Marblehead Vane Bill the Milk Trophy at Fleetwood Model Yacht Club
by Tony Wilson 26 Aug 2022 16:29 BST
Marblehead Vane for the 'Bill the Milk Trophy' at Fleetwood © Tony Wilson
With 4 boats for the day, we had enough of us to do a small spell of racing. Six lengths of the lake would count as one full round, Derek was overly optimistic thinking two may be completed, but on a scorching hot day and very little wind, one race would truly be enough.
Two of the boat types were short keeled Vintage and the other two were Classic's, with the fin and bulb. With a typical reversed wind along the lake we were up for the run to start the day, after Wizzy and Peter had completed their test trims.
Tony and Derek were first off and it was Tony that was already in the doldrums, the corner by the pumphouse. The wind was coming through the bridge and swirling, causing Ballerina to pirouette for a while. Derek just left Tony to it and sailed his way to the far end.
Peter and Wizzy were next. Peter being the only one, who had opted for a spinnaker and it paid off. We were able to assist and pole for each other, while waiting for the return. Derek and Peter won their respective return beat legs and the wind had already started to turn.
As the wind moved round about 90 degrees the flat spot was now on the opposite bank and aided by the incoming tide.The two vintage were up against each other next and Wizzy sailing 'Bosun's mate' stole both legs from Ballerina, while Derek got the run and Peter had the 3 point return with the Classic's.
The last set of pairing was to be anyone's guess with what little wind there was and it was coming from all over the place, with a flat calm panel of water along each bank.
It looked like Tony had somehow fixed his sticking vane set, by raising the binding T piece and finally got a couple of points by running broken vane perfectly along centre lake. Peter sailing 'Vega' secured the return. Wizzy also made the Run, although left Derek and boat 'Q147' to the final 3 points for him to seal the day.
We finished around 1pm before the mad sun had fully heated up and all the holiday makers had started to arrive, but a good little taster before our last full Marblehead weekend in October.
Results:
1. Derek Priestly 11 pts
2. Peter Isles 10 pts
3. Keith Wiseman 7 pts
4. Tony Wilson 2 pts