Merlin Rocket Sondown Cup at Tamesis Club

Merlins line up for one of the starts during the Sondown Cup at Tamesis © John Dunkley

Sondown Cup won by Simon Blake and Alex Jackson

The Sondown Cup was won by Simon Blake and Alex Jackson of Shoreham SC at Tamesis Club's Silver Tiller Thames Series open meeting for Merlin Rockets on Sunday 10 October. Sailing Spank (3707), they beat 26 other Merlin Rockets from 10 different clubs by winning the last two races and discarding a second from the first race, scoring two points overall.

The application of RRS Appendix A meant that the tie break rule had to be applied to three other boats each of which were counting a first and a second. Their overall positions were determined by their respective positions in the last race in which they sailed. They were Elusive (3347) David Vines and Fran Gifford, Passing Cloud (1079) Richard and Harry Harris, and Shenandoah (3088) Andrew Harris and Rob Wilder.

With a moderate easterly wind, Race Officer John Harris set a difficult course with a downstream start leading to a first mark half way along Trowlock Island and the upstream mark, Canbury, near Hampton Wick Railway Bridge, with a loop round a middle mark upriver of Stevens Eyot. This gave the fleet a beat in some tricky windshifts passing and upriver of Stevens Eyot. Several boats lost places when their masts became stuck in trees as they attempted to escape from holes in the wind and two suffered damage.

The presence of an on the water judge, Chris Simon, curbed infringements of Rule 42, which prohibits rocking and rolling, but the fleet were very well behaved despite conditions in which some might have been tempted to use a bit of illegal motion to escape the holes in the wind. However, two boats were observed doing 720s.

Overall Results: (Sondown Cup)

Elizabeth Bowl (for first vintage Merlin) awarded to: 1079, Richard & Harry Harris