Craftinsure Merlin Rocket Silver Tiller at Weymouth Sailing Club

by Helen Middleton-Stewart 23 Oct 2012 08:15 BST 13-14 October 2012

Weymouth Sailing Club's Craftinsure Silver Tiller event open meeting was hosted this year on the 13th and 14th of October. Despite an unpromising forecast twenty three Merlin's entered the event of which eight were local Weymouth boats.

Saturday dawned bright and sunny, the brisk gusty wind causing several capsizes in the first race, even amongst the lead crews. The race officer - Adrian Patterson - had to use the black flag to ensure a clean get away after wind shifts at the start line contributed to an initial general recall. After a poor start Tom Stewart and Steve Hall (3733) battled their way up the fleet to win the first race. In second place were Simon Potts and Oli Wells (3723), chased hard by Richard Whitworth and Sarah Bines (3703) who after rounding the first leeward mark in 22nd position made a magnificent recovery to finish third.

The start of the second race was a challenge for the race committee, with wind shifts of 30 degrees resulting in relaying of the windward mark, and also for competitors, a capsize during the start sequence adding to the excitement! Gusts of up to 30 knots were enjoyed by some of the heavier crews as the boats just flew down the reaches, but the challenging conditions led to several Merlin's retiring to the harbour. There was little place changing with Simon Potts and Oli Wells (3723) having their best race of the weekend and leading the race from start to finish, followed by Tom Stewart and Steve Hall (3733), and in third place David Hayes and Jonny Ratcliffe (3734).

Sunday saw more sunshine and lower wind strength of 8 to 10 knots, though still with huge shifts.

In Race 3 (after the second general recall of the weekend) Tim Fells and Chris Downham (3727) came in first, followed by Mike and Jane Calvert (3691) second, with again Richard Whitworth and Sarah Bines (3703) in third.

The start of Race 4 and the well behaved fleet were away on the first gun eliciting a complement from 'Paul at the pin' for the "first class boat handling in the last few seconds". Excellence in reacting to the shifts on the windward legs finally led to the first victory of the weekend for Richard Whitworth and Sarah Bines in 3703, closely followed by Mike and Jane Calvert (3691) with Tom Stewart and Steve Hall (3733) coming in third.

The last race of the weekend saw a very keen start with 4 boats over the line on the gun- only three of whom returned to re round. As the fleet powered off up to the windward mark the sun and the gusty conditions continued to tax the competitors throughout. Richard Whitworth and Sarah Bines again finished first, making this their second win of the event. Olly Turner and Alex Warren (3656) came in second, having their best result of the weekend. Third were Mike and Jane Calvert (3691) a fine result considering the lead they gave the fleet after being rather too keen at the start!

The clear winners of the weekend were Richard Whitworth and Sarah Bines (3703) from Parkstone/Brightlingsea with a fine two first places, capping an excellent weekend of racing enjoyed by all.

Thanks must go to the race team - who had more than a little challenging weekend themselves - and also to everybody else involved working hard behind the scenes to ensure that the meeting was a success.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Boat Name	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Pts
1	3703	Faithless	Richard Whitworth	Sarah Bines	Parkstone/Brightlingsea	3	‑5	3	1	1	8
2	3733	The Darkside	Tom Stewart	Steve Hall	Northampton SC	1	2	4	3	‑6	10
3	3691	Quick Fix	Mike Calvert	Jane Calvert	Axe YC	‑7	6	2	2	3	13
4	3723	Revenge Of The Sith	Simon Potts	Oli Wells	Blithfield SC/Northampton SC	2	1	‑8	4	8	15
5	3727	Fragile	Tim Fells	Chris Downham	Hayling Island SC	4	4	1	10	(DNF)	19
6	3734	The Black Boat	David Hayes	Jonny Ratcliffe	Hayling Island SC	10	3	5	6	(DNF)	24
7	3658	Bernard	Chris Jennings	Ally Martin	Burghfield	9	‑10	7	5	4	25
8	3729	Shabazzle	Jon Turner	Richard Parslow	Lyme Regis	11	8	6	7	(OCS)	32
9	3656	Wild Card	Olly Turner	Alex Warren	Starcross Yacht Club	‑15	12	10	9	2	33
10	3563	Leader	Sam Pascoe	Megan Pascoe	WSC	8	‑11	11	8	7	34
11	3676	Hot Totty	Tim Harrison	Frances Gifford	Ranelagh SC	‑18	7	9	13	9	38
12	3634	Ministry Of Pleasure	Ben Archer	Chris Gould	Parkstone/Midland	12	‑13	12	11	5	40
13	3711	Seawolf	David Lee	Dan Newman	Starcross Yacht Club	6	9	‑16	15	11	41
14	3641	Puff The Magic Dragon	Mark Waterhouse	Claire Langholt	Parkstone	5	‑16	14	14	10	43
15	3400	Dangerbat	James Middleton‑Stewart	Nix Middleton‑Stewart	WSC	16	‑19	13	12	13	54
16	3467	Twice Shy	Mike Fenwick	Penny Fenwick	WSC	13	(DNF)	15	18	12	58
17	3471	Savage	Mark Bugler	Rima Bugler	WSC	17	17	‑18	16	14	64
18	3543	Storm Cloud	Alex Green		WSC	(DNF)	14	21	17	16	68
19	3307	Arfur Daley	Robin Clifton Dey		WSC	19	(DNF)	17	19	15	70
20	3448	Custers Last Stand	Terry Curtis	Jo Curtis	WSC	21	15	19	DNF	(DNC)	76
21	3573	Rong Number	Simon Bond	Anna Bond	Papercourt Sailing Club	14	18	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	80
22	3516	Ticket To Heaven	Phil Ashworth	Alison Ashworth	WSC	(DNF)	DNF	20	20	17	80
23	3626	Business As Usual	Andy Hay	Celia Rushton	Starcross Yacht Club	20	DNF	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	91