Merlin Rockets at Waveney and Oulton Broad Yacht Club

The eleventh Craftinsure Silver Tiller open meeting of 2011 took place at Waveney and Oulton Broad YC on the 28th of May. The event was for the Lavengro Trophy, one of the longest running open meetings in the class.

Despite there being no home fleet on Oulton Broad, Merlins came from all across England to sail this weekend eight competitive helmsmen drove many miles to take part, one of them all the way from Poole.

Despite some ferocious F6 gusts sweeping off the reed beds, the racing was a hard fought battle for every inch of racetrack. The slightest error guaranteed a place lost or gained, racing a speed machine like a Merlin in the confined waters of Oulton Broad put a premium on precise and smooth boat handling.

Chris Martin and Rob Kennaugh soon indicated they were going to be the team to beat as they took the lead from Steven and Gillian Leney halfway round the first round in the first race and stayed there to the finish. Dan Willett and Pete Nicholson took third despite strong challenges from Andy Bines, David Charlton and Ben Archer.

The second race saw Martin and Archer over the line at the start and this left the Leneys in the lead and going very fast, followed by two of the boats from Brightlingsea SC - David Charlton and Andy Bines.

By the third race half the fleet still had a chance of winning overall. Martin and Leney were soon out in front, but when Leney capsized Martin had only to finish to win overall, with Dan Willet second and Ben Archer and Chris Whitehouse third.

This meant that Chris Martin and Rob Kennaugh won the event and the Lavengro trophy, Steve and Gill Leney were Second and Dan Willett with Pete Nicholson was third. An exciting days racing handled very efficiently by the superb race team at this most welcoming of east coast sailing clubs.

Overall Results: