Marblehead GAMES Series at Chipstead Sailing Club
by Peter Crisp & Roger Stollery 29 Jan 2017 06:03 GMT
22 January 2017
Marblehead interclub event at Chipstead © John Caruana
On the first visit to Chipstead Sailing Club, the radio sailing members made the sixteen visiting Marblehead skippers from eight clubs very welcome indeed to the first M&S interclub event of the season. Peter Crisp even greeted everyone individually as they arrived at the entrance to the car park.
Although it had been very cold and frosty over the previous few days, Chipstead Lake was not frozen near the launching area although there was a small area of ice at the far end of the lake, which soon melted in the bright sunshine. The initial flat calm gradually built into a light easterly breeze and gave some excellent conditions for racing, despite its variability when blowing more through the trees later in the day.
Race officer, Dave Allinson, was a bit nervous about running his first big event, but shouldn't have been as he and his team handled the racing very well and was able to get 10 long windward leeward races completed before the wind finally died out by mid afternoon.
Colin Goodman made a good start by winning the first two races and another before lunch only interrupted by wins by Roger Stollery and John Shorrock in Races 3 and 4. The lunch break was welcomed giving an opportunity to get warm and enjoy a beef stew and a hot drink, laid on specially by the club.
Assistant race officer, Garven McKie, made several course changes during the afternoon changes as the wind began to blow more across the lake. John Shorrock started well by winning Race 6, with Races 7 and 8 won by Rob Vice and John Cleave, but the most consistent skipper apart from the winner, Colin Goodman, was Hugh McAdoo who finished by winning both the last two races in the lightest of airs.
Overall it was an enjoyable and good natured day's racing for all those who attended. Special thanks were given by the prizewinners to Dave Allinson, who managed the racing well and organised a team from Chipstead SC Radio Sailing for scoring, observing, course changing etc as well as making a good photographic record of the event.
There is no doubt that this new radio sailing club has fantastic facilities, very well suited to running a big events with a large lake with good access on the banks and the clubhouse and excellent launching facilities right in the centre of the activity.
Overall Results:
1st Colin Goodman (Coalhouse Fort) QUARK 16pts
2nd Hugh McAdoo (Datchet Water) PRIME NUMBER 29pts
3rd John Shorrock (Datchet Water) QUARK 30pts
4th Trevor Binks (Eastbourne) PRIME NUMBER 36.2pts
5th Rob Vice (Clapham) UPROAR 39pts
6th Roger Stollery (Guildford) UPROAR 41.7pts
7th Martin Crysell (Guildford) PRIME NUMBER 42pts
8th Dave Andrews (Hampton Court) PRIME NUMBER 57pts
9th John Cleave (Ryde) SKALPEL 59pts
10th Martin Shaw (Hampton Court) PRIME NUMBER 63pts
11th Alan Viney (Guildford) PRIME NUMBER 68pts
12th Peter Crisp (Chipstead) STARKERS 68pts
13th Terry Rensch (Datchet Water) QUARK 73pts
14th Richard Uttley (Emsworth Slipper) INDIE 87pts
15th Mike Stroud (Hampton Court) STARKERS 134pts
16th David Adam (Woking) PRIME NUMBER 135pts