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Merlin Rocket Salcombe Week - Day 2

by Tim Fells 10 Jul 2012 15:25 BST 8-13 July 2012

Monday at Salcombe dawned with grey skies and a light and fickle WSW breeze.

Day 2 Morning – Red versus Blue flights

With such a light breeze it was inevitable that most boats tried to book their position on the line early resulting in a general recall, an aborted start and finally a black flag start under which 10 boats were caught, none of them being the front runners though for sure there was some luck in this.

Early leaders were Nick Heginbotham/Becca Jones and Chris Jennings/Liese Scott who led round Blackstone and on the long run to Yalton mark where Jon Ibbotson/Ben Harridge had come through to second. On the return beat back up to Blackstone, Tim Fells/Chris Downham came through to take the lead narrowly from Willie Warren/Sophie Mackley and the rapidly improving Simon Blake/Alex Jackson in the new Jo Richards design ‘Superfast Jellyfish’.

On the run back to Yalton the Jellyfish boys showed a clean pair of heals to extend away to a comfortable win. Willie/Sophie in turn kept Tim/Chris just behind them in a tacking duel to the finish with Nick/Becca keeping fourth.

Day 2 Afternoon – Green versus Black flights

With the sun coming out, a better breeze and an ebb tide under them, the afternoon fleet contrived to get a perfect start with 20 boats hitting the line on the gun – impressive stuff.

The early lead was taken by Andy ‘Taxi’ Davis/Ellie Bremmer but their lead was rapidly eroded by Dave Winder/Pippa Taylor and Mike Calvert/Ian Garwood who took the town side on the run to good effect. By the second lap, Rich Adams/Chris Gould and Tom Stewart/Steve Hall had broken through to take up the running. However all five leading boats were never far apart, with places changing on every shift. It was an absorbing battle to watch for the many spectators at the Yacht Club and Ferry Inn.

By the final mark at Crossways there was hardly any distance covering the leaders and they continued to cross tacks all the way to the line. In a thrilling finish, Taxi/Ellie took first, Dave/Pippa snuck second by a nose and Tom/Steve and Rich/Chris dead heated for third with Mike/Ian not far behind. It doesn’t get better than that after nearly two hours racing.

At the end of the second day Tom Stewart/Steve Hall lead on 4.5 points from Tim Fells/Chris Downham on 5 and Rich Adams/Chris Gould on 5.5.

The forecast for the next two days is for a bit more breeze with a ‘Big Thursday’ and windy Friday to round the week out.

Results so far

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