4th June 2026 DF95 Series
DF95 Series results please click here
Halfpenny Trophy event on Sunday 31st May
It was a beautiful sunny day yesterday and it’s the first time that I had been at the Club on a Sunday. I was surprised how few LSC members were taking advantage of this lovely weather, as only 3 dinghies were sailing as well as 2 disabled boats and related powerboat assistance. I was very grateful for assistance from Rob E in one of the power boats for rescuing my Marblehead which had lost radio control as a result of a dodgy on off switch.
Guildford and Littleton Radio Sailing organised this annual Marblehead Open event, which was publicised in LSC Scene earlier.
The racing was a fantastic spectacle with the boats screaming downwind in the gusts with loads of spray, broaching and sometimes rudders showing.
The mark roundings are always exciting and on the beat the skill of those who could tack on the shifts and make a good rounding of the windward mark showed up clearly.
The 16 reaching starts were exciting, but it was easy to be too early and there were several general recalls and often with boats over the line OCS.
We used two of the dinghy circular orange buoys as turning marks which worked well with the scale of the tall rigs of the Marblehead standing up well above the mark. It is always difficult to judge whether you are past the mark or not, but the tall rigs throw a shadow of the rig on the buoy when you are past it, making the judgement easier.
In the control area in front of the clubhouse there are lots of strange things to see and questions to ask. What are those funny rigs with the jibs set on an extension to the main boom? How does that work? Don’t be afraid to ask as model sailors are always very helpful and can explain things like the setting of the sails, which in principle is no different to setting the sails on your DF95.
Finally don’t be afraid to ask to have a go at sailing a Marblehead as with the DF95 they give a great deal of pleasure, excitement and fun!
Roger Stollery, 1 June 2026
28th May 2026 DF95 Series
DF95 Series results please click here
Halfpenny Trophy Sunday 31st May 2026 GAMES 5
Full details please click here
21st May 2026 DF95 Series
DF95 Series results please click here
14th May 2026 DF95 Series
DF95 Series results please click here
12th May 2026 DF95 Evening Series
DF95 Evening Series results please click here
5th May 2026 DF95 Evening Series
DF95 Evening Series results please click here
Report of the 2026 Ash Trophy at Littleton Sailing Club
A lot has happened since the 2025 event when Guildford had no lake and hosted the event at Frensham Pond. The link up with Littleton Sailing Club has been a great success and the seven visitors were able to enjoy marvellous facilities at Littleton and a big open lake to sail on. The forecast wind was southerly blowing parallel to the clubhouse. However it was the varying wind speed and direction that that created a big problem for race officer, Roger Stollery.
Ten sailors with seven visitors arrived to what was best described as a flat calm. Despite this twelve races were sailed initially on a course for the southerly wind, however every now and again the wind became more southeasterly and the course was relayed with the beats in that direction. Even during a race in a reasonable breeze the wind would suddenly disappear and make progress difficult if you were in the wrong place.
In Race 1 experienced dinghy sailor Dave Adams from East Kent picked the right shifts and sailed into a good lead from John Darbyshire from Emsworth with local sailor Alan Viney third. John was seen sheeting in and out to prevent his sails stalling on the offwind legs, whilst Alan had the benefit of wind indicator clipped to the backstay crane.
Mike Wilkie took Race 2 after a good start from the port end of the line and finished with a big lead from Jim La Roche from Datchet and John in third place.
The course was then changed to suit the more SE breeze, which brought the start closer to the control area and made it easier for competitors and the race team to see the boats and their sail numbers. Moving the innermost marks closer to the control area caused a problem as the depth of water was shallower and the blue polyprop mooring line floated higher and caught two boats keels in Race 3. Mike and jim were awarded redress, hence the three scores of 3 in that race.
After finishing last in Race 2, Andrew Wigley from Huntingdon got it dead right to win Race 3 from his clubmate, Phil Davenport with John again third.
Race 4 produced another winner, Jim with John second and Peter Townsend from Hampton Court third. The SE breeze was now of reasonable A rig strength and Mike with really good boat speed got his second win in Race 5, from Phil and John. The results of Race 6 predicted the event result, Dave, Mike with John third again.
John had been very consistent all morning and in Race 7 he turned that into a win from Jim and Mike. Local sailor Mike Barnes had been struggling to find a trim, but when he did he turned it into a win in Race 8 in a very tight finish with John with Dave in third.
In Races 9 -12 Dave was only beaten once in Race 11 by Mike’s extra boat speed.
As the wind had dropped to virtually nothing all competitors agreed to do just one more race, which was won by Dave, very pleased with his light weather performance not experienced on his exposed seaside lake at Barton Point.
At the prize giving Roger thanked competitors for their fairness in the racing and providing a marvellous spectacle with incredibly close racing, as only five points separated the first four competitors. Dave thanked Roger and ARO Martin Crysell for setting up this event and giving everyone a good day’s sailing.
Results:
1st Dave Adams, East Kent 22 points, winner of the Ash Trophy
2nd Mike Wilkie, Hampton Court 25
3rd John Darbyshire, Emsworth 25
4th Jim La Roche, Datchet 27
5th Peter Townsend, Hampton Court 57
6th Andrew Wigley, Huntingdon 58
7th Phil Davenport, Huntingdon 58
8th Alan Viney, Guildford & Littleton 60
9th Mike Barnes, Hampton Court 70
10th Andrew Granger, Datchet 72
Ashes match results please click here
GUILDFORD & LITTLETON RADIO SAILING
After a couple of trial days back in the summer it seemed that both GMYC and LSC were keen to join up and Littleton S C could not have been more welcoming and helpful. Whilst our previous home at Abbey Meads lake had been good to us for some thirty years or so, and we did have some great races there but we had no facilities whatsoever, and I’m sure this had a counter effect on some of the entries that we got for open events, it was always hard work getting things set up with marks launching platforms etc. Once the break ins started happening regularly it was obviously time get out and move on.
We started racing at LSC properly at the beginning of September with DF 95 boats on Thursday mornings. There is a core of about six of us who are mostly regular and the really good news is that in a relatively short space of time we have three new members that are also LSC members and have bought themselves DF 95’s and are now MYA affiliated.
In October we held a Marblehead open meeting and although it was a fairly small entry of eight boats they were all experienced skippers who regularly race all over the country and the general consensus of opinion was that we not only had an excellent stretch of water, we now had facilities that were second to none. I’m sure this news will soon get spread around the Radio Yachting fraternity and will do the club a power of good.
So, I think we can look forward to 2026 with new enthusiasm and we now have the ability to be able to grow the club into a venue that can be used for major radio yachting events, with all the facilities.
What we need most is some younger members who will step up and help with the running of the club