Vintage Merlin Rockets with CVRDA at Hunts Sailing Club

by Mike Liggett 22 Sep 2011 11:08 BST 17 September 2011

With little water at Banbury, their vintage DeMay meeting was relocated to Hunts SC on 17 September. The event was sailed in conjunction with the CVRDA meeting, with a total of 25 boats of various classes and vintages on the water.

Seven Merlins prepared to take to the water but as strong winds were forecast Mike Liggett decided not to risk his wooden mast on 235 but take the safer option of crewing for Tim Bury in 1066. Six Merlins then took to the water for the first race.

This was the signal for the wind strength to increase considerably and savage blustery squalls, frequently accompanied by rain were the order for the rest of the day. Needless to say there were frequent capsizes and retirements.

Charlie Morgan in his IXb “Lady Jane” took the first race convincingly from Mervyn Allen in “Chimp”. Nobody was able to catch Charlie in the next two races either, pulling out a considerable lead on Ian Laing in “Atilla the Hunt” in the second race and Tim Bury in “Ten-sixty-six” in the final race.

Not content with winning the Merlin event Charlie took 4th place overall in the CVRDA classification.

Merlin Rocket Results:

Posn.	No.	Name	Helm	Crew	Club
1	1978	Lady Jane	Charlie Morgan	Hayley Manning	Tamesis Club
2	1066	Ten‑sixty‑six	Tim Bury	Mike Liggett	Banbury SC
3	2410	Atilla the Hunt	Ian Laing	‑‑‑‑‑‑	Hollingworth Lake SC
4	1477	Lady Luck	Ben Marshall	Sel Shah	Minima YC
5	1357	Chimp	Mervyn Allen	Lora Stock	Ranelagh SC
6	252	Gannet	Garry Rucklidge	Thomas	Shearwater SC