Aspire 72nd Merlin Rocket Championship at Pwllheli - Day 5
by Chris Martin 18 Aug 2017 01:20 BST
12-18 August 2017
Winder Thursday a.k.a. Ranelagh Thursday a.k.a Champagne Day of the Aspire Merlin Rocket Nationals saw something of a revolution in race format with three races scheduled in an attempt to get the full nine races in for the series.
The Champagne day moniker was particularly appropriate given the splendid force 3-4 from the southwest and pleasantly rolling waves. Both of these were predicted to increase as the day progressed, a prediction that was accurate!
Though Nick Craig and Alan Roberts have dominated so far Andy Davis and Alex Warren have been loitering with intent. This intent came to fruition in races six and seven (1 and 2) as they took both bullets for the Top Hat Trophy and the Ranelagh Trophy. A master class in tactical sailing took place in race 8 as Nick and Alan were hell-bent on preventing a further win for Taxi and Alex which would put their position under threat should a race be sailed tomorrow and the second discard come into play. Taxi and Alex were losing this battle and after taking to the water and retiring look to have lost the war pending the result of a protest against Nick and Alan in race one which could have significant influence on the overall result.
Looking further back Mark Barwell and Lou Johnson have one hand on the Silver fleet trophy and the evergreen Back to the Future piloted by Ben Eaves and Sean Anderson have got their mitts on the Bronze fleet shirts heading into tomorrow.
The forecast for Friday is currently marginal and some of the fleet rather tired, though the feedback is that the new race format put into place by an accomplished race team is a breath of fresh air. Whether we sail tomorrow or not we have plenty to chew on looking towards next years championships at Lyme Regis.
Results after Day 5:
Pos | Boat Name | Sail No | Fleet | Helm | Crew | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | Pts |
1st | Messy Monty | 3776 | Gold | Nick Craig | Alan Roberts | Frensham Pond | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ‑12 | 12 |
2nd | Peer Pressure | 3778 | Gold | Chris Gould | Chris Kilsby | Midland | ‑15 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 23 |
3rd | Keyser Soze | 3684 | Gold | Andy Davies | Alex Warren | Bartley | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 1 | 1 | (DNC [39]) | 24 |
4th | Mockingjay | 3777 | Gold | Simon Potts | Pippa Taylor | Burghfield | ‑10 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 39 |
5th | Shiny | 3770 | Gold | David Hayes | Jonny Ratcliffe | Hayling Island | ‑14 | 5 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 41 |
6th | Red Mistress | 3759 | Gold | Sam Pascoe | Megan Pascoe | Castle Cove | 2 | (ARB [18]) | 4 | 9 | 3 | 8 | 10 | 5 | 41 |
7th | Bernard | 3658 | Gold | Chris Jennings | Pete Horn | Burghfield | ‑22 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 6 | 12 | 3 | 43 |
8th | Wild At Heart | 3709 | Gold | Tom Gillard | Tom Lonsdale | Sheffield Viking | 8 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 7 | ‑11 | 11 | 8 | 51 |
9th | Robert | 3756 | Gold | Will Warren | Mark Oakey | Shoreham | 9 | 11 | ‑14 | 7 | 13 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 56 |
10th | Panther | 3774 | Gold | Jon Turner | Richard Parslow | Lyme Regis | 7 | 12 | ‑17 | 16 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 71 |
11th | Quick Fix | 3691 | Gold | Mike Calvert | Jane Calvert | Axe | 5 | 15 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 9 | ‑25 | 15 | 75 |
12th | Oakey Dokey | 3712 | Gold | Ian Sharps | Ellie Sharps | Burghfield | 6 | 10 | 16 | 14 | 6 | 12 | 14 | (DNC [39]) | 78 |
13th | | 3786 | Gold | Dave Wade | Rachel Rhodes / Keri Harris | Northampton | 12 | 17 | 12 | 10 | (DNF [39]) | 13 | 6 | 11 | 81 |
14th | The Oldie | 3673 | Gold | Caroline Croft | Matt Lullham‑Robinson | Bartley | 3 | 13 | 10 | 17 | 15 | 15 | ‑22 | 13 | 86 |
15th | Bazinga | 3758 | Gold | Tim Saxton | Jodie Green | Grafham Water | 17 | 8 | 8 | 13 | 8 | (DNS [39]) | DNS [39] | 4 | 97 |
16th | The Force Awakens | 3781 | Gold | Dave Winder | Oliver Winder | Hollingworth | 20 | 14 | 18 | 12 | (DNF [39]) | 16 | 8 | 10 | 98 |
17th | Point N Squirt | 3746 | Gold | Dan Willett | Pete Nicholson | Brightlingsea | 21 | 16 | 13 | 19 | 16 | 14 | 13 | (DNC [39]) | 112 |
18th | Strung Along | 3784 | Silver | Mark Barwell | Louise Johnson | Lymington Town | ‑29 | 18 | 15 | 15 | 18 | 17 | 15 | 14 | 112 |
19th | Quicksilver | 3787 | Silver | Chris Martin | Oliver Maclean | Midland | 11 | 22 | ‑23 | 22 | 17 | 19 | 19 | 16 | 126 |
20th | Why Ask | 3740 | Silver | Patrick Blake | Jilly Blake | Cookham Reach | 16 | 21 | ‑22 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 16 | 18 | 131 |
21st | The Angels Share | 3779 | Silver | Dave Lee | Juliet Pealing | Starcross | 19 | 24 | 20 | ‑26 | 14 | 23 | 18 | 17 | 135 |
22nd | Pointer | 3790 | Silver | Colin Brockbank | Martin Hughes | Wembley | 30 | 23 | 19 | 18 | (DNC [39]) | 18 | 17 | 19 | 144 |
23rd | Arbuckle | 3760 | Silver | Mark Reddington | Colin Staite | Bartley | 23 | ‑28 | 24 | 23 | 19 | 21 | 20 | 21 | 151 |
24th | Three Dee | 3765 | Silver | Richard Dee | Justin Healey | Midland | 28 | 20 | 25 | 21 | (DNC [39]) | 24 | 28 | 20 | 166 |
25th | Back to the Future | 3583 | Bronze | Ben Eaves | Sean Anderson | Redditch | 26 | 25 | 26 | 24 | (DNS [39]) | 22 | 21 | 22 | 166 |
26th | Flaming Fast | 3339 | Silver | Tim Male | Rebecca Male | Blithfield | 18 | 26 | 27 | (BFD [39]) | DNC [39] | 26 | 23 | 23 | 182 |
27th | The Black Boat | 3734 | Bronze | Phil Ashworth | Alison Ashworth | Weymouth | 25 | 29 | ‑30 | 25 | 22 | 27 | 27 | 28 | 183 |
28th | Duck and Dive | 3713 | Bronze | Steve Harling | Eleanor Thomas | Starcross | 24 | 30 | 31 | 27 | (DNC [39]) | 29 | 29 | 27 | 197 |
29th | Dark N Stormy | 3619 | Bronze | Guy Browne | Andy Hunter | Trent Valley | 33 | 34 | ‑35 | 28 | 21 | 30 | 31 | 25 | 202 |
30th | Sylvia | 3711 | Silver | Sam Thompson | Keri Harris | RNSA | 13 | 19 | 21 | (DSQ [39]) | DNF [39] | DNC [39] | DNC [39] | DNC [39] | 209 |
31st | Point Break | 3625 | Bronze | Richard Bramley | John Donoghue | Shoreham | 27 | 32 | 34 | 30 | (UFD [39]) | 31 | 30 | 26 | 210 |
32nd | Light Fantastic | 3555 | Silver | James Cokayne | William Gould / Angus Kirk | NSSA | 36 | 31 | 29 | (DNS [39]) | DNC [39] | 28 | 24 | 24 | 211 |
33rd | Smoked Salmon | 3518 | Bronze | Julian Harms | Timothy Harms | Midland | (DNS [39]) | 27 | 28 | 29 | DNC [39] | 25 | 26 | DNC [39] | 213 |
34th | Out of the Blue 2 | 3557 | Bronze | April Whiteley | Hazel Newport | NSSA | 31 | 33 | 32 | 32 | (RET [39]) | DNF [39] | DNC [39] | DNC [39] | 245 |
35th | Never Been to Salcombe | 3582 | Bronze | George Colcomb | Angus Kirk | NSSA | 34 | 35 | 33 | 31 | (DNS [39]) | DNC [39] | DNC [39] | DNC [39] | 250 |
36th | Wizard in Blue | 3449 | Bronze | Carl Whitehill | Samuel Whitehill | RYA | 32 | (DNC [39]) | 36 | RET [39] | DNC [39] | DNC [39] | DNC [39] | DNC [39] | 263 |
37th | Born to be Willd | 3783 | Bronze | Miles James | Colin Simmonds | Pwllheli | 35 | (DNF [39]) | DNS [39] | DNC [39] | DNC [39] | DNC [39] | DNC [39] | DNC [39] | 269 |
38th | Loosed Cannon | 3655 | Bronze | Karen Hiles | John Hodge | Shoreham | 37 | (DNC [39]) | DNC [39] | DNC [39] | DNC [39] | DNC [39] | DNC [39] | DNC [39] | 271 |
Further details at merlinrocketchamps.com