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UK Marblehead 2018 Ranking Event 1 at Watermead Model Boat Club

by UK M Class 15 Mar 2018 09:12 GMT 11 March 2018

A fleet of 23 eager skippers travelled to Watermead for the first UK Marblehead class Ranking event of 2018. Upon arrival all were greeted to mirror like conditions but, as if on cue, a light and shifting ESE wind filled in for racing to get away at the prescribed 10 am start time.

With the fleet separated into 2 heats to suit the tight course area and sometimes limited vision at the weather mark and spreader, tallest A rigs were called for as the first of 2 seeding races got underway.

From the outset and into the racing proper the four skippers comprising of Peter Stollery, James Edwards, Darin Ballington and Brad Gibson looked comfortable on the course with consistent results recorded throughout the day to sit them above the chasing back. On numerous occasions positions were separated by the smallest of margins keeping the dedicated race team led by Clive Bardell on their toes.

Over the course of the day there were some very good performances with podium places in heats going to Vinnie Zammit, Hugh McAdoo, Tony Edwards, Rob Vice and Austin Gurrier. A good spirit was shared among competitors with relatively few racing incidents given the restricted control area and generous length of course making for a good test of skill and boat performance.

In the end the final result came down to the wire with Gibson's experience holding off the challenge of Ballington, Edwards and Stollery in the closest of margins to take the win by a single point.

Across the board the standard of racing and quality continues to rise with a number of new builds hitting the water for the first time and good older designs mixing it with the front runners. None more so than the +20 year old design used by the winner using good speed and race management to take the day.

Skippers roundly congratulated the Watermead MBC race team for a great start to the M class ranking season.

The next big event for the class is the 2 day Ranking weekend at Norwich where a large fleet is anticipated in the run up to the World Championships in Biblis, Germany in late May.

Keep up with all of the latest Marblehead class news on the UK website at marbleheadsailing.wordpress.com and on twitter @MarbleheadUK

Overall Results:

1st Brad Gibson, Paradox 19pts
2nd Darin Ballington, Grunge 20pts
3rd James Edwards, Grunge 22pts
4th Peter Stollery, Up 23pts
5th Tony Edwards, Grunge 35pts
6th Austin Guerrier, Quark 45pts
7th Rob Vice, Uproar 56pts
8th Vinnie Zammit, Starkers Cubed 57pts
9th Hugh McAdoo, Prime Number 68pts
10th Tony Guerrier, Quark 71pts
11th Nick Ennion, Quark 72pts
12th Graham Whalley, Starkers Cubed 82pts
13th Bill Culshaw, Grunge 87pts
14th Roy Stevens, Quark 90pts
15th Roger Stollery, Up 94pts
16th Duncan Ellis, Stakers Cubed 106pts
17th Trevor Binks, Prime Number 115pts
18th Phil Holliday, Nioutram 120pts
19th John Shorrock, Quark 126pts
20th Alf Reynolds, Paradox 130pts
21st John Cleave, Grunge 130pts
22nd Nigel Clarke, VM1 148pts
23rd Stephen Haywood 161pts

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