Brass Monkey Christmas Race at Abbey Meads - Marblehead GAMES 8 & smaller DF 95/BOTTLE boat classes

by Roger Stollery 21 Dec 13:59 UTC 14 December 2024

The finale of the 8 GAMES events attracted a big entry this year with ten Ms and six small boats, which Guildford Model Yacht Club were delighted to welcome at Abbey Meads Lake on a cold but sunny Sunday morning on 14 December.

Many thanks for boosting the numbers must go to Phil Holliday, who like the wise men at Christmas brought gifts and the three F6 Marbleheads that he brought for others to sail could well have been named Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh!

It turned out to be a quite superb event of 11 races that everyone enjoyed immensely, despite a light fluky wind that demanded ultimate concentration.

Race Officer Martin Crysell decided to run 16 boats on the water together, with Marbleheads starting a minute before the small boats, which sailed a shorter course. This worked well and it was amazingly quiet on the southern control bank with no shouting nor formal protests to be heard; just quiet words with everyone doing their penalty turn.

Race 1 set the scene for the event with Phil Holliday and his F6 winning from Peter Stollery's UP and his 14-year-old son Oliver's UPROAR. This was the first of Phil's 4 wins with the runner up either being Peter or Barrie Martin's STARKERS in Race 2. However Barrie, who was leading the GAMES series up to now broke the mould by winning Race 5 after a very good start. The small boats racing was dominated by Mike Wilkie with 4 wins up to lunchtime.

RO Martin now took on an extra job after starting and finishing the races by lighting the cooker for the sausage rolls, mince pies and mulled wine which is an essential and traditional part of this Christmas event and again was enjoyed by all.

The afternoon session changed the pattern with straight wins for Peter in Races 7 to 9 before it reverted to Phil to take the last 2. The wind which had been getting lighter and lighter finally died away and Martin appreciated the frustration and started no more racing half an hour before the official deadline. This allowed the time before it got dark to check the scores before the prize-giving, backup the safety boat, marks and gear.

Another tradition for this race is that there is no financial entry fee, but instead you enter by handing in a wrapped present. This always works well as there were generous prizes and one leftover was presented to Martin as thanks for running such a good event. The winners each got a trophy, Marblehead's Brass Monkey and a separate trophy for both BOTTLE boat and DF 95 winners. The trophy for winning the series, the Midgley Mug was not presented, but an indication of the winner was announced - Peter Stollery, with Niger Barrow, Barrie Martin second and third.

Marblehead Results:

1st Phil Holliday, Datchet Radio Sailing, F6 11pts - Winner of the Brass Monkey
2nd Peter Stollery, Guildford, UP 16pts
3rd Barrie Martin, London MYC, STARKERS 35pts
4th Oliver Stollery, Guildford, UPROAR 35pts
5th Niger Barrow, Frensham Pond, F6 40pts
6th Graham Hetem, Datchet RS, F6 47pts
7th Jim La Roche, Coalhouse Fort, F6 59pts
8th Nick Fezer Brown, London MYC, F6 59pts
9th Colin Harper, London MYC, GRUNGE 64pts
10th Chris Watkins, Royal Temple YC, ROAR EDGE 69pts

Small boat results:

1st Mike Wilkie, Hampton Court MYC DF95, 16pts - winner of DF 95 trophy
2nd Roger Stollery, Guildford, BOTTLE boat, 16pts - winner of BOTTLE boat trophy
3rd Alan Viney, Guildford, DF95 19pts
4th Celia Greetham, London MYC, DF 95 32pts
5th Richard Baldey, Frensham Pond DF95 37pts
6th Keith Parrott, Frensham Pond, BOTTLE boat, 73pts