MYA 10 Rater National Championship at Guildford Model Yacht Club
by Roger Stollery 27 Apr 2013 09:52 BST
20-21 April 2013
Graham Bantock sailed his 'Diamond' design superbly to win this Championship again, in difficult and unpredictable light fluky wind conditions in 17 races, against the biggest fleet of 10 raters in recent times.
Guildford Model Yacht Club were delighted to receive 26 entries for this event from 15 clubs, including 3 from France, because this was nearly four times last year's entry. This is as a result of a remarkable revival of interest in the oldest of the International radio sailing classes. The 10 rater class was created in the 1880s with a very simple idea relating waterline length and sail area, so that the longer the boat, the smaller the sail area. The class may be old, but modern 10 raters are state-of-the-art and are magnificent performers with their light displacement, narrow beam, high stability and plenty of sail. The beautiful sleek appearance with long overhangs has recently attracted enthusiasts from two full-size sailing clubs and there is now a regular racing available every week at Frensham Pond Sailing Club.
Guildford's water at Abbey Meads Lake (near Chertsey) was an ideal venue for this event, because of the ability to set long courses with good visibility from a raised control area. The steep bank has been a problem in the past, but Terry Rensch's fantastic new steps have made access to the launching area much easier and safer.
Saturday
Light easterly winds and beautifully warm sunshine greeted competitors at Abbey Meads, Chertsey. Principal Race Officer, Martin Crysell, set a 700 metre long windward/leeward course with a leeward gate and windward mark spreader. The wind varied both in direction and strength and gave advantage to those who could best follow the constant changes.
The Race 1 winners were ex-IOM world champion, Trevor Binks and Andy Lunt. Race 2 saw Graham Bantock come to the top with Trevor Binks 2nd and Hugh McAdoo 3rd. Trevor maintained his consistent performance in Race 3, but was beaten by Andy Lunt. Graham Bantock came back to win Race 4 in front of Trevor with last year's champion, Peter Wiles, sailing his 'Tension' design into 3rd place.
After lunch Graham won Race 5 in front of Colin Trower, who maintained his challenge to win Race 6 ahead of Peter Wiles. Graham then had a consistent run of races winning Races 7, 8 and 10, only losing out in Race 9 to Trevor Binks. Patrice Montero from the south of France and MYA 10 rater champion in 2011, also had a consistent run with 3 thirds in these races.
The championship dinner
Competitors retired to a local hostelry on the banks of the River Thames to enjoy a relaxed 3 course dinner, which had been carefully orchestrated by Terry Rensch.
Sunday
With the wind forecast to come from an opposite direction competitors were again on the south bank and the wind gradually increased from nothing to a light breeze, but was hopelessly inconsistent and during the day came from every direction except from the East.
PRO, Martin Crysell, set a similar windward leeward course with a gate in the forecast West south-west direction. However the wildly inconsistent wind at times gave a lot of reaching both ways with winds both from the North and the South. Some of the gusts were strong enough to promote some planing for the lighter boats from both these directions.
Race 11 was won by Patrice Montero with Colin Trower 2nd and Roger Stollery sailing his 'Crazy Tube Ten' 3rd. Colin maintained his challenge to win Race 12 from Graham Bantock with Derek Priestley 3rd. Graham came back to win Race 13 with Derek Priestley 2nd and Patrice Montero 3rd.
Alf Reynolds, who had been struggling with technical problems throughout the Championship with a modified 'Peken' design, sailed a brilliant Race 14 to win from Colin Trower. Colin maintained his challenge to win Race 15 from Trevor Binks and Graham Bantock. Graham came back to win Race 16 from Colin and Peter Wiles. After a couple of bad races, Patrice Montero renewed his challenge to win the final Race 17 from Robbie Nevitt sailing a 'Maverick' design and Hugh McAdoo.
Martin Crysell and the 6 man GMYC race team were thanked by the prizewinners for running a good event in difficult wind conditions. Graham Bantock commented that with the bigger entry the pressure of competition had been tougher in previous years. The prizes included a furthest travelled prize, which went to Eric Van de Kindere, who had driven from Marseille to sail at this championship.
A brand-new trophy, the Classic Cup, presented by Guildford Model Yacht Club to encourage older 10 raters to take part in the championship was presented to Nick Whyte, who sailed a 12-year-old 'ROK' Marblehead hull with a large rig as a 10 rater. There were 6 older 10 raters that qualified to race for this trophy and it is to be hoped that there will be many more next year.
Boats
The racing was dominated by Graham Bantock designs. Where designs have not been mentioned in the text this is because they were all Graham's designs, with the 'Diamond' being the most popular, as noted below. There were half a dozen 'crossover' 10 raters, based on a Marblehead hulls with a big rig. In the light winds these perform very well as can be seen from Trevor Binks' results, and in the stronger winds the off wind speed of the swing rigged Crazy Tube was exceptional.
The majority of boats were sailing on the waterline of approximately 1250 mm, with sail areas in the order of 1 m sq. Apart from 2 swing rigs and a rotating Waliki wing mast rig with a fat head, the majority of the rigs were very conventional, both in sail plan area and in detail. There were 3 DIY boats, but these were all made by their designers. There is no need for large expense to compete in this class; one boat was bought for just £180, complete with several rigs, and the owner thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Results:
1 Graham Bantock, Chelmsford, 'Diamond' 24
2 Trevor Binks, Eastbourne, 'Prime Number Ten' 44
3 Colin Trower, Hampton Court, 'Diamond' 45
4 Patrice Montero, Le Ciotat – FRA, 'Diamond' 54
5 Peter Wiles, Poole, 'Tension' 60
6 Hugh McAdoo, Guildford, 'Diamond' 87
7 Roger Stollery, Guildford, 'Crazy Tube Ten' 95
8 Graham Frazer, MYSA, 'Diamond' 105
9 Andy Lunt, MYSA, 'Prism' 118
10 Eric Van de Kindere, Le Ciotat–FRA, 'Graffico' 123
11 Nick Whyte, Dartmoor, 'ROK' 125
12 Robbie Nevitt, Yeovil, 'Maverick' 155
13 Martin Shaw, Hampton Court, 'Prism' 158
14 Alf Reynolds, Chelmsford, 'Pekan mod' 167
15 Charles Clarke, MYSA, 'Prism' 205
16 Derek Priestley, Fleetwood, 'Starkers Ten' 219
17 Ian Garner, Frensham Pond SC, 'Slim Ten' 222
18 Terry Rensch, Guildford, 'Starkers Ten' 231
19 Colin Harper, Hampton Court, 'Slim Ten' 263
20 Richard House, Royal Southampton YC, 'Sea Skua' 263
21 Eddie Hill, Royal Southampton YC, 'Sea Skua' 274
22 Graham Bartholomew, Chelmsford, 'Bentley' 285