Vintage Merlin Rocket Open at Banbury Sailing Club

The Racing Rules of Sailing do not specify which way up the sail numbers should be © Richard Turner

Saturday, 20th September saw seven vintage Merlin Rockets gathered at Boddington Reservoir and ranging in age from Spriteful (507) built in 1954 through to Lindisfarne (2825) from 1973. The day was bright and sunny but unfortunately with not any wind to speak of and with what little there was changing direction regularly.

The first race was led from the start by Flinkidink sailed by Mike Stevens & Joe Woods of Tamesis SC. They held off Dans Le Vert (Ben Marshall & Alex Colne) of Minima YC and Ten Sixty Six (Tim Bury & Pat Kuenzler) of Banbury SC to take the gun at the line after several laps of close racing.

The fleet then adjourned for a leisurely lunch to ensure that they had enough ballast on board to cope with the afternoon breeze. Needless to say this was sadly lacking and the second race was sailed in even lighter winds than the first. Again, Flinkidink led from the start and despite the efforts of Dans Le Vert and Ten Sixty Six held on for several laps to take the gun and to win the meeting.

After a brief adjournment for tea and cake, the last race started in a very light and flukey wind which got less and less. Two boats, Flinkidink and Chimp wisely decided to sit out the last race which was won by Dans Le Vert after a very close battle with Magician (David Trott and Don Brown of Brook Vale SC) with Ten Sixty Six being very consistent to take a third, third place.

The prizes were presented by Malcolm Clark, Commodore of Banbury SC who had also been pressed into service as a crew in Chimp. First prize went to Mike Stephens and Joe Woods of Tamesis SC sailing Flinkidink. In second place were Ben Marshall & Alex Colne of Minima in Dans Le Vert with David Trott and Don Brown of Brook Vale SC in Magician coming in third.

The highlight of the day was the chump in Chimp! A close look at the 'spot the odd one out' photo will show something wrong with his sail number – it is upside down on one side. The owner’s story is that he stuck the numbers on one side correctly and then simply flipped the top of the sail over to put the other side’s numbers on which of course meant they were upside down. I think it was the owner taking off the boat’s name myself but who knows. The Racng Rules of Sailing do not specify which way up the sail numbers should be only that the ones on the starboard side of the sails should be higher up the sail than those on the port and Chimp’s are!

Results:

1 - 1097 - Mike Stevens & Joe Woods
2 - 1206 - Ben Marshall & Alex Colne
3 - 522 - David Trott & Don Brown
4 - 1066 - Tim Bury & Pat Kuenzler
5 - 1357 - Mervyn Allen & Malcolm Clark
6 - 507 - Chris Barlow & Richard Clark
7 - 2825 - Kieron Mason & Belinda Mason