MDMCS Manor Park RSC results & race report.

Yesterday 12th June 2022 saw a small fleet of Marblehead skippers gather at Manor Park RSC for a Midland Champion Skipper series event, and the full results are here: Midlands Marblehead. Hopefully we will have a short race report when the team have the opportunity to put something together. Thanks to John Smith for the results.

Nine competitors navigated the Staffordshire Ironman event’s road closures. After Registration, John Smith held the Briefing at 9.45 and racing commenced at 10.00 am.

Weather was as predicted with a gusting, Westerly wind under a cloudy sky with the occasional warming sunshine breaking through. Speed varied from around 5 knots to 20 knots in the gusts causing a few nosedives for boats carrying ‘A ‘swing rigs running downwind. A rig’s prevailed throughout the day with only Andrea having to change to a B rig. It didn’t appear to slow her down!

Two to three races were held with short breaks to allow tuning and tweaking and of course lunch.

The variable, swinging, streaky wind gave competitors quite a challenge with some boats leading only be dumped down the fleet following a sudden wind shift. Darin coped best achieving 11 wins out of 19 races. He was chased closely by Martin Roberts and Chris Harris. Martin achieved three wins and Chris two. These three opened a gap from the second group of Andrea, Rob Wilson, and John Smith. Rob and John both had wins but Andrea sailed a little more consistently to beat them both!

Colin, Graham, and Damian were the next group with the occasional strong result, gaining seconds and thirds. To be fair Damian was sailing a yellow prototype yacht constructed from 3 separate 3D printed sections. He now intends to modify the front and middle.

It was decided to call it a day at 1600 hours with 19 races completed and some competitors having a long drive home. Everyone enjoyed the typical challenging conditions posed by the famous (notorious) Manor Park shifty winds. Great preparation for the forthcoming Nationals at Datchet.

A second Regatta is planned for later in the year.

Thanks are due to Darin who remains our favourite boatman as well as Simon who judged all the finishes and recorded all the results cheerfully, diligently, and punctually. Also, the manor Park support team of Sandra, Rob, and Carol.

John Smith PRO – now with upgraded computer software.