Marblehead GAMES 7 at Littleton with Guildford Model Yacht Club
by Roger Stollery 23 Oct 17:13 BST
19 October 2025
Littleton Sailing Club saw a fantastic spectacle of Marblehead racing for the first time on their lake on 19 October. The weather was dull but the south easterly A rig wind was in a perfect direction to allow a 200 m beating and running course parallel to the clubhouse and edge of the grass and boardwalk control area.
The club's change of venue from Abbey Meads lake has lead to a new name 'Guildford at Littleton Radio Sailing'.
Competitors thoroughly enjoyed the experience as there was extremely close racing and only a few light showers in the 18 races sailed, where the overhanging clubhouse walkway provided shelter for lunch and coffee breaks.
Nigel Barrow sailing an F6 design won Race 1, in front of Graham Hetem also sailing an F6 and David Cole sailing a Grunge design. In Race 2 Phil Holliday's F6 was going very well to win and then to win the next. It was Peter Stollery's turn to win with his UP design in Race 4, with Nigel and Phil 2nd and 3rd. Rob Vice, who was sailing his newly acquired Quark design the first time, got it going to win Races 5, 6 and 8 interrupted by Nigel winning Race 7. In the final race before lunch Phil led David and Rob to the finish line.
Nigel was top of the lunchtime leaderboard with his consistency, scoring 23 points just one point ahead of Phil on 24 with Peter and Rob tied on 30 points. This pattern very close racing between the top 4 continued into the afternoon with some very exciting racing.
David kicked off with a win in Race 10 from Peter and Rob, who then took Race 11. These positions were reversed in Race 12 before Phil regained his earlier form to win both Races 13 and 14. Nigel won Race 16 from Peter with Martin Crysell in 3rd getting his best result with his borrowed Grunge.
At this point it was getting a bit wet and cold with the 16 races, needed for the 3rd discard, completed about an hour before Notice of Race deadline. RO Roger Stollery then asked the competitors if anyone wanted to sail on. 2 young hands went up so we needed to sail on. However all agreed that we should do just 2 races, before completing the event.
By this time the weather was very gloomy with persistent drizzle, but this didn't put off the competitive spirits who went on to enjoy more exciting racing. Rob Vice won the first of these, Race 17, from Nigel and Peter. Finishing places in the last Race 18 showed Nigel be the clear winner of both the final race and the event, with a score of 33. However almost unbelievably after 18 races there was a tie for 2nd place with Phil and Peter on 39 points with Rob one point behind with 40 points.
At the prize-giving the prizewinners thanked Roger and assistant RO Mike Wilkie for organising the event and showing the huge potential that this water has for radio sailing. Guildford will be running their major trophy event, The Mermaid at Littleton on 16th November.
After the great disappointment of losing the water at Abbey Meads it would appear now to be a benefit as this is such a good water for radio sailing.
Results:
1st Nigel Barrow, Datchet water, F6 33 points
2nd Phil Holliday, Datchet water, F6 39
3rd Peter Stollery, Guildford, UP 39
4th Rob Vice, Guildford, Quark 40
5th David Cole, Hampton Court, Grunge 66
6th Graham Hetem, Datchet water, F6 85
7th Martin Crysell, Guildford, Grunge 85
8th Chris Watkins, Royal Temple, Indie 106