Marblehead Games 9 Open at Radio Sailing Woking
by Roger Stollery & Peter Kirby 30 Jul 2019 20:00 BST
Martin Crysell 52 and Colin Goodman 61 get away from a good start at Marblehead GAMES 9 at Radio Sailing Woking © Ray Darby
Colin Goodman of Fireball fame sailed his GRUNGE to victory at Goldsworth Park and rose to the top of the Marblehead GAMES series, in a variable south-westerly breeze for the duration of the first Interclub GAMES event that this club had organized.
The wind allowed a 200 metre windward/leeward course to be set along the centre of the lake.
Eight Marbleheads sailed 17 races in one fleet in a 3-10 mph breeze with gusts of 15 mph. There was close company in the beats to the windward and spreader marks, followed by runs accelerating into occasional exciting planing speeds to the leeward gate.
The racing die was cast from Race 1 onwards as Colin took the lead from the windward mark, thereafter rocketed downwind with others, notably Dave Andrews (Grunge), Roger Stollery (Up) and Martin Crysell (Prime Number) in hot pursuit. Colin won 11 races, but didn't have it all his own way as Roger won 4 and won 2 of the 17 races.
In the dramatic wind shifts, local knowledge of the peculiarities of the lake was put to the test by 'home representatives' Roger Pearce (Prime Number), Simon Jeffs (Prime Number), Peter Dunne (Starkers), and Peter Chance (Starkers). Roger Pearce got to the first mark first on several occasions, but this was to no avail as Colin and the other top boats were able to pass him, particularly downwind and finish at the front.
At the prize giving in the Radio Sailing Woking club room, Race Officer Peter Kirby was pleased with the competitors well disciplined conduct, which resulted in no protests and all incidents resolved on the water, as he had requested. The competitors thanked him and the three-man race team for running this event and taking on this GAMES interclub event.
The overall GAMES results are available on the Guildford MYC website www.guildfordmyc.co.uk and more information about activities at Radio Sailing Woking can be found on www.radiosailingwoking.uk.
Overall Results:
1st Colin Goodman (Chelmsford) GRUNGE 17pts
2nd Dave Andrews (MYSA) GRUNGE 32pts
3rd Roger Stollery (Guildford) UP 36pts
4th Martin Crysell (Guildford) PRIME NUMBER 47pts
5th Roger Pearce (Woking) PRIME NUMBER 63pts
6th Peter Chance (Woking) STARKERS 87pts
7th Peter Dunne (Woking) STARKERS 92pts
8th Simon Jeffs (Woking) PRIME NUMBER 114pts