Merlin Rocket Open Meeting at Blithfield Sailing Club

by Ben Archer 27 Oct 2011 19:05 BST 22 October 2011

The final Silver Tiller open meeting of 2011 © Don Stokes

The final race meeting in the prestigious Craftinsure Silver Tiller series was sailed at Blithfield SC. The thought of sailing in the Midlands in mid October wouldn’t necessarily inspire a great deal of enthusiasm, but on this day conditions were absolutely inspirational. The sun shone on the 38 teams gathered to compete on the shoreline, and the F3-4 S/SW wind made the jibs crackle, filling us all with anticipation of the glory to come, and a glorious day’s sailing it was; even the presence of a navigational hazard (a semi-submerged pipe) only added to the tactical challenge of the racetrack.

Race one got underway promptly, without even one general recall! Right was the favoured side of the first beat, the middle of the reservoir being avoided by all. Andy Davis/Tom Pygall mastered the beat and the 1-3 minute shifts to establish a commanding lead which they maintained to the finish. Jon Gorringe/Toby Lewis tried hard to overtake, but could only manage second, distracted as they were by the ferocity of the challenge mounted by Steve Leney/Gill Leney (in third) that they had to protect themselves from.

Race two should have been the race where Jon upset the applecart and took back the open for his own. Left was the way to go in the backing breeze. Such is the standard of the fleet that we would have to look to the very tail enders to find a boat out of phase. This time it was Gorringe who came out on top, closely followed by Davis, with Will Rainey/Kelly Miller showing us all the standard they can sail to, coming in third place.

For the third race, the wind had gone further left, and the course had to be revised, as did the line position…as did the expectations of several sailors, but despite a general recall and the deployment of the black flag, no-one had to go to the naughty step, and the fleet got away clean. There was no way that Andy Davis was going to soft-pedal at his home club, and he proved it by romping home to win the race and the open. Despite some aggressive sailing Gorringe/Lewis could only come up with a second place, and therefore second place overall, third was taken by Richard Dee/Chris Gould who had waited until this late hour to really shine.

Indeed, as we look at the results excluding Jon and Andy, we can see that the fleet is increasingly competitive, better equipped and is sailing better than ever before, as is evidenced by the three different teams coming in third position in three different races, and by the fact that the Merlin Rocket continues to attract top quality sailors from across the country.

Open Meeting Results:

Pos	SailNo	Helm/Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	Pts
1	3684	Andy Davis / Tom Pygall	Blithfield	1	2	1	2
2	3712	Jon Gorringe / Toby Lewis	Parkstone	2	1	2	3
3	3610	Richard Dee / Chris Gould	Midland	4	5	3	7
4	3716	Steve Leney / Gill Leney	Blithfield	3	7	4	7
5	3583	Chris Martin / Dan Morgan	Blithfield	16	4	5	9
6	3693	Will Rainey / Kelly Miller	Shoreham	8	3	13	11
7	3722	Ben Hollis / Ben Hendon	Blithfield	5	6	12	11
8	3565	Paul Keeling / Michelle Keeling	Blithfield	7	8	6	13
9	3663	Chris Haworth / Jonathan Bullen	Blackpool and Fleetwood	17	10	7	17
10	3729	Jon Turner / Richard Parsloe	Beer	9	12	9	18
11	3617	Tom Chadfield / Andy Chadfield	Blithfield	10	9	10	19
12	3730	Paul Hollis / James Dawes	Blithfield	6	14	15	20
13	3539	Dan Alsop / Jennie King	Lyme Regis	14	15	8	22
14	3547	Peter Male / Jon Gibbons	Blithfield	23	11	14	25
15	3731	Andy Jones / Maddie Jones	Parkstone	12	13	16	25
16	3581	Mark Reddington / Colin Staite	Bartle	11	17	17	28
17	3702	Duncan Salmon / Harriet Salmon	Wembley	15	16	22	31
18	3339	Tim Male / Rebecca Male	Blithfield	24	21	11	32
19	3717	David Charlton / Celia Charlton	Brightlingsea	13	19	19	32
20	3634	Ben Archer / Ian Garwood	Parkstone	19	25	18	37
21	3701	S Hunt / Ruth Critchly	Pilkington	18	22	20	38
22	3705	Geoff Wright / Katie Wright	Blithfield	20	20	23	40
23	3510	Mike Raine / Janey Hill	Rudyard Lake	Rt	24	21	45
24	3566	Jon Wood / Heather Wood	Earlswood	22	23	27	45
25	3662	Mike Whitehouse / Karen Whitehouse	Chelmarsh	21	Rt	25	46
26	3598	Robert Smith / Andrew Smith	Shustoke	27	Rt	24	51
27	3508	Colin Anderson / Sean Anderson	Redditch	26	26	28	52
28	3567	Martin Smith / Karen Beston	Blithfield	25	28	29	53
29	3612	Andy Beardshaw / Charlie Noakes	Redditch	32	27	26	53
30	3402	Rob Kennaugh / Abi Spurr	Blithfield	Rt	18	Rt	57
31	3591	Terry Bridgewater / Estelle Bridgewater	Earlswood	28	29	30	57
32	3681	Douglas Maxwell / Beate Pohler	Wembley	29	31	31	60
33	3541	Norman Price / Luke Tucker	Blithfield	31	30	35	61
34	3489	Richard Turner / Eric Banning	Banbury	30	Rt	33	63
35	3530	Mike Colles / Paul Insley	Midland	Rt	33	32	65
36	3548	Kieron Mason / Henry Mason	Banbury	Rt	32	34	66
37	3346	Ian Mackenzie / Angela Mackenzie	Banbury	Rt	Rt	Rt	78
38	3675	Nick Craig / James Stewart	Frensham Pond	Rt	Rt	Ns	78

Of course this was the final open in the Silver Tiller race series, and the occasion was marked by the MROA black tie dinner and prizegiving at BSC that evening. By winning on his home turf, Andy Davis had cemented his grip on this iconic trophy, and relegated Jon Gorringe to third overall. An appeal with the RYA might put his Championship victory in doubt, but there was no question about Andy Davis’ commanding second win in the Silver Tiller.

At the MROA Silver Tiller Dinner and prizegiving Chairman Louise Johnson gave a commendable speech, commenting on the high standards of sailing and the commitment of so many (94) quality sailing teams to this series. She also gave thanks to organisers behind the scenes who do such a vast amount of support work, not just in the MROA committee but also in sailing clubs all around the country, in order that we can all enjoy unparalleled Merlin Rocket racing.

Rod Daniels of Craftinsure, the sponsors of the 2011 Merlin Rocket Silver Tiller series, gave away the prizes.

Silver Tiller top 10:

Place	Score	Sail No	Helm	Crew
1	4.3	3684	Andy Davis	Tom Pygall
2	6.6	3705	Matt Biggs	Ben Hollis
3	8.4	3712	Jon Gorringe	Toby Lewis
4	18.6	3716	Steve Leney	Gill Leney
5	22.6	3610	Richard Dee	Chris Gould
6	22.7	3702	Duncan Salmon	Harriet Salmon
7	23.8	3583	Chris Martin	Rob Kennaugh
8	27.9	3701	Tom Stewart	Steve Hall
9	33.7	3703	Richard Whitworth	Various
10	33.9	3539	Dan Alsop	Jennie King