Aspire 72nd Merlin Rocket Championship at Pwllheli - Overall

Dinghytec Friday of the Aspire Merlin Rocket national championships had been the subject of much debate for a number of days. The forecast had been moderating more and more and what looked like a short weather window to get a race in turned out to be eminently sailable though we were all glad to be a race up on schedule. Being a one race day we could have a longer race which many in the class still enjoy and provides variety.

A general recall after a large wind-shift and a pushier than they ha ve been fleet led to a general recall and restart under black flag. Port was absolutely the place to be as the breeze swung left shortly after the start. Tim Saxton and Jodie Green rounded first with Andy Davis and Alex Warren in hot pursuit.

The overall prize may have been decided but the Silver and Bronze fleet trophies were still vulnerable. Chris Martin and Oliver Maclean needed to do something special to wrest the prize from Mark Barwell and Louise Johnson. A 4th round the windward mark put them in a position to do just that with only the small matter of holding off an assortment of world, national and former Endeavour Champions! A swim at the last leeward put the final nail in their claim for the Silver title, but Chris and Oliver took the Silver prize for the day.

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

Bronze fleet was also up for grabs with a gear failure putting Back to the Future out of the race as of last night. Phil and Ali Ashworth were the closest challengers, but they to had a mountain to climb to take t he title from Ben Eaves and Sean Anderson – they didn't do enough and had to settle for 2nd.

Nick Craig and Alan Roberts won their protest last night to cement the overall win. Andy Davis and Alex Warren took the bullet in today's race to take second ahead of Chris Gould and Chris Kilsby who were in second overnight.

So, we have had a fantastic week at a fantastic facility put together and run by very professional people from the club, MROA and race management side.

A huge thank you to Ian and Angela Mackenzie who did the vast majority of the groundwork to run this week. Also a massive thank you to Peter Saxton and his team who have raised the bar considerably in terms of our race management expectations. Another big thank you to Neil Williams and his team at Plas Heli who truly could not have done more for us.

Overall Results:
If you finished in the top ten at the Merlin Rocket nationals then enter your Gear Guide information here

Further details at merlinrocketchamps.com