Merlin Rocket Silver Tiller at Carsington Sailing Club

by Ian Tinker 15 Jun 2010 16:38 BST 13 June 2010

Carsington Sailing Club was pleased to welcome 24 Merlin Rockets for the Midland Circuit and Speed Sails Silver Tiller event on Sunday 13th June. The Race Officer, John Poulson, got the first race off at the first attempt under a grey sky with light and shifty winds, favouring those starting at the port end of the line.

Pat and Jilly Blake made the best of the advantage to round the windward mark first, closely followed by Jen Taylor & Chris Dodds, with Matt Biggs & Ben Hollis in third. The wind increased a little, enough to allow us to stretch our legs with a bit of hiking, but continued to be shifty. Matt & Ben managed to overtake on the 2nd run, as did Andy Davis & Tom Pygall, and the close racing continued. With the wind continuing to shift round to the east, Andy & Tom took the lead, finishing in first place, with Matt & Ben coming in second and David Winder & Pippa Taylor coming in third.

The first start sequence for the second race had to be abandoned due to a big wind shift to the East, making it impossible to even cross the line on Starboard. A nifty bit of mark moving by the race team meant that we were soon underway again with another clean start. Matt & Ben were first round the windward mark this time, with Rich Adams & Rob Kennaugh second and Pat & Jilly Blake third.

The places at the front of the fleet didn’t change, but further down the fleet places were being won and lost regularly, with some making more of the wind shifts than others. The wind continued to shift to the East, until on the last ‘triangle’ lap it became too tight to fly the spinnaker to mark 2. We all persevered through the rain and variable winds, finishing with Matt & Ben taking first place, Rich & Rob second and Pat & Jilly Blake third.

Lunch provided a welcome break, but the wind continued to die off being replaced by rain. The third race, due to start at 3:30pm, was postponed in the hope that some wind might return. Unfortunately, the wind did not return and racing was abandoned at 3:45pm with Matt & Ben taking the first prize, Rich & Rob second with Andy & Tom third. Prizes were awarded to the top seven boats and spot prizes, provided by Winder Boats, were awarded to the first old boat (3339 – Tim Male and Rebecca Aldread in 14th position) and first female (Jilly Blake).

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail Number	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	Pts
1	3705	Matt Biggs	Ben Hollis	Blithfield	2	1	3
2	3655	Rich Adams	Rob Kennaugh	Midland	4	2	6
3	3684	Andy Davis	Tom Pygall	Blithfield	1	6	7
4	3676	Pat Blake	Jill Blake	Cookham Reach	7	3	10
5	3610	Richard Dee	Chris Gould	Midland	6	4	10
6	3611	Jen Taylor	Chris Dodds	Hollingworth Lake	5	5	10
7	3662	David Winder	Pippa Taylor	Hollingworth Lake	3	8	11
8	3716	Steven Leney	Gillian Leney	Blithfield	8	7	15
9	3663	Chris Haworth	Jo Harvey	Blackpool & Fleetwood	10	10	20
10	3583	Chris Martin	John Hackett	Blithfield	9	12	21
11	3563	Paul Hollis	Linda Scott	Blithfield	14	9	23
12	3617	Tom Chadfield	Andrew Chadfield	Blithfield	12	13	25
13	3339	Tim Male	Rebecca Aldread	Blithfield	11	15	26
14	3669	Ian Tinker	Sarah Allen	Carsington	16	11	27
15	3674	Mike Anslow	Chris Winters	Midland	13	14	27
16	3567	S Hunt	-	Pilkington	15	16	31
17	3566	Jon Wood	Heather Wood	Earlswood	17	17	34
18	3430	Rob Sloane	Linda Bramhall	Trent Valley	18	19	37
19	361	Paul Thompson	Chris Fletcher	Combs	19	20	39
20	3645	Jeremy Deacon	Joanne Deacon	Cookham Reach	23	18	41
21	3509	James Clark	Guy Browne	Trent Valley	20	21	41
22	3530	Mike Colles	Ian Anderson	Midland	22	22	44
23	3537	Henry Wright	Paul Gostellow	Carsington	21	25	46
24	3346	Ian MacKenzie	Angela MacKenzie	Banbury	23	23	46