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At long last GMYC have been able to run a Marblehead club race for the first time since 15 February 2020 and it felt marvellous, as the sun was shining and the gentle north-easterly wind looked very inviting.  Getting the gear ready included a welcome for Charles bringing the keys for the new padlock, Peter Dunne for bringing the magnificent Elstead Cutter trophy, which he had held for 2 years, and Les Thorn who had enjoyed our last DF 95 event.

The various problems of the past year were put behind us and we are getting to grips with the technique of installing the new dismantleable launching platform, which this time we were able to ‘launch’ down the strings of the western steps, without getting into the water or the need for launching the rescue boat.  This allowed us to launch the Marbleheads without any depth problem and to enjoy 9 good races.

We used the 2 usual northern blue marks and one leeward mark for the windward/ leeward course and decided that we would try using a ‘gate’ start, which was absolutely brilliant, not just because there was no need to set an accurate starting line or the novelty, but with the wind varying by more than 90° at some starts it provided much hilarity, where the gate boat on port was actually facing the wrong direction forcing the competing boats to panic to be able to cross the gate boat’s transom on standard.

Initially we started with just 3 boats, but Rob Vice turned up with CJ’s GRUNGE after the first race and then showed us the way round the course only losing one race to Roger’s UP.  See the attached results. Whilst it was a tall rig wind, Roger started by using his C rig to try out his new ‘holdaback’ for the jib, which worked fine in the gusts, but was an embarrassing problem in the lighter winds leading to UP being ‘hove to’ and when stopped head to wind made incredible speed backwards with a bow wave off the transom!  However useful lessons were learnt.

Rob was absolutely delighted to win and receive the beautiful silver Elstead Cutter trophy, which he had always admired, but never won.

Abbey Meads Lake showed itself once again to be a great place to sail, and we are hoping to attract more new members to come, sail with us and enjoy the venue.  See all the benefits that are listed on the latest ‘What is good about sailing at Abbey Meads Lake’.

Report by Roger Stollery

Report by Roger Stollery

Guildford Model Yacht Club club sailed its first event at Abbey Meads for 4 months and we had some really good sailing in the bitterly cold north-westerly winds. There was lots of close racing with half a dozen entries with equal numbers of DF 95s and BOTTLE boats.

The event was not without its problems.  Having removed the difficulty of the wooden launching platforms being vandalised by replacing them with our removable lightweight aluminium body platform into our metal container, we thought we were clear of the vandals’ influence.  How wrong we were, because we were shocked to find that the vandals had filled the keyway to the main padlock securing the container with two-part epoxy resin!

After an hour so of trying to find a solution to ‘breaking in’, we gave up and got on with the sailing which, as this was in school holidays, had attracted Roger’s son and grandsons to add to Martin, Charles and Les Thorn’s DF95s.  

Charles had to leave early and later the children got cold and amused themselves out of the wind in the car, which left 4 of us enjoying some really good racing with exciting speeds in the strong  gusts off wind as well as tactical beating to keep on the right side of the shifts and to avoid the calmer patches. 

Although we didn’t keep any scores it was clear that Les was the winner of the most races whilst all of us won at least one race.  Les was especially delighted to be able to say that he had beaten Peter Stollery!

 This showed that the performance of the DF 95 and the BOTTLE boat are equivalent in these conditions, although going downwind at the same speed they look so different with the slim bowed 95s cutting through the water cleanly, whilst there is spray everywhere from the crude shape of plastic cup & bottle bow.

Hopefully these Wednesday morning events will attract more visitors to enjoy the fantastic sailing at Abbey Meads Lake and help to build up Guildford’s fleet of DF 95s. 

We’re Back Racing from Wednesday 7th April, come and join us.

On Saturday 24^th of April we have a WORK PARTY, Marcin will be cutting vegetation. Help required with Clubhouse clearance and minor jobs. Starts at 09:00 for as long as you can help.

This was a marvellous event, despite the restricted entry of 6, which was for club members only.  It was marvellous because this was the first Marblehead event since the Mermaid at the beginning of March.  There was a good west north-west wind and on occasion at the very top end of A rig with some exciting planing and rudders in the air etc.  Competitors had travelled quite a distance and were rewarded by some good competition, with close finishes.  In addition, Rob Vice brought his new orange GRUNGE to be raced for the first time and Peter Jackson was trying one of my Winder fins on his home-made UP.

Thanks to the help from Martin Crysell, who was disabled by broken bones in his right foot at the last minute and Charles Wand Tetley, whose radio gear failed after the first race, 16 races were run.  Both Rob and I let them sail our boats for a few races, so everyone had some sailing and we all enjoyed the sail and the reminder that sailing these boats is great fun.  Martin won 2 races and Peter Jackson was delighted to have won a race with his souped up UP.  The remaining races were shared by myself and Rob, but whilst I won 6, Rob won 7 and so took the ‘hard’ part of the BRASS MONKEY trophy.  The story is probably best told not by the attached scoresheet, but in the photographs, which were taken by Robert and I when we were not racing in Races 6, 7 and 8.  

We learned to install the new landing stage on the south bank at right angles to the steps as shown on the photographs and it felt very firm and stable.  With the ‘tide’ being relatively high, we won’t need to use it for launching our shallower draft boats in the first event 2021 on Wednesday 6 January.

It was a beautiful day with sunshine and a nice little breeze from the north-east, but what was disappointing was that despite the email confirming this event, only Martin, Charles and Roger turned up. Initially we used the time to mend the inflatable floor of the rubber dinghy, which had been nibbled by a mouse, which was still in the boat when we got it out of the clubhouse! We put a patch over the hole and left the special glue to cure properly and used the boat without the inflatable floor. 

Martin explained his design for the removable landing stage and Roger took away part of the cut-off sections to make good the securing strap, which failed when it was last used. We also discussed the moulded corner sections to support aluminium scaffold poles, which Roger is going to make We assembled a couple of buoys and weights to replace those that were missing from the southern area of the lake, but decided to use the west bank to provide a better course for the northerly wind direction.

We launched the DF 95s and BOTTLE boat from the bottom of the steps without a problem, but soon found the weed! Whilst it was not sticking up out of the water, there were straggly bits on the course towards the north. We attempted to sail 3 races with our ambition to get to the windward mark and back! Each of us achieved this once and Charles was the most successful at avoiding the weed by doing this twice. 

We discussed the rest of the season and it is clear that we will not be able to sail at Abbey Meads in the current conditions or what may be worse in the next month or so. It is clear that GMYC should really re-set our programme to next test the lake in November to avoid the worst of the weed in October. 

So the sailing programme could be returning on Wednesday the 4th and 18th November with the small boats and if conditions are good possibly racing Marbleheads for the Hydonia on Saturday the 21st. We might continue the fortnightly DF 95 meetings on Wednesday the 2nd December in preparation for running the BRASS MONKEY on the 12th. All this assumes that Government Regulations don’t restrict our freedom even more. 

There is also the question of our AGM and whether we should book our usual room at the Victoria Hall, Ash as a one-off at some convenient time. 

The committee would YOUR response to these suggestions……….

You are aware of Roger’s involvement in the new book ‘Waldringfield, a Suffolk Village beside the River Deben, from a previous email and he thanks all those who have supported and purchased this book and helped to keep the cost down to £20, assuming it is ordered before the launch date of 29 September. It is worth opening the Waldringfield History Group website, https//waldringfieldhistorygroup.fws.store for details or if only for the stunning pictures on this online bookshop. 

With the Government Regulations now restricting gatherings to only 6, this has thrown the book launch day into disarray, as 3 groups of 30 that were planned cannot now happen. Roger has come up with a crazy idea to actually launch ‘the book’ on the River Deben and has created two ‘book cover wingsails’ to power his ICE and WONKY Footys to have something to gain publicity at the book launch. These had their second test after the ‘racing’ at Abbey Meads with Martin and Charles kindly sailing them to allow Roger to take photos. Attached is the PDF shows that, although it may be bonkers the ‘rig’ on these Footys do allow them to sail well, just as if were powered by the normal swing rig.

Photo’s In Gallery Click Here

We had a marvellous sail for the first time since the Mermaid in March. The air of expectation was rewarded by sailing DF 95s and we had some really good racing. We tend to forget how exciting it is! Despite only 3 of us wanting to come out to play, we were joined by Leen Buurman of the Hampton Court and Gosport clubs, whose sailing has been restricted by weed and he and his wife Judith enjoyed the day. Mark Mortimore also came over for a chat and to exchange some equipment and he took the photographs that are on the gallery.

We raced a windward leeward course from the southern bank in a WSW shifty 6 -15 mph and completed six two lap races with Martin Crysell winning all of them. The other places were hardfought with a tie for 2nd place, won by Charles Wand Tetley with the tie broken as he beat me in the last race. I thoroughly enjoyed racing my BOTTLE boat with its BF 72 reduced rig, as I rarely race it and mostly lend it to others to sail.

With only a few people sailing, distancing was no problem and we are hoping that there will be more support for the August events from the existing DF 95 fleets. These events will be published shortly on the website.

The results of the racing are attached, but we did sail another couple of races after Martin left and Leen won both of them!

Roger Stollery 2020-07-27

Racing again at Abbey Meads

This Sunday 26 July Guildford Model Yacht Club will be restarting club racing. We shall be racing DF 95s and entries will be open to all affiliated members. We offer this opportunity to try out this marvellous sailing water at Abbey Meads lake, particularly to those who may be suffering from severe weed problems, You will be very welcome and if you’d like to take part please contact Roger Stollery beforehand on (01483) 421801 for more details, access arrangements etc.