Merlin Rocket Open Meeting at Brightlingsea Sailing Club
by Ben Archer 15 Sep 2010 23:33 BST
11-12 September 2010
13 Merlin Rockets arrived for the Silver Tiller Open Meeting held at Brightlingsea Sailing Club this weekend. The series is sponsored by Speed Sails.
Saturday started out dull, but by the end of the day the competitors were sailing in bright sunshine. The start was delayed for an hour due to gusts of up to 28 knots, with the forecast for the winds to moderate. After a postponed start racing finally got underway with some exhilarating off wind legs created by a Force 5 to 6 over an exceptionally high Spring tide.
Race 1 was won by Matt Biggs and Ben Hollis, with Dave Winder and Pippa Taylor in second place. These results were reversed in Race 2. Brightlingsea team Piers Lambert and Tim Bees claimed third place in both the Saturday races.
After an exciting afternoon’s sailing it was good to enjoy a relaxing evening in the clubhouse with a free evening meal for all the competitors.
Sunday saw much lighter winds, although they proved to be more shifty. The team of Biggs and Hollis were again victorious, winning Races 3 and 4 with a 3rd place result in Race 5, which was enough to give them the overall first place. Dave and Pippa were finally only one point behind, despite winning the 5th race, which was enough to give them 2nd place.
Top Brightlingsea boat was helmed by Dan Willet with his crew, Pete Nicholson, who did well to gain second place in two of the Sunday races to give them the overall 3rd place.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Boat | Sail | Helm | Crew | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | 2 Pints of Lager | 3705 | Matt Biggs | Ben Hollis | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | -3 | 5 |
| 2nd | Attack of the Clones | 3662 | David Winder | Pippa Taylor | 2 | 1 | 2 | -3 | 1 | 6 |
| 3rd | Snorter | 3627 | Dan Willet | Pete Nicholson | -6 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 13 |
| 4th | Carbon foot print | 3716 | Steve Leney | Gill Leney | -5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 16 |
| 5th | Snakey B | 3671 | Piers Lambert | Tim Bees | 3 | 3 | 7 | 7 | (DNF) | 20 |
| 6th | Back to the Future | 3583 | Chris Martin | Ben Hendon | 4 | 7 | 6 | 5 | -8 | 22 |
| 7th | Cool Cookie | 3620 | Andy Bines | Derick Gentry | -8 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 29 |
| 8th | Rioja'n Roll | 3717 | Dave Charlton | Celia Charlton | (DNS) | DNS | 10 | 6 | 4 | 34 |
| 9th | Blue Bird | 3683 | David Hayes | Lou Johnson | 11 | (DNF) | 5 | 12 | 6 | 34 |
| 10th | IF | 3686 | Paul Aldridge | Melissa Sorrell | 7 | (DNF) | 11 | 10 | 9 | 37 |
| 11th | ? | 3688 | Chris Bines | Sarah Bines | 10 | 8 | (DNF) | 9 | 10 | 37 |
| 12th | Enchanted Evening | 3666 | Chris Jordan | Gill Jordan | 9 | (DNS) | 9 | 11 | 11 | 40 |
| 13th | POO-BAH | 1791 | Jonathan Reubins | Martin Magee | (DNF) | DNS | DNS | DNS | DNS | 56 |