Sharps Doom Bar Merlin Week at Salcombe Yacht Club - Preview

Merlin Rocket week 2014 at Salcombe © Malcolm Mackley

Sunday 5th July will see the start of the much anticipated Sharps Doom Bar Merlin Week at glorious Salcombe. The 120 available entries were snapped up in double quick time and Saturday morning will see the M5 full of Merlins heading to the sun.

Merlin Week is a unique institution, dating back to 1958 when the class outgrew Salcombe Regatta Week and set up on their own. Always popular within the class it has now become a must-do event for all keen dinghy sailors, combining challenging but fun racing around the beautiful Salcombe Estuary with a full social program, beach holiday and celebration of all things Merlin. The format of split fleets sailing in morning and afternoon flights means there is always a huge group of spectators following the racing from a flotilla of chase boats and from every bar, beach and vantage point around the course.

Salcombe is renowned for its complex tides and constantly changing wind and presents one of the more challenging mental and character tests around. When the wind is in the Southwest, blowing straight down the harbour the racing is superb and often highly entertaining for the spectators. Next week looks like being one such week with a run of moderate to fresh southwesterly winds meaning the gybe point off the Ferry Inn will be compulsive viewing.

As ever, competition will be extremely hot amongst a fleet that has attracted the cream of UK dinghy racing over recent years.

Favourites for the week must be Dave Winder and Pippa Taylor. This team have proven unbeatable in recent years, taking three straight Merlin Week titles. Not since the heyday of Phil King and Kevin Driver in the 90s has the fleet seen such dominance. Dave and Pippa always bring their A game to Salcombe combining punchy starting, solid strategy and world class 'sniddling' to consistently find their way to the front. Dave and Pippa are in Black flight where their main competition will come from 2000 winner Mike Calvert and consistent class front runners Simon Potts and Chris Jennings.

Back for the first time since 2007 are the highly rated team of Roger Gilbert and James Stewart. On their last visit they defied all the Salcombe rules by winning the week on their first visit. Roger and James are in Green flight where they will have plenty of competition from young gun Olly Turner and Hamish Kilburn who so nearly won the week in 2014, Jon Gorringe and Nicky Bass who are proven race winners and Sam Pascoe (racing down from his POW success in Abersoch) with sister Megan.

Red flight matches up two past champions in Richard Whitworth (2004 and 2005) and Andy Davis (2008) both of whom know the estuary like the back of their hands. However, they will have to be on top form to get the better of Tom Stewart and Phil Dalby who were second in 2014 and have started the season with a glint in their eyes. Challenging hard will be Alex Jackson and class Chair Fran Gifford who will also be leading from the front in all matters social.

Finally Black flight will be a dog fight between some old stagers and young pretenders. Dave Hayes and Jinny Ratcliffe come to Salcombe hot on the heels of winning Weymouth Open against all the class front runners. Tim Fells and Oli Wells have been consistent race winners at Salcombe over recent years as have Matt Biggs and John Hackett, both teams looking to put a consistent series together. Grand Masters and class legends Jon Turner and Richard Parslow will be showcasing their new floating artwork and looking to rekindle their wins from 1985 and 1991. At the more youthful end of the fleet, much is expected of Chris Gould who sailed beautifully at the Salcombe Open early in the year.

Away from the front of the fleet, Salcombe always sees a great turnout of Classic Merlins, with about a quarter of the entries in this category. Also showing that age is no limitation, Alan Warren now in his late 70s has just launched his latest (number 34) Merlin and will, as always, be trying to boss the start line while playing his 'grey joker' as a get out of jail free card.

With a forecast of sun and wind it looks like being a potential classic week and we will be keeping everyone informed of the fun and games through daily reports.