Aspire 72nd Merlin Rocket Championship at Pwllheli - Day 4

by Chris Martin 16 Aug 2017 18:10 BST 12-18 August 2017

HD Wednesday of the Aspire Merlin Rocket Nationals saw two races scheduled. Most in the dinghy park considered even one race to be optimistic given the forecast, the race team brought the start time forward by two hours in an attempt to give us a chance of getting a race in before the predicted Armageddon in the afternoon.

In much the same way as Monday the sea state was our enemy rather than the breeze. The committee boat radioed back that we had 20-22 knots from 170 degrees, which is well within our guidelines. Flag delta was hoisted and off we went! Launching proved something of challenge in the low tide with a reasonably long wade before pushing off.

Once out there it was clearly going to be hard work. Several boats capsized before warning signal and several of those headed back ashore. The race team started the sequence on time and the race got away again at the first attempt.

William Warren and Mark Oakey rounded first and took to the water shortly afterwards. Andy Davies and Alex Warren took up the mantle before taking to the water after falling off a wave – not an uncommon issue today! Nick Craig and Alan Roberts came through to take the lead after re-rigging their spinnaker on the first run. They held their lead though until the end and took yet another win. Dave Hayes and Jonny Ratcliffe had an excellent race to come in second with Sam and Megan Pascoe taking third.

It had been pretty clear from the second lap that a second race was highly unlikely and most competitors were relieved to see AP over H on the committee boat at the finish line. The conditions had reached 24 knots and the sea state was getting more and more messy as time went on.

Dave Lee and Juliet Pealing took the Silver fleet with a 14th and Guy Browne and Andy Hunter won the Bronze fleet race.

Special mention to Sam Thompson and Keri Harris who managed to sail ashore from just after the windward mark with the rudder and half the transom in the boat after hitting a jellyfish.

Three races are now scheduled for Thursday with another rather iffy forecast for Friday.

Results after Day 4:

Pos	Boat Name	Sail No	Fleet	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Pts
1st	Messy Monty	3776	Gold	Nick Craig	Alan Roberts	Frensham Pond	1	1	‑2	1	1	4
2nd	Keyser Soze	3684	Gold	Andy Davies	Alex Warren	Bartley	4	2	1	3	‑12	10
3rd	Peer Pressure	3778	Gold	Chris Gould	Chris Kilsby	Midland	‑15	6	3	4	4	17
4th	Red Mistress	3759	Gold	Sam Pascoe	Megan Pascoe	Castle Cove	2	(ARB [18])	4	9	3	18
5th	Shiny	3770	Gold	David Hayes	Jonny Ratcliffe	Hayling Island	‑14	5	11	2	2	20
6th	Bernard	3658	Gold	Chris Jennings	Pete Horn	Burghfield	‑22	3	5	5	9	22
7th	Wild At Heart	3709	Gold	Tom Gillard	Tom Lonsdale	Sheffield Viking	‑8	4	7	6	7	24
8th	Mockingjay	3777	Gold	Simon Potts	Pippa Taylor	Burghfield	‑10	9	6	8	5	28
9th	Quick Fix	3691	Gold	Mike Calvert	Jane Calvert	Axe	5	‑15	9	11	11	36
10th	Oakey Dokey	3712	Gold	Ian Sharps	Ellie Sharps	Burghfield	6	10	‑16	14	6	36
11th	Bazinga	3758	Gold	Tim Saxton	Jodie Green	Grafham Water	‑17	8	8	13	8	37
12th	Robert	3756	Gold	Will Warren	Mark Oakey	Shoreham	9	11	‑14	7	13	40
13th	The Oldie	3673	Gold	Caroline Croft	Matt Lullham‑Robinson	Bartley	3	13	10	‑17	15	41
14th	Panther	3774	Gold	Jon Turner	Richard Parslow	Lyme Regis	7	12	‑17	16	10	45
15th		3786	Gold	Dave Wade	Rachel Rhodes	Northampton	12	17	12	10	(DNF [39])	51
16th	The Force Awakens	3781	Gold	Dave Winder	Oliver Winder	Hollingworth	20	14	18	12	(DNF [39])	64
17th	Point N Squirt	3746	Gold	Dan Willett	Pete Nicholson	Brightlingsea	‑21	16	13	19	16	64
18th	Strung Along	3784	Silver	Mark Barwell	Louise Johnson	Lymington Town	‑29	18	15	15	18	66
19th	Quicksilver	3787	Silver	Chris Martin	Oliver Maclean	Midland	11	22	‑23	22	17	72
20th	The Angels Share	3779	Silver	Dave Lee	Juliet Pealing	Starcross	19	24	20	‑26	14	77
21st	Why Ask	3740	Silver	Patrick Blake	Jilly Blake	Cookham Reach	16	21	‑22	20	20	77
22nd	Arbuckle	3760	Silver	Mark Reddington	Colin Staite	Bartley	23	‑28	24	23	19	89
23rd	Pointer	3790	Silver	Colin Brockbank	Martin Hughes	Wembley	30	23	19	18	(DNC [39])	90
24th	Sylvia	3711	Silver	Sam Thompson	Keri Harris	RNSA	13	19	21	(DSQ [39])	DNF [39]	92
25th	Three Dee	3765	Silver	Richard Dee	Justin Healey	Midland	28	20	25	21	(DNC [39])	94
26th	The Black Boat	3734	Bronze	Phil Ashworth	Alison Ashworth	Weymouth	25	29	‑30	25	22	101
27th	Back to the Future	3583	Bronze	Ben Eaves	Sean Anderson	Redditch	26	25	26	24	(DNS [39])	101
28th	Flaming Fast	3339	Silver	Tim Male	Rebecca Male	Blithfield	18	26	27	(BFD [39])	DNC [39]	110
29th	Duck and Dive	3713	Bronze	Steve Harling	Eleanor Thomas	Starcross	24	30	31	27	(DNC [39])	112
30th	Dark N Stormy	3619	Bronze	Guy Browne	Andy Hunter	Trent Valley	33	34	‑35	28	21	116
31st	Smoked Salmon	3518	Bronze	Julian Harms	Timothy Harms	Midland	(DNS [39])	27	28	29	DNC [39]	123
32nd	Point Break	3625	Bronze	Richard Bramley	John Donoghue	Shoreham	27	32	34	30	(UFD [39])	123
33rd	Out of the Blue 2	3557	Bronze	April Whiteley	Hazel Newport	NSSA	31	33	32	32	(RET [39])	128
34th	Never Been to Salcombe	3582	Bronze	George Colcomb	Angus Kirk	NSSA	34	35	33	31	(DNS [39])	133
35th	Light Fantastic	3555	Silver	James Cokayne	William Gould	NSSA	36	31	29	(DNS [39])	DNC [39]	135
36th	Wizard in Blue	3449	Bronze	Carl Whitehill	Samuel Whitehill	RYA	32	(DNC [39])	36	RET [39]	DNC [39]	146
37th	Born to be Willd	3783	Bronze	Miles James	Colin Simmonds	Pwllheli	35	(DNF [39])	DNS [39]	DNC [39]	DNC [39]	152
38th	Loosed Cannon	3655	Bronze	Karen Hiles	John Hodge	Shoreham	37	(DNC [39])	DNC [39]	DNC [39]	DNC [39]	154

Further details at merlinrocketchamps.com