Merlin Rocket Nationals at Looe Sailing Club
by Graham Williamson 8 Sep 2004 09:17 BST
21/08/2004
Big waves for the Merlin nationals at Looe © Mike Rice /
www.fotoboat.com
Looe Sailing Club hosted another stunning championship for the Merlin Rocket class during the week of 22nd to 27th August. Breezes for the 65 boats varied from a splendid 3-4 with fantastic waves on the Sunday, through an unsailable force 7 on the Tuesday, to a very shifty and taxing force 2 to 3 for the last couple of days.
Outright winner of the championship were the popular Hollingworth Lake SC duo of Richard Whitworth and Matt Mee. Fresh from their recent win at the class' Salcombe Week regatta, and with confidence high, they posted four straight wins in the first four races. A 3rd to count and a 3rd to discard saw them take the Yachting World Trophy with a day to spare. While the pair showed great boat handling, and good boatspeed on all points of sailing, it was their ability to consistently pick the shifts that got them to the front of the pack so regularly and allowed Whitworth to regain the title he last won in 1998. Once again at this venue, the overall winners were the only team to score all results in the top five.
Winners of the Holt Plate Handicap series which runs parallel to the main series were Tony Blackmore & Ollie Turner from Starcross SC sailing 3466 Thunderclap who revelled in the breeze earlier in the week, and did enough to bag the prize ahead of Ross Jackson & Pete Horn (3606).
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Boat Name | Helm | Crew |
|---|
| 1st | 3637 | Delirium | Richard Whitworth | Matt Mee |
| 2nd | 3573 | Rong Number | Glen Truswell | Paul Davis |
| 3rd | 3609 | Time Lords | John Bell | Graham Williamson |
| 4th | 3628 | Trigger Happy | Tom Stewart | Chris Downham |
| 5th | 3626 | Business as Usual | Mike Calvert | Jane Calvert |