Aspire 72nd Merlin Rocket Championship at Pwllheli

Aspire 72nd Merlin Rocket Championship at Pwllheli - Day 5

by Chris Martin 18 Aug 2017 01:20 BST 12-18 August 2017

Winder Thursday a.k.a. Ranelagh Thursday a.k.a Champagne Day of the Aspire Merlin Rocket Nationals saw something of a revolution in race format with three races scheduled in an attempt to get the full nine races in for the series.

The Champagne day moniker was particularly appropriate given the splendid force 3-4 from the southwest and pleasantly rolling waves. Both of these were predicted to increase as the day progressed, a prediction that was accurate!

Aspire Merlin Rocket Championship at Pwllheli day 3 - photo © Andy Green / www.greenseaphotography.co.uk

Though Nick Craig and Alan Roberts have dominated so far Andy Davis and Alex Warren have been loitering with intent. This intent came to fruition in races six and seven (1 and 2) as they took both bullets for the Top Hat Trophy and the Ranelagh Trophy. A master class in tactical sailing took place in race 8 as Nick and Alan were hell-bent on preventing a further win for Taxi and Alex which would put their position under threat should a race be sailed tomorrow and the second discard come into play. Taxi and Alex were losing this battle and after taking to the water and retiring look to have lost the war pending the result of a protest against Nick and Alan in race one which could have significant influence on the overall result.

Aspire Merlin Rocket Championship at Pwllheli day 3 - photo © Andy Green / www.greenseaphotography.co.uk

Looking further back Mark Barwell and Lou Johnson have one hand on the Silver fleet trophy and the evergreen Back to the Future piloted by Ben Eaves and Sean Anderson have got their mitts on the Bronze fleet shirts heading into tomorrow.

The forecast for Friday is currently marginal and some of the fleet rather tired, though the feedback is that the new race format put into place by an accomplished race team is a breath of fresh air. Whether we sail tomorrow or not we have plenty to chew on looking towards next years championships at Lyme Regis.

Results after Day 5:

Pos	Boat Name	Sail No	Fleet	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	Pts
1st	Messy Monty	3776	Gold	Nick Craig	Alan Roberts	Frensham Pond	1	1	2	1	1	2	4	‑12	12
2nd	Peer Pressure	3778	Gold	Chris Gould	Chris Kilsby	Midland	‑15	6	3	4	4	3	2	1	23
3rd	Keyser Soze	3684	Gold	Andy Davies	Alex Warren	Bartley	4	2	1	3	12	1	1	(DNC [39])	24
4th	Mockingjay	3777	Gold	Simon Potts	Pippa Taylor	Burghfield	‑10	9	6	8	5	4	5	2	39
5th	Shiny	3770	Gold	David Hayes	Jonny Ratcliffe	Hayling Island	‑14	5	11	2	2	5	7	9	41
6th	Red Mistress	3759	Gold	Sam Pascoe	Megan Pascoe	Castle Cove	2	(ARB [18])	4	9	3	8	10	5	41
7th	Bernard	3658	Gold	Chris Jennings	Pete Horn	Burghfield	‑22	3	5	5	9	6	12	3	43
8th	Wild At Heart	3709	Gold	Tom Gillard	Tom Lonsdale	Sheffield Viking	8	4	7	6	7	‑11	11	8	51
9th	Robert	3756	Gold	Will Warren	Mark Oakey	Shoreham	9	11	‑14	7	13	7	3	6	56
10th	Panther	3774	Gold	Jon Turner	Richard Parslow	Lyme Regis	7	12	‑17	16	10	10	9	7	71
11th	Quick Fix	3691	Gold	Mike Calvert	Jane Calvert	Axe	5	15	9	11	11	9	‑25	15	75
12th	Oakey Dokey	3712	Gold	Ian Sharps	Ellie Sharps	Burghfield	6	10	16	14	6	12	14	(DNC [39])	78
13th		3786	Gold	Dave Wade	Rachel Rhodes / Keri Harris	Northampton	12	17	12	10	(DNF [39])	13	6	11	81
14th	The Oldie	3673	Gold	Caroline Croft	Matt Lullham‑Robinson	Bartley	3	13	10	17	15	15	‑22	13	86
15th	Bazinga	3758	Gold	Tim Saxton	Jodie Green	Grafham Water	17	8	8	13	8	(DNS [39])	DNS [39]	4	97
16th	The Force Awakens	3781	Gold	Dave Winder	Oliver Winder	Hollingworth	20	14	18	12	(DNF [39])	16	8	10	98
17th	Point N Squirt	3746	Gold	Dan Willett	Pete Nicholson	Brightlingsea	21	16	13	19	16	14	13	(DNC [39])	112
18th	Strung Along	3784	Silver	Mark Barwell	Louise Johnson	Lymington Town	‑29	18	15	15	18	17	15	14	112
19th	Quicksilver	3787	Silver	Chris Martin	Oliver Maclean	Midland	11	22	‑23	22	17	19	19	16	126
20th	Why Ask	3740	Silver	Patrick Blake	Jilly Blake	Cookham Reach	16	21	‑22	20	20	20	16	18	131
21st	The Angels Share	3779	Silver	Dave Lee	Juliet Pealing	Starcross	19	24	20	‑26	14	23	18	17	135
22nd	Pointer	3790	Silver	Colin Brockbank	Martin Hughes	Wembley	30	23	19	18	(DNC [39])	18	17	19	144
23rd	Arbuckle	3760	Silver	Mark Reddington	Colin Staite	Bartley	23	‑28	24	23	19	21	20	21	151
24th	Three Dee	3765	Silver	Richard Dee	Justin Healey	Midland	28	20	25	21	(DNC [39])	24	28	20	166
25th	Back to the Future	3583	Bronze	Ben Eaves	Sean Anderson	Redditch	26	25	26	24	(DNS [39])	22	21	22	166
26th	Flaming Fast	3339	Silver	Tim Male	Rebecca Male	Blithfield	18	26	27	(BFD [39])	DNC [39]	26	23	23	182
27th	The Black Boat	3734	Bronze	Phil Ashworth	Alison Ashworth	Weymouth	25	29	‑30	25	22	27	27	28	183
28th	Duck and Dive	3713	Bronze	Steve Harling	Eleanor Thomas	Starcross	24	30	31	27	(DNC [39])	29	29	27	197
29th	Dark N Stormy	3619	Bronze	Guy Browne	Andy Hunter	Trent Valley	33	34	‑35	28	21	30	31	25	202
30th	Sylvia	3711	Silver	Sam Thompson	Keri Harris	RNSA	13	19	21	(DSQ [39])	DNF [39]	DNC [39]	DNC [39]	DNC [39]	209
31st	Point Break	3625	Bronze	Richard Bramley	John Donoghue	Shoreham	27	32	34	30	(UFD [39])	31	30	26	210
32nd	Light Fantastic	3555	Silver	James Cokayne	William Gould / Angus Kirk	NSSA	36	31	29	(DNS [39])	DNC [39]	28	24	24	211
33rd	Smoked Salmon	3518	Bronze	Julian Harms	Timothy Harms	Midland	(DNS [39])	27	28	29	DNC [39]	25	26	DNC [39]	213
34th	Out of the Blue 2	3557	Bronze	April Whiteley	Hazel Newport	NSSA	31	33	32	32	(RET [39])	DNF [39]	DNC [39]	DNC [39]	245
35th	Never Been to Salcombe	3582	Bronze	George Colcomb	Angus Kirk	NSSA	34	35	33	31	(DNS [39])	DNC [39]	DNC [39]	DNC [39]	250
36th	Wizard in Blue	3449	Bronze	Carl Whitehill	Samuel Whitehill	RYA	32	(DNC [39])	36	RET [39]	DNC [39]	DNC [39]	DNC [39]	DNC [39]	263
37th	Born to be Willd	3783	Bronze	Miles James	Colin Simmonds	Pwllheli	35	(DNF [39])	DNS [39]	DNC [39]	DNC [39]	DNC [39]	DNC [39]	DNC [39]	269
38th	Loosed Cannon	3655	Bronze	Karen Hiles	John Hodge	Shoreham	37	(DNC [39])	DNC [39]	DNC [39]	DNC [39]	DNC [39]	DNC [39]	DNC [39]	271