Craftinsure Merlin Rocket Open Meeting at Rutland Sailing Club

Rutland Sailing club played host to the biggest Craftinsure Silver Tiller open meeting of the year, with 37 boats attending. Managing the fleet was no problem for the excellent RSC race team who, despite the shifty conditions and the keenness of the competitors, got the fleet away promptly for the first start without resorting to the black flag.

Race 1 started in the upper range of a force 3 S/SSE breeze, with stronger gusts making an occasional appearance. Given the shifty nature of the wind, the start line was a perplexing place to be but clearly the excellent Merlin Rocket class training event (run at RSC immediately prior to this open meeting) had paid off for Ben Hollis/Caroline Croft who nailed the start and first beat, leading to the windward mark and holding off the pressing pack headed up by Dave Wade/Tim Huntley and Ben's former helmsman Matt Biggs/John Hackett and the classes training supremo, Richard Whitworth/Alex Warren who arrived in fourth place.

The breeze piped up immediately prior to the second race and teams added more rake and reached for their thinking caps as the shift variance grew alongside velocity. After a general recall the fleet got away clean, not so Hollis/Croft who got buried at the committee boat end when left was the way to go and could do no better than 23rd. Instead, it was Andy Davies/Tom Pygall's chance to shine, popping out from the left to round the windward mark first, by the third leg they had established a 150m lead over their closest challengers Whitworth/Warren, who were pressed hard by 3rd the third place boat of Wade/Huntley, who were sailing a very consistent regatta.

Race 3 came and the wind mellowed slightly, but the snakes and ladders shifts stayed in full effect, and this is when Hollis/Croft got their mojo back to finish in Fourth place, but would it be enough to get them in the chocolates? It was Whitworth/Warren who got the best out of the start this time, but their lead was under pressure until the very end of the race, with Davis/Pygall constantly hunting them down and Wade/Huntley maintaining the position they settled into in the first two races, and ultimately being squeezed off the podium by Hollis/Croft in third overall, Davis/Pygall in second and Whitworth/Warren winning on countback; an exciting end to an excellent days racing at this ever popular venue, there really was no better way to spend this bank holiday.

Overall Results: