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

Courage Cock event this Sunday, 18th March

Dear All,

Unlike previous years, this event is not a match racing event but a standard club race. Once again, like our last event and Abbey Meads the forecast is for a good breeze and a bit of sunshine so, whilst it may be cold we should be in for a good day’s sailing. For those going to the Worlds in BIBLIS in May, this is a good opportunity to practice or in the case of new boats, get experience of sailing in other than A rigs. Peter and I will be there so please come along and join the fun.

Cheers, Roger

By Mark|2018-03-14T13:00:54+00:00March 14th, 2018|Categories: Sailing|Comments Off

ICICLE Trophy, 25 February 2018

Dear All,

The 2018 ICICLE has been the best event of the year so far because of the wind and sun and of course the competition!

This was an absolutely cracking day’s racing with 16 races in B rig in bright sunshine, but a cold wind 8-15 mph from the east north-east.

GMYC ICICLE 2018

We were delighted to greet Phil Holliday and John Shorrock, who were not sailing at Datchet, and this made for a very competitive fleet. Before the racing started there was a presentation of the 2017 GAMES Improver’s prize, which was a bottle of whisky presented to Peter Dunne, who had finished 16 places above his 2016 placing.

The first race gave an indication of the closeness of racing with Phil Holliday sailing an F 5 in a photo finish with Roger Stollery’s UP and the win was awarded to Phil. Roger then went on to win Races 2 & 3. Phil came back to win Race 4, but let John Shorrock sailing a QUARK win Race 5. At this point Rob Vice had got his UPROAR going well and starting to get good consistent results, either winning or coming second in all the following races except Race 9, which was won by Martin Crysell sailing his PRIME NUMBER. The race winners included Phil in Races 10 & 16 and Roger in Races 7 & 14. With this level of competition Peter Dunne was pleased to get his STARKERS going well and not finishing last on several occasions.

The designer of any new boat is always concerned by how it might perform and whether anticipated problems might materialise. UP has no reverse flare like UPROAR and so there was a questionmark against the new design’s seaworthiness under the pressure of its swing rig. At the end of one downwind leg there was a strong gust which wiped out all the adjacent boats and whilst UP did dip its bow, it popped up again without slowing down and so removed that question mark. The result sheet is attached.

GMYC ICICLE 2018

With the good news that all the entries to the Marblehead Worlds in BIBLIS Germany have been accepted, we are hoping that we shall get more visitors wanted to practice at Abbey Meads.

Cheers, Roger

Icicle Results

By Mark|2018-02-27T18:47:19+00:00February 26th, 2018|Categories: Sailing|Comments Off

ICICLE Trophy Sunday 25th February

Dear All,

This is a reminder that this month’s club race for the ICICLE Trophy is on Sunday.

For a change the weather forecast is good, with sunshine and a fresh breeze from the east which is a very good direction, giving the convenience of operating from the south bank. It will be cold over the next few days, but not sufficiently long below zero to give us a problem with Abbey Meads Lake freezing up, because of the great depth of the lake.

The 16-24 mph forecast should give us some really good B rig or even C rig conditions from an excellent direction parallel to the control bank, so those who have been complaining about the lack of wind, the rain and the lack of sun can confidently get out your lower rigs for a really good sail.

I have been promoting Guildford’s free ALE, (after lunch events between 2 and 5 PM on alternate summer Wednesdays) at the recent Friday Evening Workshop and also at the Frensham Pond MYG this idea seems to be going down well, so the club can look forward to some good racing in the summer.

I look forward to some good racing on Sunday, so wrap up warm and come along to enjoy the fun.

Cheers, Roger

By Mark|2018-02-23T09:47:03+00:00February 23rd, 2018|Categories: Sailing|Comments Off

2018 Fred’s Big Toephy Footy Open event at Guildford

Eleven entries from three districts descended on Guildford’s water at Abbey Meads, Chertsey hoping to start the year’s nine open events with a bang. However, the weather was really unkind, as it was cold, it rained relentlessly all day and worst of all there was little or no wind.

However that didn’t stop RO Martin Crysell and Peter Dunne from running 10 races for which they were thanked heartily by the prizewinners. These little boats usually sail well in light airs, but there was a lot of drifting sideways instead of going forwards for much of the time, because there was insufficient wind to drive them forwards. Despite this, the boys from Abington Park coped well with the conditions better than most to secure all the podium places.

Peter Jackson led the way with a win in the very first race, sailing his IBEX. The most remarkable performance however was that of David Wilkinson, who had revived his American Bill Hagerup BACK BAY FOOTY design. This is a simple hard chine box shape made from balsa with foils of suitably reinforced similar material. Initially with a balanced una rig, it did not perform well, so David changed to his beautifully made and set up swing rig, similar in concept to other boats and transformed the performance in the lightest of airs. He was often seen streaking away from the starting line leaving the fleet behind to get two wins before lunch.

However, John Burgoine sailing an ICE also gained two wins and was more consistent, to head the lunchtime leaderboard with just 7 points to David’s 9. By this time the two junior competitors Oliver 8 and Nathan 5 found the cold and the wet too much and retired from the event.

After lunch there was a touch more breeze, with puffs that allowed the boats to heel briefly and make some recognisable progress to windward and downwind. John continued to be consistent with another win and three more thirds, but not consistent enough, as he was beaten on three occasions by Keith Bell sailing an IBEX, with two seconds and two wins.

This brought the scores level and Fred’s Big Toephy went to John on count back, as a result of his three wins. Further information on Footy news and events can be found on www.sailfootyuk.com.

Results:

1st John Burgoine Abington Park ICE 17

2nd Keith Bell Abington Park IBEX 17

3rd Peter Jackson Abington Park IBEX 20

4th David Wilkinson Cotswold BACK BAY FOOTY 21

5th Roger Stollery Guildford ICE 33

6th Keith Parrott Frensham Pond ICE 51

7th Sid Sims Birmingham ICE 54

8th Peter Stollery Guildford ICE 72

9th Oliver Stollery Guildford ICE 80

10th Nathan Stollery Guildford ICE 87

11th Tony Butler Birmingham ICE 88

NovICE trophy – Keith Parrott, (best skipper who has not been on the podium in previous Footy events).

By Mark|2018-02-04T23:01:30+00:00February 4th, 2018|Categories: Sailing|Comments Off

First GMYC Race of 2018 This Sunday 14th January

Dear All,

This is just a reminder that our first club race is on Sunday. The weather forecast looks good with sunshine shown all day, relatively warm temperature and a light easterly breeze so charge your batteries and come out for an enjoyable sail – quite a change from the freezing cold snow at the BRASS MONKEY a month ago!

I hope that you have all been looking at the GMYC website which Mark has updated over the Christmas period it is now looking very good, with pictures in between paragraphs etc in the reports. In reporting Guildford’s activities to the District Councillor, I have been more upbeat than usual, praising the good things about our club and our lake, which is still one of the best lakes in the district. This report was copied to all M&S club secretaries, so the hope is to encourage more M sailors to come and sail with us. There is also an updated PDF publicity sheet for 2018, which is also more upbeat and which you could copy at A5 for handing to those who pass our activity and show interest. Many thanks Mark!

Rob Vice has affiliated via GMYC this year and this is very welcome and other member news is that Paul Tickner has borrowed Peter Dunne’s CRAZY TUBE and we may see him at Abbey Meads, probably at the new summertime After Lunch Events (ALE), but hopefully at some of our Sunday events. See the club website for dates etc.

I am hoping to have my latest design UP ready to launch on Sunday, but am struggling with the time left and transoms sticking in the new moulds………..

Cheers, Roger

By Mark|2018-01-12T16:08:15+00:00January 12th, 2018|Categories: News, Sailing|Comments Off

Guildford Model Yacht Club Report January 2018

Heavy snow at the BRASS MONKEY Marblehead event brought an end to the successful 2017 GAMES series won by Peter Stollery. 46 competitors from 21 clubs took part in the 9 event series. 8 GAMES open events are planned for 2018, starting with the Marblehead Interclub at Chipstead.

Guildford continue to run Friday Evening Workshops, usually on the last Friday of the month, which our open to all district club members and provides useful guidance for getting the best performance from your boat, strategy for avoiding incidents on the water etc.

Membership is on the up and will be enjoying the superb sailing facilities at Abbey Meads Lake, Chertsey, with upgraded launching platforms and vegetation clearance. A full series of Marblehead handicapped club events, open to all newcomers, will continue in 2018. Also a new series of free ALE events, open to all boats, will be introduced on Wednesday afternoons over the summer. Abbey Meads is too deep to suffer mid season weed problems.

Our open water lake offers fantastic visibility with control areas high above the water, good access to allow you to follow your boat to the furthest marks of the long courses. These can be set from either the South or the West bank to relate to any wind direction and still give good windward leeward courses.

Come and visit us!