Merlin Rocket Open at Cookham Reach Sailing Club
by Pat Blake 21 Apr 2005 17:18 BST
17 April 2005
Action from the Cookham Reach Merlin Rocket open © Samantha Sutton
Sunday the 17th of April dawned a quiet and tranquil day on the Cookham Reach, the sun was out and bells of Holy Trinity Church sounded out as a few iterant Merlin Rocket sailors gathered to discuss whether it was worth rigging their boats for the forthcoming Thames Series Open Meeting.
Those who did surely didn’t regret their decision as, on cue, the southerly wind filled in at the start of the first race and the day got more exciting by the minute. The sailors of the 27 boats that shared the Reach had plenty to think about as the racing was about as good as it gets on ‘The River’. Seriously competitive stuff, very close racing with plenty of tie breaks in the end after three races on the group system.
Every boat has a story to tell but by the end of the day there were plenty of tired and happy sailors – all thinking ‘if only I had ……..’ That is except for Rob Wilder and Tom McLaughlin who went away with the ‘Cookham Shield’ one of the historic Merlin-Rocket Trophies that everyone in the class wants to put their name on.
It was a really good day – thanks to everyone from Cookham for organising it and thanks to all the visitors for turning up in such great numbers.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Boat Name | Helm | Crew | R1 | R2 | R3 |
|---|
| 1 | 3656 | Wild Card | Rob Wilder | Tom Mc Laughlin | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 3640 | Smart Tart | Pat Blake | Alex Jackson | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| 3 | 3644 | Poached Salmon | Duncan Salmon | Ian Garwood | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 4 | 3578 | White Rabbit | Andrew Harris | Liam Dempsey | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| 5 | 3643 | Moist | William Warren | Tom Bowen-Perkins | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 6 | 3635 | Aloha | Mike Stephens | Andy Douglas | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| 7 | 3566 | Pocket Rocket | Joe Mc Laughlin | Sarah Whittingham | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| 8 | 3571 | Hakuna Matata | Andy Jones | Steve Roberts | DNS | 3 | 5 |
| 9 | 3456 | Tenaciousness | Martin Evans | G. Meaks | 4 | 7 | 5 |
| 10 | 3594 | Summit Fever | Alan Markham | Sue Markham | 6 | 6 | 4 |
| 11 | 3514 | Stud Muffin | David Lapes | Lynn Hayes | 5 | 5 | 7 |
| 12 | 2926 | Tobacco Road | Bob Deacon | Jill Blake | 5 | 6 | 6 |
| 13 | 3334 | Lovebyte | Marcus Robb | Alex Jones | 7 | 7 | 6 |
| 15 | 3638 | Blues & Twos | David Humphreys | Margaret Simpson | 7 | 8 | 10 |
| 15 | 3560 | Luka | Oliver Houseman | Scott Stewart | 8 | 9 | 7 |
| 16 | 3411 | Playing Possum | Ian Sutton | Mary Webb | 6 | 11 | 10 |
| 17 | 3580 | Chanbulls | Natalie Fuller | Allan Fuller | RTD | 9 | 8 |
| 18 | 3570 | Second Thought | Chris Rathbone | Phil Preston | 9 | 8 | 9 |
| 18 | 3319 | Absolute Madness | Hugh Maddison | Duncan Ennaham | 10 | DNS | 8 |
| 19 | 3506 | Smarty Pants | Pat Davey | Nigel Webb | 8 | 10 | 9 |
| 21 | 3585 | After Hours | Roy Reuter | Svetlana Galitzine | 9 | 10 | RTD |
| 22 | 3443 | Bebek | Geoff Clitheroe | Andy Kelly | 11 | 13 | 11 |
| 23 | 3451 | Deep Thought | Ben Archer | Louisa Bellini | 13 | 12 | 11 |
| 24 | 3545 | Smooth Operator | John Haynes | Paul Roberts | 12 | 11 | 12 |
| 25 | 3651 | Jupiter | Colin Brokbank | | DNS | 4 | DNS |
| 26 | 1781 | Phantasy II | Jeremy Deacon | James Thomson-Graham | 10 | RTD | DNS |
| 27 | 3394 | Who's a pretty boy | Mark Fuller | Adam Langford | 11 | DNS | DNS |
