News & Reports

2019 Marblehead National Championship, West Kirby 2019-07-21/22

Report for the GMYC website by Roger Stollery

This Championship followed on from the 10 rater National Championship, which was on the Thursday and Friday. 17 single heat races were sailed and the championship was won by James Edwards sailing a TRANCE. The Marbleheads sailed 15 races in 2 heats and we used nearly all our rigs.

Saturday

We were lucky with the weather with just a little bit of rain on Saturday in marked contrast to Friday’s downpours. Guildford was represented by 4 members, Peter and I, Rob Vice and David Coode and we all had problems at times in the strong wind. David and I spent most of our time in B heat and had some interesting races and often finished close together. The wind was blowing more or less straight down the lake from the west and was on average 16 miles an hour and maybe over 20 in the gusts; it was a day for the smallest C rigs. The photographs were taken in the seeding Race 1, when most were in C2 and show the big waves, which built up at the lower end of the lake where we were sailing. These had a big influence on performance in both directions. Whilst the UPs weren’t bothered off the wind, which we thoroughly enjoyed, but we did have some problems stalling on occasion when tacking, which didn’t help the results. Peter was disappointed that he led one of the races by quite a margin, only to pick up weed and spoil the result. The big waves didn’t help judgement when you were crossing other boats and I made inadvertent collisions when ducking starboard tack transoms, one of which caused a hole in the bottom of the boat which I didn’t notice until the end of the race, by which time it was half full of water! All but one of the races was won by either Brad Gibson, 4 or Graham Bantock, 3 with the other race won by Darin Ballington. Brad was the most consistent counting only firsts and seconds and even discarding a second!

Sunday

The light to moderate breeze was varying from the south or south south-west mainly A rig and occasionally B. However it was the direction that was a nightmare for the ROs Peter Baldwin and Derek Priestley, as when the wind was blowing across the lake it was difficult to set a start. We had to sail from the promenade to buoys that were over 100 metres away, making vision at the windward marks difficult. Reaching America’s Cup style starts and running starts with tried, but were not successful and these races were abandoned. There were constant delays as the courses were reset, but the ROs did a good job under difficult circumstances and 7 races were completed. Martin Roberts was back on form, was very consistent and had the best score for the day, whilst Peter was pleased with having most wins. Even I got out of B and had a couple of races in A heat to boost my rather pathetic scoreline. Rob ended the day well with a win after some pretty poor results in the morning.

This was a pretty good test for next year’s World Marblehead Championship and lots of things were learnt to help future race teams. 3 umpires were used buddied with observers and generally this worked well, although there were very few disputed incidents.

By Mark|2019-07-27T22:56:06+01:00July 27th, 2019|Categories: Games|Comments Off

WoW Event 8 – 17th July 2019

For the 3rd time running the WoW! event received no support from local M&S clubs, which is very disappointing particularly today, Wednesday 17th July when there was a nice steady southerly breeze giving the best conditions of all the WoW! event’s. However, well known Footy designer/builder did drive all the way from Northampton and brought his brand-new Marblehead UP, which he had moulded in my UP moulds. He has made an absolutely fantastic job of it and the hull moulding looked really good with a twill carbon pattern. We set up on the west bank and had some really good sailing, which was most enjoyable. After sorting out his trim tensions, Peter’s UPSHOT was going just as well as my UP as can be seen from the attached photos.

As expected the vandals had pulled up the large Danforth anchor, but had not moved the landing stage which is very encouraging in view of the six-week and attended period when you’re not using the lake. The southern landing stage also looked OK, so the chains appear to be a deterrent. Another good thing was that only one small piece of weed was picked up in our 90 minute sailing session. This bodes well for 14 September when we hope to run the Ted Gearey club race as a Bart’s Bash fundraising event. Details of this will follow shortly, but you will find some general information on the MYA website. In addition to running Marbleheads is to be hoped that we can also run the Footy Internet Course in the afternoon and make some connection with Footys worldwide, because this Footy course is the most ideal for comparison of performance because of this unique and accurate 50 foot beat and run course, which is ideal for timed comparisons.

Did anyone see the moon last night? I was quite surprised that in our area of over-lit suburbia, I was able to see part of the eclipse and take the attached photo from the top of my drive.

Regards

Roger

By Mark|2019-07-23T18:54:08+01:00July 23rd, 2019|Categories: Games|Comments Off

Arcadia Trophy 06 July 2019

See Gallery Tab for Photos of Event

Dear All,

This was a very encouraging club meeting at Abbey Meads. It was sunny and there was at times a reasonable north-westerly A rig wind towards the end of the morning. Most encouraging for Roger was to find the gates open, the boat and gear out on its trailer and Mark, who had set this up, raring to go sailing.

However, beforehand we had to investigate vandal damage to the west bank landing stage, where there appeared to be only one of the 2 posts supporting it. The fixing to the stair strings with chains instead of rope had worked and the landing stage had not been moved. Whilst the post appeared missing the vandals had snapped it off above the landing stage and we later found it afloat in the bushes. However the really heavy Danforth anchor on a 5 m length of heavy chain to ensure that the landing stage would not float away had been pulled up. Roger and Martin rode out in the boat to relay this mooring and to leave the buoys that had been pulled ashore moored in the centre of the lake to avoid further repositioning by fishermen.

5 competitors sailed 10 races and whilst these included GMYC members Martin, Mark and myself, we were delighted to have the pleasure of top A boat designer, Jon Simpson and his young teenage son Jeremy, to sail with us and help Jeremy understand a bit more about sailing. They raced Roger’s ROAR EDGE Marblehead alternately and won the first race as can be seen from the ARCADIA Trophy scoresheet and they enjoyed our club event. The only downside was that there was some straggly lengths of weed on the course which made its impact on the initial races in particular. It affected everyone, to some extent during the day, but even with his short keel on his PRIME NUMBER Martin suffered most, as can be seen in the results of the first few races. However Martin was the most consistent and his 5 first places broke the tie with Roger for the trophy.

Not only did Mark put the boat out, but he also put it away and as can be seen from the website was also the official photographer of the day. Many thanks indeed.

Whilst this is our final summer time club event, before re-starting in September, there is the WoW! event 8 on 17 July and an opportunity for more Marblehead sailing at the GAMES 9 interclub event at Woking, which it is hoped will be supported well by GMYC and other district club members. If you are really keen there is the opportunity for a late entry to the Marblehead Nationals at West Kirby on the 20th-21 July. At our club event on Saturday 14 September

for the Ted Gearey Trophy, the club are hoping to be part of Bart’s Bash to create a world record entry for a sailing event. This is to publicise sailing and publicise radio sailing within the full-size sailing world and also to help fund the Andrew Simpson Foundation which funds introductory events for those new to sailing. Details will be advised in due course.

Cheers, Roger

By Mark|2019-07-07T13:01:32+01:00July 6th, 2019|Categories: Games|Comments Off

WoW Event 7 – 03 July 2019

Dear All,

WoW! event 7 was warm and sunny, but the wind at Abbey Meads was cantankerous, basically north-easterly 5 mph, but some gusts coming from the north and others from the east. The course was set ensure that one of the legs of the triangle there would be a beat. Four members and an invited guest, Mike Bridges, who worked with Roger at Wimbledon enjoyed 8 races with a mixed fleet of two 10 raters initially, 2 Marbleheads and a BOTTLE boat. Mike was heavily involved in developing the ideas for the folding roofs on Centre and number One Court and making them practical.

Peter Dunne was trying out his new DEFECTOR 10 rater and found a glitch on the steering, so he changed to his new Croatian KANTUM 2 IOM, which performed OK as can be seen from the photographs. New member Charles was able to get his WHISPER Marblehead going, but found control at the distant mark difficult until later in the afternoon.

Roger enjoyed sailing his BOTTLE boat for a change, as it is so light and responsive and on one occasion nippy enough to reach the windward mark first.

The only disappointing thing was that there were no members from other clubs despite every M&S club secretary being emailed with the invitation to this event.

Cheers, Roger

By Mark|2019-07-06T22:52:48+01:00July 6th, 2019|Categories: Games|Comments Off

WoW 03 July 2019

WoW!! Workshop On Water

Guildford Model Yacht Club is introducing new Wednesday After Lunch Events for 2019. Based on the most successful of our winter Friday Evening Workshops – SAIL TRIMMING, we will be holding summertime coaching Workshops on our Abbey Meads Lake, which will be completely free.

World Vane Marblehead Champion, Roger Stollery, will be passing on his great experience in radio, vane and full-size sailing to help YOU get the best out of your boat. This may help YOU to enjoy your sailing more and be more competitive than those who miss out on these WoW events.

Every class of boat is invited to Abbey Meads Lake whether you are a one design sailor of the DF classes, where it is only your sailing skill that gives YOU the difference, or the fine tuning of IOM’s, or the swing rigs of the M and 10 rater classes.

WoW! events are designed to be FUNand not just about sail trimming. During the 9 event WoW series there will be coaching sessions to practise things like starting, and every aspect of sailing round the course. As well as sailing windward, leeward and reaching courses, honing YOUR skills in finding the best winds etc,there will be one session with a short FUN course against the clock that you won’t have used before. This will show why YOU have to talk to each other, sail in a straight line, tack on the shifts both up and down wind and avoid contacts at all costs.

Inevitably, when there are a few boats on the water there will be some racing for YOU to try out your new trimsetc. You will enjoy sailing at Abbey Meads, one of the best lakes in the southwith fantastic visibility from the high level control areas. GMYC are skilled at running more than one class at once to provide FUN and a challenge for all sizes of boat.

WoW! After Lunch Events start at 2 PM and depending on the weather, finish at about 5 PM. The next one is on Wednesday, 3^rdJuly 2019. Please check on the GMYC website www.guildfordmyc.co.ukfor the dates of other WoW! events, which are planned for Wednesday, 17^th& 31^stJuly.

If you want to come, you MUST phone Roger on (01483) 421801 either before or on the morning of the WoW!

By Mark|2019-07-02T16:03:37+01:00July 2nd, 2019|Categories: Games|Comments Off

Crawley Mariners Evening Sail June 2019

Dear All,

“For many years now this evening event on the last Wednesday of June has been on the GMYC calendar and takes place at the Crawley Mariners Yacht Club at Hedgecourt Lake near East Grinstead. This is a beautiful spot on the edge of a deep wood through which you gain access along a 1/2 a mile long track. I can’t remember when we first made contact with Crawley Mariners, but it must have been in the late 1980s or early 1990s, when GMYC were invited to a pub near Crawley to give a wintertime talk to their members about model yachting. We were invited there again recently at the start of the Footy era.

This led to us being invited for this summertime evening at Hedgecourt Lake by the then Commodore, Dr Donal Roche. In order to create interest in competitive radio sailing, we use the Footy Internet Course, a standard 50 foot windward leeward course, recorded the times for doing 3 laps and Donal has always provided the prizes for seniors and juniors at the end of the competition. Although I have been the contact as GMYC, I have tried to involved other sailing clubs and there have been participants from Southwater Dabblers, Clapham and more recently Frensham Pond, with the intention of demonstrating how good radio sailing is and trying to get Crawley Mariners to do their own radio sailing events. They did join the MYA briefly in 2013, but despite various members having the odd radio boat nothing has flourished.

In order to increase their interest, this year I was joined by Keith and Graham from Frensham Pond and we took a total of 10 boats and we all travelled together in my Focus estate! You can see the extent of this in the photograph preparing to load up for the journey home. As well as 4 Footys, my Marblehead UP, a BOTTLE boat, we took 4 Dragon DF65s, with the objective of showing them what could be purchased for £200. Keith Parrott did a grand job of promoting this class, which has been very successful at Frensham Pond, with big fleets making the IOM appear not to be the starter boat any more. Several members were certainly very interested and with an invitation to visit the Dragons racing at Frensham, we may well have succeeded in our long association with Crawley Mariners in creating some regular radio racing there.

Evening sailing is usually a problem with light winds, but this year there was a cracking breeze from the north-east blowing more or less straight down the lake towards the control area. All the boats were out sailing to start with just to enjoy these B rig conditions, with the unusual sight of boats planing on this lake! Once the Footy Internet Course was set up, several juniors and senior Crawley sailors enjoyed the challenge of sailing Footys round the course. The photograph shows one of the keenest members receiving his prize from Donal. The FIC results are posted on the www.sailfootyuk.com website.”

By Mark|2019-06-30T12:24:51+01:00June 30th, 2019|Categories: Games|Comments Off

WoW Event 19th June 2019

Wet, wet, wet! This can be the only description of this event, which did not attract any visiting sailors from other clubs. The forecast was for light patches of rain which may have put people off. However it was worse, as when Roger and Charles Wand Tetley arrived it was raining continually and carried on the whole afternoon with periods when it absolutely fell down thunderstorm style.

The good thing was that Charles’ assistance helped Roger to move the southern landing stage further down the steps and down to a level from which the boats could be launched. The ropes were removed and replaced with 2 chains, which were bolted into the side of the strings, matching the security of the one on the west bank.

The other good thing was that Charles launched his WHISPER Marblehead for the first time, but the lack of wind was not helpful and we only made sufficient progress to get to the nearest buoy and back! Charles’s wife and two friends, who had not sailed a radio boat before, were able to sail Roger’s BOTTLE boat and get the feel of it. Standing on the launching platform in a downpour of rain with no wind made us look completely mad!

Good support is requested for the next WoW! event on Wednesday, 3 July, when we are guaranteed some interested visitors, who really enjoyed the same event last year.

By Mark|2019-06-21T16:25:55+01:00June 21st, 2019|Categories: Games|Comments Off

2019 BOTTLE boat Championship NoR

2019 BOTTLE boat Championship Poster & NoR.pdf

Dear BOTTLE boat sailors,

It’s that time of year again to prepare for this year’s Championship, which is now to be held earlier than usual on Sunday, 11 August 2019. The Notice of Race is attached and provides all information that you need to know about entering the Championship and the conditions under which the event will be held.

You will see a note in red at the bottom, so please look at your sails and if there is a problem please give me a ring on (01483) 421801, but do this as soon as possible and don’t leave it to the last minute! I have already made one new suit of sails following last year’s event and am happy to make others if yours are in an unsailable condition.

Following an earlier notice to which you responded positively, I expect there will still be lots of entries and I look forward to receiving them. If you are entering before 1 August, you may do this to my email address above, but otherwise it will be in person or by phone as indicated in the Notice of Race.

Cheers, Roger

2019 BOTTLE boat champinship poster & NoR.pdf

By Mark|2019-06-21T12:09:29+01:00June 21st, 2019|Categories: Games, Membership|Comments Off

GAMES 7 & M&S Marblehead District Championship – 16th June 2019

The entry from M&S district clubs was very disappointing, as there were only 6 from just 4 clubs, supplemented by 2 entries from the eastern and and one from the midland district.

There was plenty of wind at times, but it varied so that you could use every rig, initially A rig and in the final stages C3. Huge waves build up as soon as the wind strength increases and the sailing was like sailing on the sea and great fun so long as you were in the right rig and were on the downhill side of the waves! Colin Goodman demonstrated how good a skipper he is, with 8 wins from the 17 races sailed.

Despite having learnt from the recent Sunday ranking event at Datchet also in strong winds and made good the technical defects aboard UP, Roger was disappointed that his ambition for this event, which was to finish every race, was not achieved. The worst failures were of the bottom bearings of his B and C rigs, which prevented UP being in the right rig for the wind conditions and having to sail the event in too small a rig. In terms of results, which are attached, Roger spent two of the races fishing for his sheet inside a wet hull as a result of the 5 mm plastic ball, which joins the sheet to the loop on the BOOT line, breaking in half!

This was as a result of planing into the buoy adjacent to the launching platform at high speed when not under control just after launching, The foreyard took the impact and broke the ball, but Roger was delighted that the impact was not sufficient to damage the plastic gears of the £11 King Max two turn winch, which has been so reliable in all the strong winds since September.”

2019 M&S Marblehead District Championship results.jpg

By Mark|2019-06-18T22:32:25+01:00June 18th, 2019|Categories: Games|Comments Off

WoW Event Wednesday Afternoon 19th June

Once again Guildford Model Yacht Club are running another WoW! event this coming Wednesday afternoon, 19th June at our lake at Abbey Meads, Chertsey.

These are becoming popular and all who have sailed at Abbey Meads “gain a great deal from the one-to-one coaching sessions and the great sailing water” as you can see from the photos of last WoW! event in our Gallery, any class of boat is catered for and it is all free!

If you would like improvements made in the adjustment of your rigging and coaching on sails trims etc you are most welcome to come along and enjoy the WoW! event at Abbey Meads. Before the event always check the Guildford website www.guildfordmyc.co.uk for any variation on this.

We look forward to seeing you!

Please note that if you want to come you MUST phone Roger on (01483) 421801 in the morning of Wednesday 19th June.

Cheers, Roger

By Mark|2019-06-17T22:29:06+01:00June 17th, 2019|Categories: Games|Comments Off