Marblehead Ranking Event at Leicestershire Radio Yacht Club
by Tony Edwards 1 Oct 2008 08:56 BST
28 September 2008
The Marblehead fleet gather on Charnwood Water © Graham Allen
The last Radio Marblehead ranking race for 2008 was held on 28 September at Charnwood Water, Loughborough home of LRYC. A small but select entry of 11 competitors representing most parts of the UK were greeted with very light, changeable and at times extremely testing conditions as the Race Officers varied the courses in attempts to second guess what little wind there was. During the morning session it was not uncommon to see these elegant yachts beating, running and reaching on each leg of the course! After lunch a slightly more steady north westerly gradually filled which eventually allowed a 2 lap windward/leeward course to be set to provide a better challenge.
The fleet raced as one and in total 14 races were sailed giving 2 discards. The day was a test of sensitive set up for the tall full area rigs and Roger Stollery from Guildford demonstrated his mastery of light weather trim. Over the years he has developed his basically simple swing rig with subtle design and simple lever controls to automatically adjust to the conditions.
By lunch after 7 races where consistency was decidedly difficult Roger had won all but one race and went on to win the event with a final tally of 21 points including 9 race wins sailing his novel Crazy Tube 2 design.
Don Charlesworth from LRYC sailing a relatively elderly Bantock designed Wafer finished a clear second with 2 race wins backed with a string of consistent results scoring 37 points. Third overall with 1 race win and counting 47 points overall was Peter Moore from Bournville. For results spreadsheet see www.mya-uk.org.uk