Merlin Rocket Royal Thames Autumn Trophy at Ranelagh Sailing Club

Merlin Rockets at Ranelagh © Andy Johnstone

Merlin Rockets at Ranelagh © Andy Johnstone

Merlin Rockets at Ranelagh © Andy Johnstone

Sunday 6th November dawned sunny and breezy, and pretty chilly, suggesting that maybe winter had arrived just in time for the final Thames Series event in the Merlin Rocket calendar. Eleven Merlins amassed to fight it out downriver, under the bridges, for the large silver urn, known affectionately by race officer Margaret Stokes as the Umbrella Stand.

With Sel Shah and Ben Marshall leading the Thames Series heading into the final race, of the other attendees, only Frances Gifford and Alex Warren could overtake to take the title. Such were the conditions that anything could happen.

So off they went, with the strong ebb tide underneath them and the wind behind from the cold North. With the rules dictating that no spinnakers are allowed until clear of Putney rail bridge, Christopher Edwards took full advantage of the fact that his spinnaker halyard had been pulled to the top of the mast without a spinnaker and cruised along at the same speed as everyone else. The early battles were between Edwards, sailing with Una Winfield in Merlin number 214, Jon and Harry Steward, Rob Cage and Nicky Tulloch and Gifford and Warren.

As the kites were hoisted, Edwards and Winfield maintained their goose-winged jib tactic and at the bottom mark near the Battersea Park Pagoda it was they who gave room to Gifford and Warren. Turning into a still strong ebb tide but in the shallow valley of the Thames at nearly low water, the race would now start in earnest.

Merlin Rockets at Ranelagh - photo © Andy Johnstone

Gifford and Warren got clear and built a lead, helped by the battle for second that was holding up the chasing pack. Duncan and Harriet Salmon had joined this pack and sailed abreast of Edwards and Winfield, and Cage and Tulloch back up the river. Another lap and they would undoubtedly have caught the leaders, but this isn't a race of laps...

So it finished that as it got gustier, Christopher Edwards and Una Winfield, sailing a boat approximately 65 years older than their rivals, with no spinnaker, couldn't hang onto the wider boats of Gifford/Warren, Cage/Tulloch and the Salmons but finished an exceptional fourth. The Salmons won the battle for second and Cage and Tulloch, hampered by an extra long centreboard, crossed third.

Merlin Rockets at Ranelagh - photo © Andy Johnstone

Behind the leaders there were lots of place changes and even a swim, with Pierre Dunoyer and Guillaume Mouscadet testing the water temperature.

So that was the end of the Thames Series, finished where it started, with Cookham, Thames, Minima, Upper Thames, Hampton and Tamesis in-between. All beautiful stretches of the Thames, each worth going to at least three times, and then finding that actually you quite like Thames sailing when the wind blows, and revisiting year after year.

As ever, Ranelagh put on a fantastic event, with bacon rolls and hot lunch included in the minimal entry fee, trolleys wheeled down the ramp ready for launching and a cheap bar.

See everyone next year.

Overall Results:

2016 Thames Series Results:

1st 3676, Frances Gifford and Alex Warren (Ranelagh SC)
2nd 1596, Sel Shah and Ben Marshall (Thames SC)
3rd 1201, John Bell and Timmy Parker (Hampton SC)