News & Reports

Four teams of 3 came together at Guildford Model Yacht Club’s Abbey Meads lake in a good westerly breeze to enjoy some fun. There is a schedule which allows 2 teams on the water at once and the schedule is completed when each team has sailed against each other team, a total of 6 races, with each team sailing 3 times. 2 rounds were sailed before the rain started to come down heavily and bring the racing to a close.

Team racing is much more of a game than the normal run of racing, because team members have to sail well together to stay ahead of the opposing team; both teams try to go fast, but also slowly at times using the rules to slow down the opposition and try not to have a team member coming last. It is a tactical game where knowing the rules is important and therefore it is a good platform for learning.

First on the water was the Vice Squad consisting of father, Rob and his 2 sons, CJ and Lockie. They have been team racing before with Footys and really enjoyed the racing helping each other round the course. Their opponents were Datchet’s Holliday and Thorn who had to borrow a competitor from another team as one of their team didn’t turn up. Datchet lost, but stayed on the water to race Frensham’s Stollery, Royse and Wilkinson, who finished in that order to win. They stayed on the water to sail the Vice Squad and there was UPROAR at the front of the fleet with Rob and Roger having a tight match race to get the first place, which went to Roger, which gave the win to Frensham. The Vice Squad stayed on the water and were again in a tight battle and only just lost to the Guildford team of Hugh McAdoo, Martin Crysell and Alan Viney, with CJ going particularly well to beat his dad. Guildford, then had to sail Datchet and won quite easily, before doing the same to Frensham.

After lunch the wind got up a bit and brought some exciting gusts down onto the water to test the B or C rigs being used. The schedule was repeated with almost all results being opposite to the morning. Datchet did particularly well, mainly because the substitutes were very good and they won all their afternoon races. In particular, they were behind until right near the end of the final beat against Guildford, when substitute, Roger, picked up some amazing lifts and passed the whole fleet, which had gone too far off the rhum line to give Guildford, their only loss of the day.

Guildford won with 5 wins, Datchet was 2nd with 3 and the other 2 teams tied for last place with 2 wins. At the prizegiving the competitors thanked Keith Parrott for acting as race officer for the day. Guildford always encourage those who are last to come back for more, and in this case gave the 3 small prizes to the Vice Squad. It was great to see these young kids enjoying the racing. In particular CJ sailing his CRAZY TUBE always made good starts and put lots of pressure on the more experienced sailors at the head of the fleet.

Three boat team racing is such great fun that more clubs need to be encouraged get a team together and to take part in next year’s entertainment.

Guildford Model Yacht Club is hosting this event and extends a warm welcome to all Marblehead sailors. Clubs are invited to send teams of three skippers to compete in the most exciting form of racing. Don’t worry if your club cannot form a team of three as we will accept single entries and form some ‘special’ teams, which has worked very well in the past. If you don’t have a Marblehead and would like to try sailing one of these marvellous boats, you may be able to borrow a competitive boat to race.
Racing will be carried out using Appendix D – Team Racing Rules suitably modified for radio racing, with the removal of reference to umpires etc. The special sailing instructions will be available on the day. The initial briefing will be at 09.45 for a 10.00 start of racing. The event is organised on a schedule and the number of rounds and sailing times will depend on the number of entries etc. As only two teams will be on the water at once, we would ask that teams share the officiating tasks, observing etc in turn, as part of the schedule. Please enter by phoning Roger Stollery on 01483 421 801, or by e-mailing stollery17@sky.com before midnight on Wednesday 18th February. The entry fee will be £5 per boat.
For those that have not experienced three boat team racing it is great fun, all about teamwork. Winning is not necessarily about who is in front, but in tight exciting battles in the centre and rear of the fleet. Sometimes not to finish last is to win the race for your team!
For those of you who have not been before, you will find Guildford MYC’s ABBEY MEADS Lake easily. From whatever direction you are travelling, follow the 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 after you see a sign, RADIO SAILING. If you arrive late and the inner gate is locked, put 1617 into the brass GMYC number padlock to open and just slide the horizontal bar back to open and replace after entry.
We are able set North/South courses from the West bank. Recently we have been having difficulty with vehicles on the muddy track to the control area. If this Western control area is to be used then parking is restricted to the tarmac close to the entrance gates. Probably rubber boots will be essential for walking along the track to the control area. We will be providing a toilet tent and there will be access to lots of bushes! If the weather is wet, there will be shelter etc in our gazebo. On the South bank from where we control the racing for East/West courses, parking directly off the road is available close to the Control Area; however here
too the ground may be muddy. We look forward to seeing you!

To the delight of the competitors who had travelled from the Midland and Southwest districts, the midweek forecast of doom, gloom, rain and gales was replaced by warm sunshine, a moderate SSW wind not far off straight down the lake.

PRO, Martin Crysell set a simple windward leeward one lap course that was great fun and much enjoyed by 9 competitors who sailed 16 races, at which point 3 race scores could be discarded. Discards were appreciated because during the day the wind started to blow more from behind the control area leaving big holes in the wind between the very strong gusts where poor results were easy to achieve!

First on the podium was Peter Shepherd with his FAT BOY, chased over the line by Mike Ewart sailing one of the 6 ICE designs in the fleet. After a really bad race, as a result of poor preparation, Rob Vice improved his trim and concentration to win Race 2 from John Burgoine. Peter Shepherd came back to win Race 3 from Roger Stollery sailing his SUPABUG design. Mike Ewart came good in Race 4, beating Rob into 2nd place who then went on to win Race 5 easily from Peter Shepherd, who scored his 3rd win in Race 6.

The wind was beginning to get stronger and some boats changed down to a lower rig to cope with the strong gusts when going downwind. The battle of the ICE’s in Race 7 was won by Mike Ewart from Rob, who went on to win the next race. David Wilkinson who was sailing his new ICE for the first time got the best out of it to win Race 9 and a 2nd in Race 10 to Peter, who got a great start and pulled right away from the fleet.

At the lunchtime break with a couple of discards, Peter was at the top of the leaderboard with 15, closely followed by Rob with 16 and Mike with 22 points.

For the afternoon racing, Martin Crysell extended the course by adding another half lap to finish on the run. The gusts were coming more from behind the control area and swirling eddies required lots of concentration to keep these superlight boats sailing in a straight line. Rob resolved to tack less often in the afternoon and this paid off with 3 wins and a 2nd, each time beating Peter to the finishing line. John Burgoine was having a problem with his radio gear and Rob kindly lent him his and some of Rob’s magic rubbed off, as John went on to win the last race in fine style from Mike Ewart. He was delighted!

The prizewinners thanked Martin and assistant race officer John Townsend for running another good Footy event. The Footy class give a special NovICE trophy to the best competitor who has not achieved a podium place in the Footy open meeting series. Relatively new Footy enthusiast, John Burgoine was delighted to get his engraved stainless steel NovICE trophy.

The next event in the Open Footy series will be the ‘MAD MARCH HARE’ at Woodspring on 13th March, with other events shown on the Footy website www.sailfootyuk.com .

Results:
1st Rob Vice Clapham ICE 23, 2nd Peter Shepherd Abington Park FAT BOY 28, 3rd Mike Ewart Two Islands ICE 35, 4th Roger Stollery Guildford SUPABUG 49, 5th Peter Jackson Abington Park F PLAN 58.7, 6th John Burgoine Birmingham ICE 59, 7th David Wilkinson Cotswold ICE 62, 8th Keith Parrott Frensham Pond ICE 86, 9th Peter Dunne Guildford ICE 105.