Craftinsure Merlin Rocket Silver Tiller Open at at Blithfield Sailing Club

Roger Phillips & Will Croker win the Blithfield Craftinsure Merlin Rocket Silver Tiller event © Roger Philips

A particularly wet and bleak day greeted competitors as they arrived to Blithfield SC for the Craftinsure Silver Tiller event. The forecast was for a light to medium breeze from the Northwest with the afternoon brightening up a little.

Steady rain fell and as the briefing took place, the drizzle filled the boats up slowly. To make matters worse, there was very little wind to improve the situation. There was one saving grace, which was the free tea and coffee provided by the club and very good bacon and egg sandwiches. Race officer Gareth Caldwell seemed oddly enthusiastic about sitting in the committee boat in such conditions, so proceeded to hurry the less enthusiastic competitors along with threats of a start that was on time.

The first race was a difficult affair due to the telltales sticking to jibs and water running from the sails onto the crew's heads. Most of the upwinds were done on feel and guesswork, but Matt Biggs and Beka Jones in 3743 made best work of it to lead for much of the race before being pipped on the line by Mike and Jane Calvert in 3691 to take the win.

After lunch, the wind had swung round to the right across the reservoir and the rain had stopped. This gave a stronger and more shifting breeze with plenty of holes and inside lifts to gain or lose places. The race officer set a course with a bit of everything in it and although the wind shifted round even more during the second half of the race, the eventual winners were Roger Phillips and Will Crocker in 3736 who sailed carefully to take the gun.

The final race was in occasional hiking breeze and the pair of Roger and Will sailed the most consistently and well, pulling to the front and staying there to win the final race and their first ever Silver Tiller open meeting win! Matt Biggs and Beka Jones pipped Chris Gould and Chris Kilsby on the line to take second and third overall respectively.

As was most important on the day, there was a large selection of free cake courtesy of members of the club and the race officer did a good job even if he looked a little damp at times. Fortunately, the rain stayed away while competitors packed their boats away and an enjoyable day was had by most.

The last Silver Tiller of the year is Lymington Town SC on the 20th October with the Black-tie dinner, here lots of goodies from our class clothing partner Magic Marine will be awarded across the fleet.

Overall Results: