Marblehead Mermaid Trophy at Guildford Model Yacht Club
by Roger Stollery 10 Nov 2011 12:27 GMT
6 November 2011
The 2011 end of season Marblehead open event attracted entries from 7 clubs from as far away as Middleborough. This was the penultimate event in the 10 event GAMES series. 16 races were sailed in ideal conditions to decide the winner of the beautifully sculpted bronze Mermaid, at Guildford MYC’s Abbey Meads lake near Thorpe Park, Chertsey on 6th November.
The Northerly 5-12mph wind blew straight down the lake and was strong enough in the biggest gusts to add excitement with planing offwind in every race. Race Officer, Roger Stollery laid an 600-metre long upwind/downwind course with a leeward gate, parallel and close to the west bank control area and this was gave some excellent racing.
Big shifts from the NW kept skippers on their toes and those who could read the variations in the wind direction gained both up and downwind. Strategy at the leeward gate gave the chance of gains or losses and the lack of ‘follow-my-leader’ resulted in some very tight finishes only centimetres apart!
2011 IOM world champion, Peter Stollery made his intentions clear in Race 1 by picking the right shifts on the beat and tacking downwind to overtook Roy Stevens to win. He repeated this for the next 5 races, giving a masterclass of sailing downwind in marginal planing conditions. Helped by the power of his swing rig on a quartering run he consistently kept his ‘Crazy Tube’ on the plane by tacking downwind, whilst the conventionally rigged boats following a more downwind course to keep their jibs goosewinged, could plane only in the strongest gusts. In Race 6 Hugh McAdoo, sailing a ‘Prime Number’, got the best start and was leading at the first mark, but Peter picked the downwind shifts perfectly to overtake 4 boats on the first run and take the lead.
The racing was very close at times and in Race 4, 5 boats crossed the finishing line within a few seconds. In Race 7 Roy Stevens, sailing a ‘Prime Number’, got a good start to win from Peter and Martin Crysell. After lunch the wind gradually increased giving more planing offwind and pushing these boats to the limit in their biggest rigs.
After another good start Hugh McAdoo won Race 8, from Roy Pearson sailing a ‘Rok’ and Alan Viney sailing a ‘Prime Number’. Peter won Race 9, but could only finish 2nd to Martin Crysell in Race 10. Martin finished 2nd to Peter in Race 11, but retired after a collision at speed before the start, which put a small hole in John Shorrock’s ‘Starkers’. However he came back in Race 12 to win from Hugh and Roy Stevens, who was enjoying the stronger wind and won the next two races. Some boats changed down to their ‘B’ rigs for the last few races, but the increase was temporary and Peter who did not change was able to use his amazing offwind speed to win both Races 15 and 16.
At the prize giving Peter thanked Roger and the Guildford team of John Townsend and Keith Parrott for running another good Mermaid. As well as prizes for the winners, GMYC awarded the Vic Cooney trophy for the best veteran to Roy Stevens and the Ted Gearey award to Roy Pearson for the best improver, which is awarded for the best improvement on the results of the early races.
This result brought Roy Stevens to within 7 points of the GAMES leader Martin Crysell, so next week’s final event for the Stan Cleal Trophy at 3 RIVERS should provide an exciting climax to this new series with all the top 4 leading skippers taking part.
Overall Results:
1st Peter Stollery Guildford ‘Crazy Tube Too’ 16pts
2nd Roy Stevens Tri Services RSA ‘Prime Number’ 35pts
3rd Martin Crysell Guildford ‘Rok’ 41pts
4th Hugh McAdoo Guildford ‘Prime Number’ 49pts
5th Roy Pearson Guildford ‘Rok’ 56pts
6th Peter Crisp Swanley ‘Starkers’ 71pts
7th Alan Viney Guildford ‘Prime Number’ 94pts
8th Chris Durant Gosport ‘Crazy Tube Too’ 99pts
9th John Shorrock Reading ‘Starkers’ 100pts
10th Roger Pearce Woking ‘Paradox’ 101pts
11th Alf Reynolds Chelmsford ‘Paradox’ 122pts
12th Terry Rensch Guildford ‘Prime Number’ 127pts
13th John O’Brien 3 Rivers ‘Roar Edge’ 174pts
Ted Gearey Award for Best improver – Roy Pearson
Vic Cooney Trophy for best veteran – Roy Stevens
See the GMYC website, www.guildfordmyc.co.uk for more detail about the club and the GAMES series or the MYA website, www.mya-uk.org.uk for details of the sport.