Fireball, Merlin and Scorpion Opens at Hayling Island Sailing Club
by Sarah Johnson 28 Apr 2014 14:14 BST
26-27 April 2014
Merlins at Hayling © Gerald New
Strong winds resulted in two days of in harbour racing for the Merlin Rocket, Fireball and Scorpion Open Meetings held at Hayling Island Sailing Club over the weekend. This meant that the Merlin Rocket 'Sea' event reverted to a standard 'Open Water' event counting towards the Craftinsure Silver Tiller series.
Nearly 40 Merlins registered for the Saturday Merlin Rocket Open Water event comprising of three races; having won two of the three races, Nick Craig and Matt Mee from Frensham SC took the Open Water event. Tom Stewart and Phil Dalby of Northampton SC had won the first race but were forced to drop out. Second overall were Jon Gorringe and Toby Lewis of Parkstone and third Tom Jeffcoate and Ben Rayner of YDSC.
Day 2 of the Merlin Rocket event reverted to a standard 'Open Water' category event, due to the strong SE winds forcing racing to be held inside Chichester harbour; Nick Craig and Matt Mee from Frensham continued their successful form winning the first two races and the event overall, with Andy Davis and Tom Pygall of Blithfiled SC winning the final race to take second overall. Tom Stewart and Phil Dalby from Northampton SC took third overall after a tie-break with Jon Gorringe and Toby Lewis of Parkstone SC.
The first day of the Fireball Open event was a clean-sweep for the HISC home team of Tom Gillard and Richard Anderton, with a two point lead over Matt Burge and Richard Wagstaff of Poole YC and lying third was David Sayce and Nick Rees of HISC tied on points with David Hall and Paul Lonslable of the Blackwater SC. In day two Thomas Gillard and Richard Anderton of HISC continued their cleansweep to win the event overall with six race wins. Second overall was Matt Burge and Richard Wagstaff of Poole YC with third going to Dave Hall and Paul Lonslable from Blackwater SC.
The end of the first day of the Scorpion Open event saw some very tight scoring with Andy McKee and Chris Massey of Dovestone SC showing a three point lead after winning the first two races, and HISC's Pete Mitchell and Simon Forbes winning the third race to take second. In third at the end of the first day were Ryan and Hannah Buchanan from Weston SC just one point behind. Day two of the Scorpion event, saw three different race winners with Peter Gray and Rich Peperdeu of SHSC winning the first race, Mitchell and Forbes from HISC the second and Andy McKee and Chris Massey of Dovestone SC the third. The final results after a protest were victory to Pete Mitchell and Simon Forbes from HISC, second Ryan and Hannah Buchanan of Weston SC and third Tim Parsons and Mike Hannan of Lyme Regis SC.
Overall Results:
For high res images please contact Gerald New, email