Merlin Rocket Vintage & Silver Tiller Open at Cookham Reach Sailing Club

Cookham Reach Sailing Club hosted the Vintage de May open meeting on an extremely blustery Saturday, 9th May. It was an extremely hardy group that competed in the three race open, with Laurie Smart and Vanessa Pilon proving dominant by winning all three races. Pat Blake and Jeremy Deacon kept their boat Tiercel nice and flat and secured second place from Ian and Harry Sutton. The de May series races to a handicap system based on modernisations that have taken place on the vintage boats, with carbon masts and "new-sized spinnakers" being punished and the use of cotton sails being rewarded. Laurie and Vanessa won all three races on the water and on handicap, but Martin and Jacques Hunter secured second in the first race despite having finished behind Pat and Jeremy on the water. This year at the end of the year, the Octagon Trophy will also be presented to the winner of the de May series, based purely on "first past the post".

The third race on Saturday saw a depleted fleet despite also racing for the coveted Guy Pearce Memorial Trophy. Laurie and Vanessa walked away with the silverware for this and the de May open meeting, with everyone having had a tough day on the water.

Vintage de May Open Results:

Sunday dawned less blustery but with plenty of breeze blowing straight up and down the main reach. Twenty two boats of all ages turned up for the Silver Tiller open meeting which was also the second of the Thames Series events of 2015. With the startline length being restricted by the geography of there being banks on each side of the river, it was busy to say the least. A few crunches and a general recall later, the black flag was out and claimed a couple of notable victims. Caroline Croft crewed by Chris Gould, got the start that dreams are made of and sailed off into the distance. Frances Gifford and Alex Warren found a gap in the fleet and sailed a solid second place without ever threatening to get anywhere near Caroline and Chris.

The second race saw Caroline and Chris get another cracking start, but this time were hunted down by Jenny Taylor and Chris Dodds, who eventually got through to take the race two victory. So the third race was all to play for with any of three boats, helmed by three females - Caroline, Jenny and Fran - able to take overall victory. The boys all stayed out to compete for fourth which was nice. (In fact boy helms could still come second, and of course all three female helms were crewed by boys).

So the showdown was on - Caroline and Chris and Jen and Chris battling it out and Fran and Alex once again watching from a distance. Jen and Chris eventually broke clear and took the race and the open meeting despite an exciting start to the day which had resulted in a Black Flag. In accepting his fourth place glass, Laurie Smart commented that there should be a prize for first bloke.

In all likelihood that was the first time there had ever been a female helm 1,2,3 at a Merlin Rocket Silver Tiller, which is nice.

Silver Tiller Open Results: