Vintage Merlin DeMay series event at Fishers Green Sailing Club
by Godfrey Clark 15 May 2019 13:26 BST
11 May 2019
With an ideal northerly wind direction, the home boats were joined by a disappointing number of visitors. The race team had no trouble setting a true beat the full length of the lake giving a 1.2 km upwind leg with two runs and a reach to complete the lap.
The course remained similar for the afternoon race with the breeze giving occasional strong gusts to promote some flat out planing under spinnaker and the long beat holding true. Bad Dog was first to lead but scooped up a boatload of water in a sudden gust, leaving Nutshell to claim the win, chased to the finish by Hamlet and Shogun.
It had been a super day's racing in a fleet of boats which had mostly been rescued from death row. One had been earmarked for the bonfire, one for a garden planter and one rescued from a council refuse tip. All now rebuilt, updated and racing hard as the designers intended
Thanks to George in the rescue boat for the photos in the gallery above.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Boat | Sail No | Club | Helm | Crew | R1 | R2 | R3 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | Nutshell | 1742 | Fishers Green | Jon Steward | Annabelle Steward | ‑2 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 1st | Hamlet | 3185 | Fishers Green SC | Chris Hill | Gabe Hill | ‑4 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 3rd | Bad Dog | 3232 | Fishers Green SC | Godfrey Clark | Louis Lappage | 1 | (DNC) | 4 | 5 |
| 4th | Shogun | 3055 | Fishers Green SC | Nick Yannakoyorgos | Matteo Mancini | 3 | ‑5 | 3 | 6 |
| 5th | Masquarade | 995 | Tamesis | Mathew Jones | Rosie Jones | ‑7 | 3 | 5 | 8 |
| 6th | Cream Cracker | 2997 | Fishers Green SC | Paul Rayson | Claire Bancroft | 6 | 4 | ‑7 | 10 |
| 7th | Passion | 3314 | Fishers Green SC | Richard Coulter | Nathan Allen | 5 | 7 | (DNF) | 12 |
| 7th | Patriot | 3216 | Fishers Green SC | Steve Conroy | Roberto Mancini | ‑8 | 6 | 6 | 12 |
| 9th | Attila the Hunt | 2410 | | Ian Lamb | Andrew Hunt | ‑9 | 8 | 8 | 16 |