Aspire Merlin Rocket Nationals at Lyme Regis Sailing Club - Day 5

Following an epic Crews' Union, led by Ringmaster Alex Warren, that left some of the younger and less experienced crews calling God on the big white telephone, the remaining competitors woke to the prospect of more breeze than to date. An opportunity to stretch the legs and for those of a more ample frame to put their assets to proper use.

Thursday at the Merlin Championships is always the Ranelagh Trophy, a longer distance race where the first 21 boats get a bottle of Champagne. The sponsor for this race is Winder Boats who generously pay for the Fizz. Many thanks to Dave, Sarah and Winder team who give the class such great service. Unfortunately for Dave, his son and number one crew had gone missing in action the previous night but fortunately he had brought a spare son along just in case.

Out on the water, the wind was a nice F3 SW under blue skies. The now unavoidable Black Flag General Recall caught a goodly number of trigger happy teams, but none of the front runners. After a 30 minute delay to reset the course onto the forecast WNW which had arrived just on the previous start gun, the fleet were away with those at the pin able to tack and cross and head out into good pressure on the right. For most of the beat it looked like the right corner would pay, but a big lefty at the top allowed Nick Craig and Tobytastic to just scrape round ahead of Chirstian Birrell and Sam Brearey.

Aspire Merlin Nationals at Lyme Regis day 5 - photo © Pauline Rook

Those that gybed on the spacer mark prospered with new pressure coming in from the left side of the run. Christian and Sam were able to hook into this first to extend away from Nick and Toby. By the second beat Taxi and Alex Warren had joined the front group chased by Tim Fells and Fran Gifford, Sam and Megan Pascoe and Ben and Roz McGrane.

With the breeze shifting 15 degrees, seemingly every minute, and with some big pressure differences, there were continual gains and losses among the leading teams. Christian and Sam kept a loose cover but tried to stay in synch with the shifts and slowly extended.

After a good 90 minute race and with the wind starting to get quite sporty on the final lap, the course was shortened at the top of the fourth beat, giving a welcome short fetch back to the shore.

Aspire Merlin Nationals at Lyme Regis day 5 - photo © Pauline Rook

Christian and Sam secured their fifth (yes fifth!) win of the week, ahead of Nick and Toby, followed by Taxi and Alex. This means that the final race decider on Friday still has 3 potential outcomes with Roger Gilbert and James Stewart, along with Mike and Jane Calvert able to take the title if Christian and Sam have a mare.

Bronze Fleet report (from Ian Mackenzie)

“The dawn of Day 5 of the Aspire Merlin Rocket National Championships looked at first glance to be a calm affair, and if the fleet had got away on the first start the race would have been sailed in very different conditions, but after two recalls and the return of the Black Flag there was a postponement for an hour while the wind steadily clocked right and built to a frisky 20 kts. It was the Ranelagh Champagne day, courtesy of Winder Boats, and the thought of bubbles clearly inspired Pau Dean/Szymon Matyjaszczuk who sailed the race of their lives to come in 18th overall beating the Silver Fleet leaders and getting in the champagne to boot! Local team of Frasier Earle and Katie Frost also shone for the first time in the week coming in 28th Second placed Bronze Fleet team Ben Archer/Theo Harris suffered broken spinnaker sheets and the best they couldi manage was 38th, handing the Bronze Fleet to Dean/Matyjaszczuk on a platter with a day to spare.

Results after Day 5: