Although the entry was disappointing, those that attended enjoyed a decent A rig southerly breeze in the morning, which after a heavy rain shower died and then went more westerly in the afternoon. Martin, Roger and Peter Jackson welcomed long-time full-size sailor, Chris Chandler and his partner Phoebe and introduce them to radio sailing in some of the best conditions that Abbey Meads can provide. Roger brought the BOTTLE boat no:2 and immediately let Phoebe, who was not a sailor, spend all morning learning to sail radio, which she thoroughly enjoyed. Roger also brought his ROAR EDGE for Chris to sail. He was also on a learning curve despite having been sailing all his life in all sorts of full-size boats and yachts.
When we arrived at the Western control area, a friendly fisherman, Simon, was just packing up and we had some interesting discussions. He noticed the carbon fibre moulded corner units to the landing stage and mentioned that he was a technical teacher for a local public school and also interested in the material. He thought that the BOTTLE boat might be a good subject for a young person’s project and may contact Roger about this. He also walked round the lake casting in different areas to test the depth of the water with a specially designed gadget. The depth he recorded was between 10 and 16 feet. This should help us when making up the lines for new marks, as in the past they have often been too long.
Martin and Roger had some close racing and at lunchtime the scores were level. Peter was struggling with the setting up of his swing rig not allowing the forces in the mainsail and jib to be properly balanced. However this was identified and Peter will be coming back with the rig properly set up in the future.
As we had a lady present, Phoebe was invited to present the Arcadia Trophy to Roger who had a two-point advantage over Martin as the scoresheet shows.
With the August holiday period approaching the next Marblehead event at Abbey Meads will be on September 11.
Report by Roger Stollery 2021-06-04
