Marblehead UK Ranking events 5&6 at Datchet Water Radio Sailing Club

by Richard Jones 21 Nov 2023 08:09 PST 18-19 November 2023

Marblehead UK Ranking events 5&6 at Datchet © Richard Jones

Datchet hosted the UK Marblehead Ranking 5&6 event over the weekend of November 18-19. Considering that the edge effects of Storm Debi were passing through the area, there were an excellent number of competitors from widespread regions. Fourteen competitors raced in Ranking 5, and ten raced in Ranking 6 the following day.

Saturday emerged from the earlier rains of the week and produced excellent conditions in the A-Rig to B-Rig range. Craig Richards of Datchet, with his F6, was the strong winner of the fifteen race series, with his scoreline never outside the top three. Ever consistent, and with six wins, Darin Ballington finished second, fifteen points behind Craig Richards.

Behind Craig and Darin it was pretty close with plenty of top three finishes. Honours here were shared by Peter Stollery, Graham Bantock, Nigel Barrow and Robert Wilson.

As Sunday dawned, the wind properly got up to remind us it was a good job if we had brought all our rigs. Generally, the westerly breeze was 15-20mph, gusting in the high twenties and sometimes the low thirties. Datchet in these conditions produced some interesting waves, one to two feet in height at times. Racing was fast and furious.

From the start, it was going to be about rig changes and rig choice. Most competitors were switching to whichever of C1, C3, B2 rigs seemed to work best for them in that race. Considering some of the gusts, the fleet managed a relatively minor injury count with nothing all that serious.

Rob Vice of Guildford, with his Grunge, put in a barn storming performance and properly stamped this blustery day as his own. Of nine races, Rob won five. Not that there weren't other masterful performances. We had terrific consistency from Tony Edwards of Yeovil who finished second, and a couple of blistering wins from Craig Richards who finished third overall. In the final scoring, as with Saturday, only four points separated third to sixth place. A couple of ties were resolved only on countback. In these positions, Graham Bantock, Nigel Barrow and Darin Ballington were simply never far from the front.

Full ranking details: www.mya-uk.org.uk/mya-ranking-lists

Marblehead UK Ranking events 5&6 at Datchet - photo © Dorian Crease

Ranking Event 5 Results:

Position	Hull	Sail No	Skipper	Club	Pts
1	F‑6	66	Craig Richards	Datchet	24
2	Grunge	98	Darin Ballington	Lincoln RSC	39
3	Up	39	Peter Stollery	Guildford MYC	51
4	Quark	95	Graham Bantock	Chelsford RYC	55
5	Grunge	19	Nigel Barrow	Frensham Pond RSG	69
6	Starkers	97	Robert Wilson	Lincoln RSC	74
7	Grunge	75	Tony Edwards	Yeovil DNBC	77
8	Grunge	25	Rohan Williams	Datchet	80
9	Grunge	89	CJ Vice	Guildford MYC	92
10	Grunge	54	Roy Stevens	Scarborough MYC	95
11	Starkers	154	Oliver Stollery	Guildford MYC	113
12	Starkers	49	Tracey Ballington	Lincoln RSC	146
13	F‑6	60	Graham Hetem	Datchet	166
14	F‑6	31	Roger Crates	Bridlingtom MBC	186

Ranking Event 6 Results:

Position	Hull	Sail No	Skipper	Club	Pts
1	Grunge	89	Rob Vice	Guildford MYC	11
2	Grunge	75	Tony Edwards	Yeovil DMBC	20
3	F‑6	66	Craig Richards	Datchet	22
4	Quark	95	Graham Bantock	Chelsford RYC	22
5	Grunge	19	Nigel Barrow	Frensham Pond RSG	26
6	Grunge	98	Darin Ballington	Lincoln RSC	26
7	Grunge	25	Rohan Williams	Datchet	36
8	F‑6	60	Graham Hetem	Datchet	57
9	Starkers Cubed	49	Tracey Ballington	Lincoln RSC	59
10	Grunge	54	Roy Stevens	Scarborough MYC	76