Wayfarers make hay at the Medway Marathon

by Andy Rice 21 Jun 2021 22:31 BST 19 June 2021

Richard Stone and Catherine Gore win the Medway Marathon 2021 © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

Richard Stone and Catherine Gore sailed their Wayfarer to victory at the Medway Marathon last Saturday, taking just under four and a half hours to complete the 26-mile handicap race. The longest distance event seen in the Selden SailJuice Winter Series, the Medway Marathon brought together dinghies and local keelboat fleets together in a battle up this historic waterway.

Local knowledge clearly helps, Stone having sailed on the river for more than 40 years. Stone and Gore are also Commodore and Rear Commodore of Medway Yacht Club, the host organiser for a competition that this year took place in a gentle Force 2 to 3.

Other winners of recent years include Chris Saunders in a Blaze and Andrew Peake in a Musto Skiff, but this year Peake and the other Musto Skiffs didn't get enough breeze to really light up their asymmetric advantage. With everyone travelling at displacement speed most of the time, the Wayfarers came into their own.

Medway Marathon 2021 - photo © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

In second place was the Wayfarer of Brian and Elizabeth McKenzie who finished around 90 seconds behind the winners, while Luke Fisher's Vareo finished third overall, just 24 seconds behind the McKenzies on corrected time under the Great Lakes handicap numbers. Fisher has also completed all events in the Seldén SailJuice Winter Series so far this season.

Thirteen year old Ben Rothwell won the Half Marathon in his Laser 4.7, while Millie Lewis, sailing a Laser Radial, was the best placed lady helm and U23 helm in the Marathon itself.

Event sponsor Craftinsure's Rob Cage sailed his Merlin Rocket to 15th place crewed by daughter Hatty, and first of the keelboats was Luke Hopper's Sonata crew in 18th place.

Medway Marathon 2021 - photo © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

The Medway Marathon was a recent addition to the Seldén SailJuice Winter Series which has been extended from last winter through to the final event which is the rescheduled Tiger Trophy, due to take place at Rutland Water on the final weekend of August.

If you always fancied racing in the Tiger Trophy but always thought early February was a bit too thermally challenging, then sign up for the first ever summer edition of this classic event: www.sailjuiceseries.com

Medway Marathon 2021 - photo © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

Overall Results:

Pos	Class	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	PY	Elapsed	Corrected
1	Wayfarer	10974	Richard Stone	Catherine Gore	Medway YC	1102	04:26:29	04:01:49
2	Wayfarer	10686	Brian McKenzie	Elizabeth McKenzie	Medway YC	1102	04:28:02	04:03:13
3	RS Vareo	407	Luke Fisher		Emberton Park SC	1093	04:26:16	04:03:37
4	Wayfarer	10673	Dave Roberts	Mike Bryant	Bough Beech SC	1102	04:29:18	04:04:22
5	Wayfarer	10618	Tony Alexander	Jon Moon	Medway YC	1102	04:31:14	04:06:08
6	Wayfarer	10947	Stewart Coltart	Catriona Coltart	Medway YC	1102	04:31:33	04:06:25
7	Wayfarer	11118	John Goudie	Sam Boniface	Wilsonian SC	1102	04:32:04	04:06:53
8	Wayfarer	11315	Mike Pimm	Pete Dilley	Medway YC	1102	04:33:12	04:07:55
9	Wayfarer	11170	Tom Pygall	Sam Pygall	Parkstone YC	1102	04:33:29	04:08:10
10	Wayfarer	10615	Alberto Quaglia	Stan Benwell	Medway YC	1102	04:35:11	04:09:43
11	Wayfarer	11064	Nigel Pye	Dave Park	Medway YC	1102	04:38:25	04:12:39
12	Solo	5418	Mick Greenland		Wilsonian SC	1152	04:51:59	04:13:27
13	Laser Radial	215283	Millie Lewis		Medway YC	1147	04:51:21	04:14:01
14	Wayfarer	10837	Jonathan Davis	Ashley Davis	Medway YC	1102	04:42:16	04:16:08
15	Merlin Rocket	3768	Rob Cage	Hatty Cage		980	04:13:36	04:18:47
16	Blaze	773	Stu Bailey		Medway YC	1033	04:28:31	04:19:56
17	Wayfarer	11121	Diana Galpin	Mark Benton	Hamble River SC	1102	04:47:12	04:20:37
18	Sonata	8420	Luke Hopper	Paul Hopper	Medway YC	1039	04:30:50	04:20:40
19	Sonata	8999	Alistair Bolton	Henry Townsend	Medway YC	1039	04:32:26	04:22:12
20	Blaze	756	Alastair Smith		Wilsonian SC	1033	04:31:11	04:22:31
21	Alto	122	Chris Ashby	Ian Parris	Wilsonian SC	926	04:03:57	04:23:27
22	RS200	242	Ian Foxwell	Hannah Foxwell	Medway YC	1046	04:37:03	04:24:52
23	Musto Skiff	520	Graeme Oliver		Medway YC	849	03:46:37	04:26:55
24	Squib	515	Christine Halliday‑Sadler	Graham Halliday‑Sadler	Medway YC	1108	04:56:58	04:28:01
25	Wayfarer	7899	Jonathan Hood	Hugo Davis	Medway YC	1102	04:56:09	04:28:44
26	Sonata	8410	Paul Kirk	Steve Radcliffe	Medway YC	1039	04:39:20	04:28:51
27	Dragon	726	Edwin Hannant	James Hannant	Medway YC	986	04:25:17	04:29:03
28	Dragon	675	Chris Brearley	David Harris	Medway YC	986	04:26:19	04:30:06
29	Musto Skiff	616	David Poston		Medway YC	849	03:49:40	04:30:31
30	420	54536	Charlie Baker	Lewis Wright	Medway YC	1083	04:53:24	04:30:55
31	Sonata	8424	Ian Long	Esther Rubbo	Medway YC	1039	04:41:48	04:31:13
32	Squib	748	Paul Studart	Mike Webb	Medway YC	1108	05:01:30	04:32:07
33	Scorpion	2009	Mark Lee	Alex Lee	Medway YC	1030	04:42:12	04:33:59
34	Dragon	823	Howard Paterson	Bill Baker	Medway YC	986	04:30:41	04:34:32
35	Alto	111	Andy Hockey	Andrew Shailer‑Smith	Wilsonian SC	926	04:17:21	04:37:55
36	Dragon	747	Trevor Cox	Toby Atack	Medway YC	986	04:35:32	04:39:27
37	2000	2305	Nik Antoniades	Isabelle Hill	Wilsonian SC	1090	05:06:26	04:41:08
38	Laser	146964	George Jones		Medway YC	1108	05:11:48	04:41:24
39	Musto Skiff	502	Nick Lett			849	03:58:59	04:41:29
40	Laser	165310	Brett Lewis		Medway YC	1108	05:13:26	04:42:53
41	RS800	1126	George Smith	Alice Crick	Medway YC	799	03:50:30	04:48:29
42	Laser	198900	Brian Culver		Wilsonian SC	1108	05:33:57	05:01:24
44	Musto Skiff	615	Andrew Peake		Medway YC	849	DNF

Medway Marathon 2021 - photo © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

Events in the Seldén SailJuice Winter Series 2020/21:

Datchet Flyer, Datchet Water SC, 6-7 December 2020
Grafham Belle, Grafham Water SC, 29-30 May 2021
Medway Marathon, Medway YC, 19 June 2021
Tiger Trophy, Rutland Water SC, 28-29 August 2021