Merlin Rocket Open at Midland Sailing Club

by Mike Anslow 31 Mar 2010 11:03 BST 28 March 2010

Midland Sailing Club welcomed 28 Merlin Rockets to their Midland Circuit event on 28th March. Visitors came from as far away as Devon, Brightlingsea and London, and there was a large contingent from local clubs. This was also a Silver Tiller event, sponsored by Speed Sails.

In fine sunny weather and a westerly force 3 Race Officer Nigel Spurr set a course with 2 longish beats. Shifts and gusts kept teams on their toes and places could easily be won and lost. Andy ‘Taxi’ Davis (Chase SC) and Mike Calvert (Axe SC) battled for the lead followed by Matt Biggs (Blithfield SC) and Richard Adams from the home club. Mike eventually got through to take the gun from Andy, with Matt and Richard third and fourth.

After lunch, due to a slight windshift the Race Officer set a different course for the second race. The strong port bias on the line made it important to get onto port tack as soon as possible. Matt led at the end of the first lap followed by Richard, Mike and Andy. These places were held until the final beat when Richard, approaching from one side, was able to tack and cross the finish line a foot ahead of Matt. Mike was third and Andy fourth. This meant that any one of these four was in with a chance of winning the meeting. During the race the pleasant spring conditions had encouraged the race management team to send out for ice creams, and the Race Officer decided to delay shortening course for a couple of legs whilst they enjoyed them!

The final race was sailed over the same course. Matt took an early lead followed by Andy and Richard Adams, but Mike found himself in fifth behind Richard Dee of Midland SC. By the end of the second lap Richard Dee had got through into third. Matt lead the fleet home followed by Andy Davies, Richard Dee, Richard Adams and Mike Calvert.

This left Matt as winner of the Midland Mug for the second year running with Mike Calvert coming second on countback from Andy Davis.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	Pts
1	3705	Matt Biggs	Ben Hollis	Blithfield	3	2	1	3
2	3691	Mike Calvert	Jane Calvert	Axe	1	3	5	4
3	3684	Andy Davis	Tom Pygall	Chase	2	4	2	4
4	3655	Richard Adams	Rob Kennaugh	Midland	4	1	4	5
5	3610	Dickie Dee	Chris Gould	Midland	5	7	3	8
6	3702	Duncan Salmon	Ian Garwood	Wembley	12	5	6	11
7	3716	Steve Leney	Gill Leney	Blithfield	6	6	8	12
8	3563	Paul Hollis	Iain Leiper	Blithfield	7	8	7	14
9	3717	David Charlton	Celza Charlton	Brightlingsea	9	10	9	18
10	3617	Tom Chadfield	Andy Chadfield	Blithfield	29	9	10	19
11	3674	Mike Anslow	Chris Winters	Midland	10	11	11	21
12	3666	C Jordan	G Jordan	?	14	12	12	24
13	3518	Julian Harms	Tim Harms	Midland	13	29	14	27
14	3645	Jeremy Deacon	J Deacon	cookham	16	14	29	30
15	3566	J Wood	H Wood	?	19	18	13	31
16	3496	Martin Smith	K Lewis	Redditch	17	16	15	31
17	3530	Mike Colles	Ian Anderson	Midland	15	20	16	31
18	3240	C Anderson	S Anderson	?	18	15	17	32
19	3619	Guy Browne	Tom Cluely	Trent Valley	20	13	29	33
20	3583	Chris Martin	Abi Spurr	Blithfield	8	29	29	37
21	3543	A Beardshead	P Fuller	?	22	19	19	38
22	3403	James Dawes	Steve	Redditch	21	21	18	39
23	3663	Chris Haworth	Jo Harvey	Blackpool & Fylde	11	29	29	40
24	3582	Malcom Hyams	Dan Barrett	Midland	23	29	20	43
25	3680	Steve Watson	Andrew Prosser	Midland	29	17	29	46
26	3581	Roger Pass	Megan Ward	Midland	29	22	29	51
27=	522	Dave Trott	Sue Ann	Midland	29	29	29	58
27=	3489	Richard Turner	E Binning	Banbury	29	29	29	58