Merlin Rocket Open Meeting at Trent Valley Sailing Club

Sunday 16th May saw 11 Merlin Rockets come out to play at Trent Valley or was that for a well known Roast Pork Dinner?

The 1st race got away in a reasonable 10-15mph breeze in a North Westly direction starting us off tacking up river with Mike Anslow and Chris Winters in 3674 making a clean get away alongside Colin and Sean Anderson in newly acquired 3508, whilst further down Martin Smith 3496, Rob Sloane 3430 and Guy Browne in 3619 fighting over 3rd place, until approaching Billy Stones when the latter broke free.

The way back down the river involved a tight spinnaker reach, enabling Guy & Rob to close the cap on Colin in 2nd.

On approaching the clubhouse a Dakota plane gave a low flying demonstration show, disturbing the wind for a few minutes. Colin crewed by his son Sean unfortunately suffered at the bottom mark with spinnaker getting caught underneath the bow and losing a lot of places. Further down the fleet saw Martin having his own problems when his starboard shroud let go.

On the 2nd lap the fleet got spread out with Mike taking 1st place ahead of Guy in 2nd and Rob in 3rd place.

After a short delay to allow Martin to fit a replacement shroud, the 2nd race got under way with the fleet tightly together for the opening couple of tacks with Guy and Mike and James Clark 3509 getting clear. Whilst in early tacks Rob filled up then suffered a bump from following boat and retired.

This led to Guy leading from Mike and James at the end of 1st lap. Mike tacked off early before the clubhouse to take the lead whilst Guy found a dead spot, the lead kept changing places up the river with Mike taking the 2nd race from Guy in 2nd and James in 3rd. Despite starting late Martin and Karen manage to recover and take 7th place.

Traditional Roast Pork Dinner was served with the final race taking place at 3pm under consistent wind of 15mph.

Another good start by the Dark N Stormy team saw Guy and Tommi break free from Rob and Mike, at 1st buoy. Further down the fleet Storm Cloud crewed by Paul Fuller suffered toestrap failure, resulting in helm Andy Beardshaw capsizing. A bit further on saw James Clark challenge end with gear failure.

On launching the spinnaker Guy & Tommi suffered a capsize after being hit by a sudden gust, after righting the boat they still managed to keep in touch with the leaders Rob and Bea. The end of 1st lap saw Rob lead from Mike, the lead changed a number of times up river with Rob beating Mike across the line by 4 seconds to take 2nd place overall with Guy minute further behind in 3rd.

1st old boat trophy was won by Ian Mckensie in 3346 who came 9th overall.

Overall Results: