P&B Merlin National Championships at Looe Sailing Club - Day 1
by Tim Fells 10 Aug 2014 19:54 BST
10-15 August 2014
Preparations for the start of the P&B Merlin National Championships in Looe were dominated by the path and potential impact of the remnants of hurricane Bertha. As had been predicted for the last few days, the front arrived in the early hours and by the time competitors were nervously arriving in the dinghy park the wind had settled to a 25 knot Westerly with gusts pushing up to 40 knots.
The heroic race team who had been out in the bay from early morning, concluded that conditions would not improve sufficiently to get racing underway on Sunday, so the flags went up and 126 competitors started to plan their alternate entertainment.
Tim Harridge was first to grab the opportunity for personal humiliation and global twitter stardom, heading into the surf clutching his inflatable green crocodile surfboard, while others headed off to the go-kart track to exorcise their competitive instincts. Games-master extraordinaire, Fran Gifford, organized beach rounders while others of a more traditional nature headed for the pub.
Two shorter than normal races are now planned for Monday with a forecast which still has a lot of colour – definitely fresh and probably frightening!