Marblehead Mermaid Trophy at Guildford Model Yacht Club
by Roger Stollery 5 Nov 2014 09:44 GMT
2 November 2014
The fleet of 20 Marbleheads made a fantastic spectacle on Guildford Model Yacht Club's Abbey Meads water on Sunday 2nd November. Everyone enjoyed sailing 13 races with this number of boats on such a large open sailing water.
The forecast strong winds did not materialise, but there was sufficient wind in the afternoon gusts to generate some planing on the offwind legs. The 5-7 mph SSW wind, parallel to the control area gave a long windward/leeward course and lots of good racing with a steady breeze in the morning and a more unpredictably gusty wind from the SW in the afternoon.
A long start line allowed the whole fleet the chance to get some good starts with a very few collisions. Competitors who made the best starts and could pick the shifts, got to the windward mark first. On the long runs, boats with swing rigs came out best as they were able to adjust their sail angles to keep driving all the time. Apart from Fireball and ocean racer legend, Dick Jobbins, who won the first race with a conventionally rigged Houlton designed CONSTELLATION 2, all the race winners were either CRAZY TUBE FREE or QUARK designs. The morning's racing was dominated by Peter Stollery with a score of 6 followed by Darin Ballington with 17 and John Shorrock with 28.
The afternoon racing was dominated by Rob Vice and Tony Guerrier, with 3 wins each. Often the leading boats would create big leads if they picked up the right shifts and got the best gusts downwind. Behind them the racing was often very close with groups crossing the line within seconds. Mention must be made of Race 9, where Terry Rensch led the fleet round the first lap, but was overtaken by Rob on the run and Austin Guerrier on the beat to finish in 3rd place!
It was encouraging for GMYC to welcome six competitors who had never sailed in the Mermaid before and who were new to Marblehead racing. They will be back for more! Many will be sailing in the final event of the GAMES series, the Stan Cleal Trophy at 3 Rivers on 23rd of November.
Overall Results:
1st Peter Stollery (Guildford) CRAZY TUBE FREE, 27pts
2nd Darin Ballington (Manor Park) ROK, 40pts
3rd Tony Guerrier (3 Rivers) QUARK, 42pts
4th John Shorrock (Guildford) QUARK, 55pts
5th Rob Vice (Guildford) CRAZY TUBE FREE, 65pts
6th Austin Guerrier (3 Rivers) PRIME NUMBER, 68pts
7th Martin Crysell (Guildford) PRIME NUMBER, 71pts
8th Roy Stevens (Tri-services) QUARK, 85pts
9th Graham Bartholomew (Chelmsford) ROK, 87pts
10th Terry Rensch (Guildford) QUARK, 101pts
11th Alf Reynolds (Chelmsford) PARADOX, 109pts
12th John Bennett (Eastleigh) PARADOX, 116pts
13th Phil Holliday (Watermead) GOTHIC CRAYON, 120pts
14th CJ Vice (Guildford) CRAZY TUBE FREE, 123pts
15th Alan Viney (Guildford) PRIME NUMBER, 125pts
16th Dick Jobbins (Solent) CONSTELLATION 2, 131pts
17th Roy Pearson (Guildford) PRIME NUMBER, 149pts
18th Tracey Ballington (Manor Park) STARKERS, 158pts
19th Steve Williams (3 Rivers) PARADOX, 198pts
20th Phil Udall (Eastleigh) CUMULUS, 230pts