Marblehead GAMES 1 Open at Guildford Model Yacht Club
by Roger Stollery 24 Feb 2014 06:32 GMT
22 February 2014
Marblehead GAMES 1 open at Abbey Meads © Roger Stollery
After two postponements, one because of weed at Poole and another due to floods in Chertsey, GMYC's determination to sail the GAMES 1 event finally paid off in near-perfect wind and weather conditions.
The lake looked magnificent with the high water level just a foot below the top of the bank, which is normally 8 feet above the water level. The west-south-west light to moderate winds allowed an 800 m windward/leeward course with a leeward gate with competitors on the southern control area, giving some entertaining fast planing runs with rudders showing at times. With the recent frustration of not being able to sail, the competitors, representing 6 clubs, really enjoyed this open event, with the warm sunshine being an added bonus.
John Shorrock from Reading won the first race with his new modified and swing rigged QUARK, which was very fast off the wind. Hugh McAdoo then took the next 2 races with his PRIME NUMBER before letting John come back to win Race 4. Martin Crysell then took Race 5 also sailing a PRIME NUMBER, which left the lunchtime leaderboard showing Hugh with 8, Martin 9 and John 11 points.
After lunch Roger Stollery got his CRAZY TUBE FREE going to win Race 6, but then let Hugh win the next. Not to be outdone John put in another win in Race 8, but let Roger back to win Race 9, with Terry Rensch sailing another QUARK second. Roger prevented Hugh from winning the next 3 races by taking Race 11 and then went on to win Races 13 and 14.
Martin and Hugh each won one of the final 2 races to make it a very close finish to the event with just 3 points covering the medal places! There had already been some amazingly close finishes, where the whole fleet managed to get across the finishing line within a few seconds. The event was sailed in the most sporting manner with no penalty turns outstanding and was thoroughly enjoyed by all as can be seen on the faces of the prizewinners in the photographs.
Overall Results:
1st Roger Stollery (Guildford) CRAZY TUBE FREE, 27pts
2nd Hugh McAdoo (Guildford) PRIME NUMBER, 29pts
3rd Martin Crysell (Guildford) PRIME NUMBER, 30pts
4th John Shorrock (Reading) QUARK, 43pts
5th Terry Rensch (3 Rivers) QUARK, 60pts
6th Alf Reynolds (Chelmsford) PARADOX 'modified', 67pts
7th Alan Viney (Guildford) PRIME NUMBER, 71pts
8th Peter Dunne (Woking) CRAZY TUBE TOO, 101pts