Merlin Rocket Midland Mug at Midland Sailing Club

by Mike Anslow 24 Mar 2012 20:16 GMT 18 March 2012

The Midland Mug 2012 © Richard Neighbour

There was a considerable feeling of dejá vu about the Craftinsure Silver Tiller meeting at Midland this year. It was once again on Mothers’ Day. The same race officer and team were in charge, and there was another good turnout of visitors - many of them from Blithfield who had run their own Silver Tiller event the day before. The results, too, had a familiar ring about them.

18 visiting boats joined 9 Merlins from the home club, and race officer, Nigel Spurr, got the first race off into an easterly breeze. The light shifty conditions made for a testing race which was eventually won by Mike and Jane Calvert, followed by Matt Biggs and Ben Hollis in second and Andy (Taxi) Davis and Tom Pygall in third. Lunch was taken early to allow for an early start to the afternoon’s racing.

While lunch was being taken the clerk of the weather arranged for the wind to shift into a northerly direction – one which would make for more difficulty in approaching and leaving the windward marks. In the second race the wind favoured the few who got onto port early and many boats got stuck to the left of the beat. However, quality showed through with many of the usual suspects working their way to the front of the fleet. Mike and Jane pulled through to win from Matt and Ben with local team Richard Adams and Chris Gould in third.

The fleet stayed on the water for the final race, sailed over the same course. With Mike and Jane on shore Andy and Tom come to the fore. They won from Jon Gorringe and Toby Lewis, with Matt and Ben in third.

So Mike Calvert has got his name on the trophy yet again – his sixth win – with Jane crewing for him on this occasion. In a further repeat of last year Taxi and Tom’s win in the final race gave them second overall, ahead of Matt and Ben who once again were third.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	Pts
1	3691	Mike Calvert	Jane Calvert	Axe	1	1	28	2
2	3684	Andy Davis	Tom Pygall	Blithfield	3	4	1	4
3	3722	Matt Biggs	Ben Hollis	Blithfield	2	2	3	4
4	3650	Richard Adams	Chris Gould	Midland	5	3	7	8
5	3712	Jon Gorringe	Toby Lewis	Parkstone	7	9	2	9
6	3716	Steve Leney	Gill Leney	Blithfield	4	5	9	9
7	3610	Richard Dee	Chris Winters	Midland	6	6	4	10
8	3663	Chris Haworth	Jo Harvey	Blackpool & Fleetwood	8	7	28	15
9	3702	Duncan Salmon	Harriet Salmon	Wembley	11	11	5	16
10	3402	Rob Kennaugh	John Hackett	Midland	10	10	6	16
11	3730	Paul Hollis	James Dawes	Blithfield	9	13	8	17
12	3674	Mike Anslow	Jayden Wood	Midland	13	8	11	19
13	3568	Andy Bownes	Claire Brimacombe	Shustoke	15	14	10	24
14	3339	Tim Male	Rebecca Male	Blithfield	12	12	12	24
15	3508	Colin Anderson	Sean Anderson	Redditch	14	17	13	27
16	3680	Steve Watson	Phil Scott	Midland	16	22	14	30
17	3619	Guy Browne	Luke Turner	Trent Valley	23	18	15	33
18	3547	Peter Male	Neil Harper	Blithfield	17	16	18	33
19	3581	Mark Reddington	Colin Staite	Bartley	19	15	28	34
20	3582	Malcom Hyams	Iain Leiper	Midland	18	19	17	35
21	3530	Mike Colles	Tyrone Wood	Midland	26	21	16	37
22	3517	Keith Garrett	Dan Barrett	Midland	22	20	19	39
23	3567	Martin Smith	Karen Beston	Blithfield	21	23	21	42
24	3437	David Homer	Chris Homer	Midland	20	24	24	44
25	3548	Kieron Mason	Henry Mason	Blithfield	28	26	20	46
26	3533	Russell Brayshaw	Nicola Wolkinson	Hollowell	25	27	22	47
27	3346	Ian MacKenzie	Angela MacKenzie	Blithfield	24	25	23	47