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Rowsell Sails Merlin Rocket Travellers at Tamesis Club - Week 7

by Charlie Morgan 21 Feb 2012 12:19 GMT 19 February 2012

Gusty force 4 gives good racing

After the light wind and cold conditions of the previous two weeks, Tamesis was blessed with a consistent but gusty Force 4 north westerly on the Thames at Teddington on Sunday 19 February which provided a good beat up to Lensbury and then a run back to Canbury with the opportunity for the odd gybe to make use of the shifts. The wind was still bitterly cold but the sun was warm.

The first race had three Merlins and Mike Stephens, crewed by Joe Tosh in Flinkidink, held the lead from the start. There were no place changes and the remaining spots went to Matt Peregrine Jones and Dana Church, second, sailing Masquerade, and Ken Duffell and Brian Corking, third, sailing Harry.

The second race brought out 13 Merlins and provided a good beat downstream and a spinnaker run back upriver. With David Vines in the box, a clean start was made by all, heading down to Lensbury.

First round the downstream mark was Mike Stephens in Flinkidink, then Richard Harris in Passing Cloud and Andrew Harris in Shenandoah, closely followed by Charlie Morgan in Lady Anne, Berry Ritchie in Crescendo and Matt Peregrine Jones in Masquerade. It paid to stay on the Teddington side for the spinnaker run then moving out to the Kingston shore on the curve just before the Clubhouse and the Harrises and Morgan took advantage of this to overhaul Stephens at the leeward mark. Berry Ritchie and Sue Harris, and Matt P J and Dana were very close, followed by Colin Stokes and Caroline Stilwell sailing Avenger, and David Baker and John Adams in Andromeda.

By the second windward leg, Andrew Harris and Caroline Croft sailing Shenandoah had got away and were not seriously challenged again. The chasing pack included Passing Cloud, Lady Anne, Flinkidink and Masquerade with Andromeda, Harry, Richard Mourant in Total Eclipse and Rupert Fletcher in Omega in hot pursuit. There were a couple of retirements, one as a result of a broken kicking strap, and after four laps and just over one hour of sailing the results were:

1 Shenandoah (3088), Andrew Harris and Caroline Croft
2 Lady Anne (1978), Charlie Morgan and Hayley Manning
3 Flinkidink (1097), Mike Stephens and Joe Tosh
4 Masquerade (995), Matthew Peregrine Jones and Dana Church
5 Passing Cloud (1079), Richard and Harry Harris

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