a simple windward leeward course for the WSW wind and operated from the southern control area. There were some very strong gusts and initially these Footys were in their smallest, but one rigs.

The conditions favoured Peter Shepherd’s FAT BOY design and although pressed by Peter Jackson’s IBEX and Roger Stollery’s ICE at times, he won the first 5 races. This run of wins would have continued except that he lost Race 6 to Roger. During the afternoon the wind became much lighter with big calm patches in the centre of the course and bigger rigs came out of the sail bags. This made a big difference to young Oliver and Nathan Stollery, who won Races 13 and 14 respectively. Not to be outdone, Peter Shepherd in a frustrating dying breeze won the last race after a battle with David Wilkinson’s single sailed wooden BREITHORN.

The prizewinners thanked Guildford Model Yacht Club’s Race Team, RO Martin and scorer Peter Dunne, for running another good Footy event at the start of the 2020 Footy racing series.

Results:

1st Peter Shepherd Abington Park FAT BOY 14

2nd Roger Stollery Guildford ICE 32

3rd Peter Jackson Abington Park IBEX 40

4th David Wilkinson Whitefriars SC BREITHORN 53

5th Oliver Stollery Guildford ICE 61

6th Nathan Stollery Guildford ICE 71

7th Sid Sims Birmingham ICE 80

8th Keith Parrott Frensham Pond ICE 85

9th Mark Mortimore Guildford ICE 119

10th Tony Butler Birmingham ICE 120

Photos in Gallery Here

Guildford formed nearly half of the entry of 12 from 5 clubs to race in light variable winds blowing diagonally across the lake towards the control area. Gaps in the trees on the opposite bank of the lake bent the wind and kept competitors on their toes to take advantage of the sometimes big changes. 

During the briefing Race Officer, David Allinson presented Oliver with the 2019 GAMES prize for junior and also the second ‘Best Improver ’.

We sailed 15 races with the Guildford team winning 9 with Colin Goodman winning 5 and Dave Andrews 1. Roger started well with a win had some fine duels with Colin Goodman. Martin Crysell also won Race 6.  Peter S was initially looking after Oliver, who was struggling to get the best out of his UPROAR. There was a really good lunch of chili provided by Chipstead radio sailors, which was very welcome in the cold conditions.

The afternoon racing was dominated by Peter with 5 wins, whilst Oliver was getting some guidance from Rob Vice and family. Racing in the last race was difficult as the wind gradually faded away.

The club also laid on tea and cakes at the end of the event, which again was very welcome. The prizewinners thanked the Chipstead radio sailors for putting on a really excellent event.

Results:

1^st Colin Goodman, Chelmsford, GRUNGE 29

2^nd Roger Stollery, Guildford, UP 32

3^rd Dave Andrews, LMYC/MYSA, GRUNGE 47

4^th Peter Stollery, Guildford, UP 53 

5^th David Adam, Three Rivers, QUARK 55

6^th Martin Crysell, Guildford, PRIME NUMBER 58

7^th Peter Crisp, Chipstead, STARKERS CUBED 81

8^th William Grant, Chipstead, PARADOX 84

9^th Oliver Stollery, Guildford, UPROAR 109

10^th Graham Hetem, Datchet, QUARK 125

11^th Peter Dunne, Guildford, STARKERS 125

12^th Alf Reynolds, Chelmsford, ROCKET 144 

Cobweb Results

See Gallery for Photos

There was a good turnout for the first race of the season and there was a varying and at times very fresh breeze from the south south-west. We welcomed Peter Jackson, who has been to our club events a couple of times last year and now has joined us.

Before we put our boats in the water we had a big problem as the launching platform on the west bank was adrift as ‘the tide’ had come up about a metre with the recent rain. 

Our cunning plan to prevent the vandals doing this by chaining the platform to the strings of the steps backfired as all of the fixings were underwater! 

However with sterling efforts by all 7 competitors, the platform was brought back to the bottom of the steps hauled to the top, had a new post fitted and was then relaunched with some difficulty, but also a lot of hilarity. Marks for the windward leeward course were set and after a minute’s silence to remember Dennis Moss, who died on the previous weekend, the racing started in A or B rig.

Les Thorn started the season well with a win from Martin Crysell, who was in fine form and he took the next 4 races. During this time the wind had increased and either B or C rigs were the order of the day. There were some technical problems with Peter Jackson having to drop out. He very kindly started us and kept the score as well as making sure there was no time lost between races! Peter Dunne’s mast on his STARKERS collapsed at the bottom of his B rig, as a result of the massive slamming gusts. Mark Mortimore also struggled when sailing his UPROAR just an A rig. However he took some good photographs of the afternoon’s racing, which are now on the gallery.

During the break for lunch we had a committee meeting and had some interesting discussions about gazebos, market stalls and tents. We confirmed that we shall be adopting the DF 95 class for the Wednesday morning events in the summer. There was also discussion about the possibility of an additional shipping container to accommodate our dinghy and trolley and a majority agreement to contact Thorpe Park to ask for permission. Also in view of the tree cutting monies spent last year and the potential for replacing the gazebo etc, Martin had drafted a letter to go to the M&S district for some financial help from the MYA’s district fund.

After lunch, there was plenty of fast sailing off the wind when you were able to get into the right gust stream. On the beat you needed to get on the right side of the shifts and also miss the holes in the wind, which was now blowing a little bit more over the right shoulder. There were plenty of very close finishes throughout the fleet and several between Roger and Martin, with Roger taking most wins. As well as Peter’s B rig disaster he also had great success in winning the last race much to everyone’s delight.

On merit Martin was the winner with a 15 points sailing his PRIME NUMBER followed by Roger with 21 sailing his UP and Les sailing Hugh McAdoo’s old PARADOX 26. More important are the handicap results with a win for Les Thorn with Martin 2^nd and Peter Dunne 3^rd.

A record 19 Marbleheads and 4 BOTTLE boats from 3 MYA districts entered this Guildford Model Yacht Club Christmas event and enjoyed some wild sailing at times in a gusty variable west south-west wind, which varied from 30 mph down to 5 or 6 mph at the end of the day. It was only then that the tall A rigs were used, as for most of the day the Marbleheads were using C or C2 rigs and the small rig on BOTTLE boats.

All raced together on the same countdown with BOTTLE boats starting at 30 seconds and sailing a smaller windward leeward course, roughly half the 180 m Marblehead course. This proven objective was that both classes should finish at more or less at the same time. During the briefing a strong gust collapsed one of the gazebo legs and created a delay whilst this was packed away and the contents rescued. 

Only 8 finished the 2nd race as a massive squall caused a lot of rig and some gear failure. With several new faces to this form of racing, it took some time for them to settle on the right rig and trim and some had to retire permanently where no repair was feasible.

MYA vice-chairman Phil Holliday won the first race followed by multiple world champion dinghy sailor Colin Goodman in the 2nd and Martin Crysell in 3rd place. Colin, who had never used his C rigs before, set up a good trim and went on to win the next 4 races in fine style. In Race 5 Peter Stollery was the runner-up, but only 2 places behind him was his 9 year old son Oliver sailing a refurbished UPROAR and was absolutely delighted to be sailing so fast, especially downwind! The last race before lunch, Race 6, was won by John Shorrock after a really good start taking him to the windward mark first, after which he developed a big lead to the finish. 

This didn’t dent Colin’s score by very much and left him top of the lunchtime leaderboard with 6 points ahead of Martin with 15 and Phil on 16 points. As is traditional at this event GMYC served mince pies and hot mulled wine for lunch, which was welcomed to warm up cold hands and provide a central

gathering point for lots of chat etc.

When racing resumed the wind was still blowing hard from the westerly or west south-westerly direction and Colin demonstrating how good he was by winning races all the final 7 races with the exception of Race 9 when Peter beat him and Race in 11 when Phil beat him. During the afternoon the wind lightened and A rigs got an airing for the last 2 races.

The BOTTLE boats changed to their big rig at the same time, but it made little difference to the results as Peter Shepherd continued to win every race, beating either Keith Parrott or 7 year old Nathan Stollery into 2nd place!

Race Officer, Roger Stollery added up only the best 9 scores as he complained that he did not know his 19 times table for adding all of the multiple DNCs or DNFs scores! He first presented the BOTTLE boat trophy to Peter Shepherd and then called on the runners-up to collect their wrapped present, which was the only entry fee for this event. Peter thanked Roger and the Guildford team for running the events in somewhat difficult circumstances.

Colin collected the Brass Monkey for winning this event and also the MIDGLEY Memorial MUG for winning the whole GAMES series for 2019 with a perfect score of 500. He also thanked Roger and the Guildford team for creating a marvellous day’s sailing. One visitor from the Cotswold club, Garry Stephenson, who was new to Marblehead sailing had a smile on his face all day because he was thoroughly enjoying just sailing his Marblehead in such good whizzy wind conditions. His STARKERS hardly ever left the water!

This year GAMES included events in the Midland as well as the Eastern districts, which increased the number of competitors racing Marbleheads in open events to such an extent that the 65 total is nearly twice last year’s numbers and 50% more than those on the current Marblehead ranking list. It is a popular format encouraging average club skippers to go racing and with 10 events next year prospects look good for more relaxed, but competitive Marblehead sailing in 2020.

Marblehead Results:

1st Colin Goodman Chelmsford GRUNGE 13

2nd Phil Holliday Datchet GRUNGE 32

3rd Martin Crysell Guildford PRIME NUMBER 32

4th Peter Stollery Guildford UP 46

5th Peter Dunne Woking STARKERS 59

6th Alan Viney Guildford PRIME NUMBER 89

7th Peter Jackson Abington Park UP 90

8th Oliver Stollery Guildford UPROAR 94

9th Garry Stephenson Cotswold STARKERS 99

10th John Shorrock Datchet QUARK 111

11th Roy Pearson Guildford ROK 121

12th Charles Wand Tetley Guildford WHISPER 165

13th David Wilkinson Cotswold ROAR EDGE 184

14th Alf Reynolds Chelmsford ROCKET 189

15th = Mark Mortimore Guildford UPROAR 209

15th = Graham Hetem Datchet QUARK 209

15th = Andy Davies Cotswold ROAR EDGE 209

15th = Peter Kirby Woking PARADOX 209

BOTTLE boat results

1st Peter Shepherd Abington Park 11

2nd Keith Parrott Frensham Pond 30

3rd Nathan Stollery Guildford 36 

The tradeshow on the top floor of Datchet Water Sailing Club was very good with the usual traders selling a huge variety model yachting equipment and including a stand for the DF boats, which looked very impressive. I took along my UP and rigged it in B rig, set up a whole Footy stand with two ICE and a SUPABUG with drawings and even cutout hull panels. An interested grandad did take them away!

Of greatest interest was the 1976 BLOODAXE hull, still in 2 parts just as it came out of the moulds. This was en route to Peter Hopkins in Bournville. I took some photos and these are attached on the pic page. BLOODAXE was one of the the top Marblehead in that era and the hull shells weighed 38 ounces as it was quite a big surface area compared with the UP weight of just 14 ounces!

There was a very interesting foiling trimaran made in Australia along with some interesting 3D printing work done for a 6 metre in 4 large pieces and a mould for an A boat.

The AGM itself was a great disappointment not just because the Guildford and other 4-clubs amendment to the MYA motion one was not carried, but because there was no discussion or short introduction to each officer’s subject. We were told that the reports were on the web and that we must have read them by now, so any comments? The only discussion came the scrutineers were counting votes. Chris Durant asked basic questions about the budget and other finances and the Council clearly didn’t have an answer and it would appear there is still no budget for 2020. In previous years there has always been some discussion all through the AGM with officers giving a short summary highlighting the important issues in their report.

So our subscription stays at £14 and juniors are free. (the committee have now agreed that our club subscription should be free also).

GAMES 11 Results

18 races were sailed on the Little Broad at Filby, hosted by The Broads Model Yacht Club.

Racing started in a very light wind from the North, which is the most favourable direction at Filby, but veered towards the east in the afternoon.  There were 3 different race winners, during the day, but Colin Goodman (Grunge), Duncan Ellis (Grunge) and Vinnie Zammit (Starkers Cubed) gradually established a lead over the remainder of the fleet.

In the end Colin’s consistency won the day, after some very close and competitive racing. Colin has now established a big lead in the GAMES series, but the other podium positions and improver’s prize are still to sail for in the remaining 2 events at 3 Rivers and Guildford Model Yacht Clubs.

Results:

1^st Colin Goodman Chelmsford GRUNGE 18.5

2^nd Duncan Ellis Norwich GRUNGE 28

3^rd Vinnie Zammit Norwich STARKERS CUBED 37

4^th Ian Self Norwich STARKERS CUBED 63

5^th David Perkins Cambridge NIOUTRAM 82

6^th Mike Howard Broads PARADOX 83

7^th Mark Quayle Norwich PARADOX 86

8^th Neil Cousins Broads MONARCH 103

Report by the Broads MYC & Roger Stollery