Craftinsure Merlin Rocket Silver Tiller Open at Midland Sailing Club

The second round of the Craftinsure Silver Tiller took place at Midland SC on Sunday 20th March. Competitors benefited from further sponsorship from local building firm ZoneCee who kindly paid for everyones lunch.

28 boats gathered to rig on a pleasant, if cloudy morning. It was especially good to see visitors coming from as far away as Axe and Brightlingsea on a day where the forecast indicated that the free lunch could well be the highlight of the day!

The first race got underway in a reasonable, if very shifty, force 2. OOD Pete Storey set a good long line with just a hint of port bias, however it was the wind filling in over the dam that bought the first arrivals into the first mark. A long and quite tactical run set the leaders away with Andy Davis and Alex Warren building what looked to be an unassailable lead. It clearly wasn't because Mike and Jayne Calvert caught them towards the end of the second lap to take the win. Taxi and Alex came in second with Caroline Croft and Bekka Jones in third. Places were changing regularly behind with some large shifts and large holes to catch the unwary. The fleet went ashore for lunch, the sun had come out and the wind started to die.

As the fleet launched for the second race there still seemed a glimmer of hope for some decent sailing but, despite the best efforts of the race team, this was dashed about a minute before the start as the water went glassy and the wind died completely. What followed was unfortunately something of a lottery, but Mike and Jayne Calvert emerged from the pack to take what was this time an unassailable lead, winning the race by miles. Matt Biggs and John Hackett come in second followed by Steve and Gill Leney in a race where picking the thermals was the way to front.

Race three saw a depleted fleet take to the water, which was a pity as the breeze made a bit of a comeback for the first half of the race. The event was now won, but having not sailed since last year Mike and Jayne were still out, obviously keen to get some practice. The breeze was back but still rather fitful and shifty, evidenced by a couple of course changes before the race got underway. After the first couple of legs three boats had emerged well out from the pack and clearly were not going to be challenged, especially as the wind dropped off this time not to return. Caroline Croft and Bekka Jones emerged early on to take the win, followed for much of the race by Colin and Sean Anderson - however the Calvert creep factor can never be bet against in these conditions as Mike and Jayne wriggled past to take second, leaving Colin and Sean third.

Mike and Jayne therefore took the Midland Mug for what i believe to be the eighth time, Caroline and Bekka came in second and Matt Biggs and John Hackett third.

Thanks to Pete Story and his team in the committee boat, we are sure their fingernails will grow back soon. Thanks also to Sarah and crew in the galley and commodore Douglas Bridger on the bar.

The Silver Tiller continues the weekend coming at Chichester YC for what looks to be the complete opposite of what we experienced at Midland!

The Midland Circuit resumes at Banbury on 10th of April - hopefully we'll get some wind there too.