Merlin Rocket Open Meeting at Rutland Sailing Club

Rutland open meeting (part of the Craftinsure Silver Tiller series) on Bank Holiday Monday gathered 38 boats for what proved to be the first summer sailing experience with bare legs and knees seen for the first time this year.

A lot of the crews were well keyed up due to the previous two days race training led by Richard Whitworth and his merry men/women. In fact two sailors who will rename nameless couldn't stay for the open meeting due to information overload and fear of their heads exploding.

Race One

When milling around at the start everyone was removing their glasses and squinting to find the windward mark. Several comments of; "Where is it?" were echoed across the reservoir. Somebody shouted, "Look left." Followed by a collective, "Ooh". We decided, as the other 37 boats did, there was only one end of the line to start. Difficult to say who won the start but Richard Whitworth led around the windward mark comfortably, followed by Mike Fenwick and Mike Calvert. The reaches proved to be very tight and little was gained. The short race one was won by Richard Whitworth with Mike Fenwick second and yours truly [Steve Leney] squeezing past Mike on the final run.

Race Two

On the start line, Richard Whitworth was looking at me (strange). Am I wearing my buoyancy aid backwards? My crew Gill was seen to adjust her pigtails. All became apparent after some general recalls and mark moving. Richard did not want to let us out of his sight, and in fact later in the race, while trying to overtake him, manoeuvred us into a 720 from another boat. This race was won by Matt Biggs, second Richard Dee and third Will Rainey.

Race Three

This race was by the most interesting for us. Richard Whitworth again sat on us at the pin and appeared to have a cunning plan. We decided his plan was to sit in a patch of no wind and duly tacked to cross behind approximately 32 boats. To our surprise we popped out on the right hand side to find Matt Biggs and John Hackett sniffing out the shifts like a bloodhound chasing Mike and Jane Calvert. So we picked up the scent and rounded the windward mark.

Worth a mention in this fleet were the team of Richard Dee and Chris Gould. Chris takes the meaning of "head out of the boat" to a whole new level. In fact if he told Richard to cross the car park, go over the five bar gate, bear off into the high street, then pop up the kite, Richard would simply reply, "I'm glad I put on the lifting rudder".

The race was won by Mike and the birthday girl, followed by the bloodhound [Matt Biggs] and yours truly.

Overall Results: