News & Reports

2016 M&S District Marblehead Interclub 3, GAMES 7 for the Arcadia Trophy

A great time was had at Abbey Meads Lake with the 16 races sailed in some of the best conditions that Guildford Model Yacht Club can offer. After a rather gloomy drizzley start, 8 competitors representing 3 clubs had a great deal of fun over the long beat and run course ideally placed parallel to the western control area. The fast planing runs were very exciting until the strongest gusts and power of the A rigs used by nearly all competitors drove bows under and rudders into the air.

The very first race gave an indication of how the results might turn out, as Peter Stollery, who was testing a new version of the UPROAR B rig managed to win despite having less power than the A rig competitors in the light airs. His father Roger, who was also testing a variation of the same offset pivot swing rig won Race 2 and Race 6, leaving Peter to win the other 6 races before lunch. The most consistent skipper apart from Peter was John Shorrock with five 2nd places and this took him to 2nd place on the leaderboard 7 points behind Peter, but 5 points ahead of Roger.

The sun then came out and the wind continued to increase during the afternoon, but 2 boats managed sail with their A rigs all day, although most were then in B. Mr Consistency, John Shorrock, sailing a QUARK managed to beat both the UPROARs to win Race 9, but then let them win all the remaining races. The wind direction gradually became more south-westerly as it increased and there were a few short breaks in the racing to pick up boats that had gear problems and had drifted into the bushes. Everyone enjoyed the incredible speed can be reached by these fast lightweight Marbleheads off the wind.

The disappointing entry from local clubs may be as a result of the closeness to next week’s MYA National Championship at Datchet, where there is a big entry from M&S District clubs. Those clubs not supporting this event missed a great opportunity to sail in breezy conditions at Abbey Meads and we hope that they will return to contribute to future events run by Guildford MYC later in the year.

The next M&S District Interclub event no. 4 and GAMES 8 is at Datchet on 7^th of August.

Results:

1st Peter Stollery Guildford UPROAR 15, 2nd Roger Stollery Guildford UPROAR 27, 3rd John Shorrock Datchet QUARK 30, 4th Alan Viney Guildford PRIME NUMBER 50, 5th Les Thorn Datchet PARADOX 65, 6th John Townsend Guildford ROK 76, 7th Phil Holliday Datchet QUARK 79, Peter Dunne Woking CRAZY TUBE TOO 81.

By Mark|2016-07-31T17:21:07+01:00July 31st, 2016|Categories: Games|Comments Off

M&S Marblehead Interclub 3 & GAMES 7 – Sunday 10 July

By Mark|2016-06-28T22:31:12+01:00June 28th, 2016|Categories: Sailing|Comments Off

2016 M&S District Marblehead Championship Report

There was keen competitive racing, despite the uncooperative winds over Guildford’s Abbey Meads Lake on 5^th of June. 11 entries from 8 clubs enjoyed some really close racing in which there were 8 different winners in the 17 races sailed. Light to moderate A rig northerly winds greeted competitors and provided good racing over a long windward leeward course parallel to the west bank control area.

In the morning’s racing the two most successful skippers were Dick Jobbins, sailing a Martin Houlton designed CONSTELLATION ll and John Smith sailing a QUARK, with 2 wins each. Other winners included John Shorrock also sailing a QUARK in Race 2, John Cleave sailing his SKALPEL 14 in Race 6, Les Thorn sailing a PARADOX in Race 7 and Martin Crysell sailing a PRIME NUMBER in Race 8. John Smith was at the top of the lunchtime leaderboard with 28, closely followed by John Shorrock with 29 and Martin Crysell with 30 points.

Over lunch the wind became much more easterly and in Race 9 there were lots of holes and swirling winds making the north-south course unacceptable. However, Dick Jobbins skilfully picked up the windshifts in that race to get his third win.

Race Officer, Roger Stollery then moved the whole operation to the south bank control area and re-laid the course to suit the developing east north-easterly wind direction. Alan Viney sailing a PRIME NUMBER made the best start and won Race 10, whilst John Cleave was getting some consistent results and in Race 11 scored his 2nd win. The next 2 races were won by John Shorrock, but not by much because in Race 13 the chasing pack of 7 boats crossed the finishing line within a couple of seconds! John Smith kept up the pressure by winning 2 of the last 3 races, only interrupted by Alan Viney scoring his 2nd win in Race 15. However the Manor Park skipper’s 4 wins was not enough to overtake John Shorrock who was very consistent, not dropping below 5th in any of his counting races and so becoming the M&S District Marblehead Champion. The final race was won by John Bennett sailing his modified and upgraded PARADOX.

At the prizegiving the RO thanked the competitors for their co-operation in moving to the other bank and for their sportsmanlike behaviour on the water. In turn, competitors thanked Roger and assistant race officer, Keith Parrott for putting together a good championship and despite the difficult conditions they said that they enjoyed the racing.

The next GAMES event is another Interclub event, Interclub 4, again at Abbey Meads on 9 July.

Results:

1^st John Shorrock Datchet Water QUARK 40

2^nd John Smith Manor Park QUARK 44

3^rd Martin Crysell Guildford PRIME NUMBER 48

4^th John Cleave Ryde SKALPEL 53

5^th Dick Jobbins Solent CONSTELLATION II 60

6^th John Bennett Eastleigh PARADOX 73

7^th Alan Viney Guildford PRIME NUMBER 79

8^th Les Thorn Hawley Lake PARADOX 83

9^th John Townsend Guildford UPROAR 93

10^th Colin Walton Manor Park STARKERS 110

11^th Peter Popham 3 Rivers CREAM CRACKERED 124

2016 M&S District Marblehead Championship – score sheet
Competitor	Club	Design	No	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	tot	dsc	total	plc
John Shorrock	Datchet Water	QUARK	29	3	1	5	3	3	5	4	5	2	9	2	1	1	3	7	2	9	65	25	40	1
John Smith	Manor Park	QUARK	43	1	2	3	2	1	7	5	7	11	6	6	2	2	1	5	1	12	74	30	44	2
Martin Crysell	Guildford	PRIME NUMBER	52	5	5	2	4	9	2	2	1	6	2	9	8	3	4	3	4	5	74	26	48	3
John Cleave	Ryde	SKALPEL 14	1	2	4	4	7	2	1	11	2	7	4	1	7	4	6	6	3	7	78	25	53	4
Dick Jobbins	Solent	CONSTELLATION 2	86	12	9	1	1	6	3	7	6	1	7	3	3	7	5	9	6	4	90	30	60	5
John Bennett	Eastleigh	PARADOX	91	4	3	9	8	4	10	6	4	3	5	8	6	8	9	8	9	1	105	28	77	6
Alan Viney	Guildford	PRIME NUMBER	51	6	7	10	9	5	8	10	11	10	1	10	4	6	2	1	8	2	110	31	79	7
Les Thorn	Hawley Lake	PARADOX	89	8	11	7	10	8	4	1	9	9	10	5	5	5	7	2	7	6	114	31	83	8
John Townsend	Guildford	UPROAR	17	10	10	11	5	7	6	8	8	4	8	4	9	9	8	4	10	3	124	31	93	9
Colin Walton	Manor Park	STARKERS	3	9	8	6	11	10	11	9	3	8	3	7	10	10	12	10	9	8	144	34	110	10
Peter Popham	3 Rivers	Cream Cracker	71	7	6	7	6	11	9	3	10	5	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	160	36	124	11

[gview file=”https://guildfordmyc.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/2016-06-06-MS-Disrtict-M-champs-pic-pages.pdf” height=”800px” save=”1″]

By Mark|2017-03-17T18:39:49+00:00June 8th, 2016|Categories: Sailing|Comments Off

36” National Championship 2016

What a fantastic championship! The wind blew hard on Guildford’s Abbey Meads water, straight down the lake and was strong enough to give some exciting planes off the wind as well as wipeouts in the strongest gusts. Close racing throughout the fleet was thoroughly enjoyed by both competitors and spectators alike, as much as the battle for superiority at the top.

The GMYC race team set a simple two lap beat and run course with a windward mark, spreader and leeward gate that took about 13 minutes. The windshifts in the 8-20 mph winds gave plenty of opportunity to demonstrate skipper ability, both tacking on the beat and gybing on the run.

18 races was sailed with Dave Andrews, sailing a RAPTOR 5, kicking off with 3 wins in the first four races, only interrupted in Race 2 by Martin Houlton and his special, beautifully moulded, narrow RAPTOR 6 design. Then Peter Stollery sailing his 33-year-old swing rigged TAXACHUN found his form, winning the next 4 out of 5 races, only interrupted by Dave winning Race 7. At the lunch break Peter was top of the leaderboard with 17 points followed by Dave with 21 and Peter Moore sailing a Martin Dovey designed SABORA with 31.

After lunch the gusts became stronger and most skippers changed down to a smaller suit of sails. Dave’s sail change was slow and he started Race 8 a whole windward leg behind the fleet, but such was the speed of his new set up, he pulled past all but the two Peters to finish 3^rd. For the next 6 races he remained unbeatable, except in Race 12 when Peter Moore got his 2^nd win.

The dull greyness of the day turned to drizzle, which became more persistent and heavier as the afternoon wore on. After Race 16, RO Roger Stollery called all skippers together to ask them whether they wanted to continue racing, as there was three quarters of an hour left before the official end of racing. However it was agreed by all to sail a further 2 races, each of which was won by the one of the two Peters.

At the prizegiving, the smile on Dave’s face was a picture, as he was quite delighted to have won his first 36” national championship. The winning competitors thanked the race team of Roger, Hugh McAdoo, Martin Crysell, John Townsend and Alan Viney for running a very good championship. 36” Class Captain, Alf Reynolds, who had a few technical problems during the racing, on receipt of his ‘Guildford traditional last prize’, said that he would love to bring the class here again for further events. As well as the prizes for the top 3, every competitor was pleased to take home a specially commissioned GMYC mug.

These boats are built to the 36” class ‘box’ rule, which is very simple as the hull, keel and rudder just have to fit into the special measurement box, 37 x 9 x 11 inches. There is plenty of opportunity to experiment with design and what is really good about this rule and the more recent Footy ‘box rule’ is that good designs stay competitive for a long while.

The current designs from designer/builder Martin Houlton are the RAPTORs weighing in at 8 pounds. His latest RAPTOR 6 has only a 7” beam as opposed to the full 9”, but it still displaces 8 pounds. Although quick off the wind it suffered from a lack of power to windward in the strongest gusts. The Austin/Stollery swing rigged TAXACHUN designed in 1983 is still very competitive at 10 pounds despite its age and well used sails.

The latest rigs have big jib areas and equal booms, compared to the one third jib area swing rigs, but the jury is out as to the merits of each, as the ragbag of 30-year-old TAXACHUN sails was not a fair comparison in this fleet of beautifully made Houlton sails.

Results:

1^st Dave Andrews Hampton Court RAPTOR 5 26

2^nd Peter Stollery Guildford TAXACHUN 30

3^rd Peter Moore Bournville SABORA 37

4^th Dick Eastleigh RAPTOR 5 60

5^th Martin Houlton Solent RAPTOR 6 73

6^th Dave Kent Dartmoor RAPTOR 5 73

7^th Martin Hunt Hampton Court RAPTOR 5 88

8^th Rob Walsh Fleetwood TAXACHUN 103

9^th Alf Reynolds Chelmsford RAPTOR 5 139

Novice Bowl – Dick Jobbins

Report by Roger Stollery 2016-05-28

By Mark|2017-03-17T18:39:49+00:00May 30th, 2016|Categories: Sailing|Comments Off

2016 M&S District MARBLEHEAD Championship & GAMES 6 – Sunday 5th June

The Guildford Model Yacht Club extends a very warm welcome to all Marblehead enthusiasts for the M&S District Championship at our water at Abbey Meads.

The Guildford race team will do their best to give you a good day’s racing. The current IRSA Marblehead class rules will apply and the racing will be governed by the RRS 2013-2016 modified by the current MYA Standard Sailing Instructions, HMS 2016. The relevant notices are as follows:

REGISTRATION – 0845 to 0930 hours
BRIEFING – this will start at approximately 0945 hours.
RACING TIMES – the first race will start soon after the briefing at approximately 1000 hours – no race will start after 1630 hours and any race in progress at 1700 hours will be abandoned.

Please make the relevant boat certificate, PSN certificate available at the registration table, where the entry fee of £7.50 is to be paid as soon as possible after you arrive. Be prepared to have your boat checked against the length/depth measurement gauge at registration. We will inform competitors in advance if there is a requirement to add any prefix etc to modify sail numbers to avoid clashes.

As well as the prizes, there will also be a for the best competitor under 18.

Please use the MYA online entry system; go to the MYA website front page, click the NoR. Please ignore the requirement to send the entry fee prior to the event, as we would prefer the fees at registration. Please enter by midnight on Thursday 2nd June but don’t leave entering to the last minute – Enter Now!

For more details or if you want to borrow a boat, or have any queries don’t hesitate to phone Roger Stollery 01483 421 801 or e-mail stollery17@sky.com

You will find lake easily, provided you don’t use the route recommended by Google! Please stick to the following directions. From whatever direction you are travelling, follow the brown signs to THORPE PARK and go to the roundabout at their entrance. Then travel south on the A320 towards Chertsey and you will see the lake on your left. After a few hundred yards turn left off the road, where signposted ‘Chertsey Water Treatment Works’ and where you should also see a sign, If you are coming to watch and arrive whilst we are racing, follow the instructions on the gate and phone the number shown there to get the code to unlock the gate. Alternatively remember the code number to unlock the and replace it as you found it once you are through. If all else fails just sit on your horn!

By Mark|2017-03-17T18:39:49+00:00May 20th, 2016|Categories: Sailing|Comments Off

Nicklin Trophy Report 8 May 2016 – Roger Stollery

Nicklin Trophy

2016-05-08 Report by Roger Stollery

This felt like one of the first days of summer with shorts being the order of the day. With a basically easterly wind we operated from the South bank. Initially beating to windward there were the odd northerly gusts, but as the day went on they became more ESE or SE and very light and variable at the eastern end. There were the inevitable frustrating holes in the wind, but occasionally enough wind for the odd burst of planing.

Using the new rubber dinghies a few more buoys were laid …………….a great little boat thank you Martin! As it has a transom I clamped a box to it for keeping Txs and cameras etc away from the water and then used this to take photographs from the boat in Race 11. You and your boats are recorded somewhere on the next pic page.

As there was little or no wind when we arrived and set up, there was a presentation of trophies. The beautiful copper sailed evening trophy was presented to Les Thorn for his win in the Wednesday evening meeting on 20 April. Also the QUAX trophy for special GMYC effort in 2015 was presented to John Townsend. This trophy was not available at our presentation at the 2015 AGM.

Hugh had his short keel and light l lead on his PRIME NUMBER and won the first race easily. Then John Shorrock shone for a couple of races interrupting Hugh’s run of two wins and two seconds. This took him the top of the leaderboard by lunchtime tied with Roger’s UPROAR. Both Les, and John Townsend who was sailing for the first time after coming back from his holiday in Switzerland, were doing well with a couple of thirds between them.

Roger had to rescue UPROAR from the reeds after Race 10 (not concentrating when taking the scores down) and with everyone’s agreement raced from the rescue boat. This was an amazing experience because apart from taking photographs at the start and buoy roundings etc, UPROAR had to sail itself as, from that low-level, judgement at the other end of the lake was ‘difficult’. However it sailed itself to windward, didn’t apparently hit anything and finished second to Hugh. I was hoping for the photographs to catch some fast planing with spray everywhere, but that just didn’t materialise! It was a very good day’s sailing despite the wind frustrations and Alan’s spreadsheet of results show the merits of the handicap system with only the ‘improvers’ coming to the top of the list.

It was noted that the NICKLIN Trophy, probably our best trophy, was presented for the 36” class racing in 1936, exactly 80 years ago. It was appropriate that our Commodore who had beaten his handicap by 7% should be the custodian of this trophy for 2016.

2016 Nicklin

By Mark|2017-03-17T18:39:49+00:00May 13th, 2016|Categories: Sailing|Comments Off

36″ Nationals Saturday 21 May

Dear All,
Guildford Model Yacht Club are holding the entries open for this championship until next Thursday 19th May, so if you haven’t entered yet there is still time!

As well as the entry procedure in the Notice of Race, you can now enter via the MYA website. Just click on the ‘news’ and there is a piece on the 36″ nationals. Click on that and the entry form will appear.

We look forward to receiving your entry!

Cheers, Roger

The Guildford Model Yacht Club extends a very warm welcome to you and all 36” enthusiasts for this Championship event on our large open water at Abbey Meads. The last time your class came to race here it was lots of fun and there was plenty of good racing in wind strengths that gave an airing to several of your rigs.

Preparations are well under way and our objective is to give you lots of pleasure and excitement in a friendly, but competitive atmosphere. So, dig out your 36”, dust it off and get ready for the big event. We are keen to encourage juniors, as is the tradition of this class and so let your children and grandchildren have a go.

Since the last time you were here, we are providing you with better access down the steps to our landing stages and we have cut down the biggest trees on the water’s edge and have an even more experienced team to run the event. We have lots of lovely prizes and you will go away with more than just a good memory of the event.

Roger Stollery will be the Race Officer. We hope that the conditions will be ideal, sunny with a good wind straight up and down the N/S axis of the lake and no fog, rain or other excuses to prevent us doing our utmost to make the best of it! The current Class Rules will apply and the racing will be conducted using the RRS 2013-2016 modified by the current MYA Standard Sailing Instructions, HMS 2016 and the MYA Regulations governing the organisation of the event. The relevant notices are as follows:

BRIEFING – this will start at approximately 0945 hours.
RACING TIMES – the first race will start soon after the briefing at approximately 1000 hours – no race will start after 1700 hours and any race in progress at 1800 hours will be abandoned.

Please make your boat’s certificate is available at the registration table in the covered area as soon as you arrive. Return to the covered area when your boat is rigged for a measurement check.
Please enter ASAP in the normal way by completing the National Championship Entry Form on p26 of the MYA Yearbook or using the MYA on-line system. However you enter please send the entry fee of £15 to Roger Stollery, 6 Little Tumners Court, Godalming, Surrey GU7 2HF by the closing date of 6th May 2016.

We will inform competitors in advance if there is a requirement to add any prefix etc to modify sail numbers to avoid clashes. We would like to point out that the operating bank is currently about 1.8 metres above water level and there are concrete steps down to a launching platform closer to the water level . The banks can get muddy so Wellington boots are advisable! Unfortunately we cannot provide lunches so please bring your own food and drink.
Please don’t hesitate to phone Roger Stollery 01483 421 801 if you have any queries or want to borrow a boat.

For those of you who have not been before, ABBEY MEADS lake can be found easily. From whichever direction you are travelling, follow the signs to Thorpe Park. At that entrance roundabout take the southern exit towards Chertsey on the A320. The lake entrance is about 1000 metres on the left, after the lay-by and where there is a turning off and a pair of metal gates. When the Club is sailing at the lake, you will also see a sign ‘RADIO SAILING’ just before this entrance. The gate may be just closed, but not locked: please close the gate behind you!

NoR

By Mark|2017-03-17T18:39:49+00:00May 11th, 2016|Categories: Sailing|Comments Off

Date Changes to Next Four Wednesday Meetings

Due to the inclement wether predicted for this weeks Wednesday sailing, the 27th meeting has been cancelled and the next four meetings have been put back a week. Revised dates are now: 4th May, 18th May, 1st June & 15th June. The Wednesday dates after this are unaffected. See Calendar section for information.

By Mark|2016-04-25T22:17:32+01:00April 25th, 2016|Categories: Evenings, Sailing|Comments Off

Eastleigh Marblehead Interclub & GAMES 4 NOTICE OF RACE

http://www.edmbc.net/sailing/

By Mark|2016-03-16T11:36:21+00:00March 16th, 2016|Categories: Sailing|Comments Off

Courage Cock etc.

Dear All,
Although it was disappointing not to have sufficient entries to run the match racing for the Courage Cock, myself, Alan Viney and Rob Vice turned up at Abbey Meads for a tuning session, which I must say was tremendous fun and at times quite hilarious.

Alan arrived first and found that our normal KASP lock with a normal hasp had indeed been moved back to the inner gate and so access we did not need to rely on the contractors black number lock. The culprit was UK Power Networks, the electricity board requiring 24 hour access, who had kindly returned our padlock to the inner gate. Still wanting to know who operates the remaining unknown padlocks, I tackled a guy coming in, who happened to be from the Runnymede Angling Association. He didn’t know about the other locks but we moved the contractors padlock around in order that our lock is on the same bar as Runnymede. I said that we would be putting a chain round our lock as they do and he was happy with that. We just need to purchase a small padlock to make our chain loop continuous. There is a chain in the clubhouse which could be used for this.

Does anyone have a small padlock with a 3 or 4 mm hasp that you are not using?

It was a beautifully sunny day albeit a bit chilly, with a cracking 2-9 mph easterly wind blowing through the trees and giving the very best of sailing conditions, albeit a bit variable in direction and strength. The objective of our sailing was to improve our speed by trials to windward, starting three abreast 10 foot apart and sailing as long as possible on each tack and then improving the trim on the slowest after three goes. Having plenty of time without rushing to race was very useful and I found several bits of my A rig that needed attention and received it. There were things that we learnt that require attention after some workshop work, so once this is carried out it should help to keep the Guildford fleet up to speed.

Good luck to the Guildford team at Norwich next week!

Having trialled to windward we also came back downwind, starting level and did some useful experiments. Running dead downwind with a swing rig is not the most efficient use of the rig which likes to be an angle to the wind, but one is never too sure whether gybing and searching for the wind slightly off the rhum line is going to pay or not. Obviously it depends on the wind variation, but on one specific test run I sail dead downwind between the marks had ‘Uproar’s sails right out at 90° to the boat, whilst Rob with his ‘BlimBlachBlahoo’, gybed a lot but sailed not far off the rhum line to get the best out of the wind. In the light flukey wind there wasn’t much in it but dead downwind seemed to be a slight advantage, which is not what you would expect.

After a bit we decided to have some racing but using a ‘gate’ start. This is supposed to be the fairest way of starting where the ‘pace’ boat sails on port from the start mark and the others approach on starboard to take the pace boat’s stern. Whilst this sounds easy it proved a bit more tricky, particularly when the pace boat got hooked up with the start mark causing some hilarity when the second boat hooked up with it trying to free it. Anyway it was a very rewarding day and for me the first time that I have set out from home without any 27 MHz radio gear. It all worked as anticipated and I even found out what happens when the batteries run down on my Saturn TX, it makes a horrible beeping sound, but does not appear to affect the range, which is good to know.

You have probably had enough by now, but this is reporting that a really good, different and worthwhile event is possible even when the entries are small.

The final evening workshop of the session will be on Friday, 25 March, on rules and tactics so see you there. Beyond that there is the Elstead Cutter on 3 April, so please put this in your diary. It is a handicap event for one of our best trophies so come along and enjoy some good racing.

Cheers, Roger

By Mark|2016-03-15T23:23:55+00:00March 15th, 2016|Categories: Sailing|Comments Off