Craftinsure Merlin Rocket Silver Tiller Round 1 at Burghfield Sailing Club

by Ian Sharps 10 Mar 2020 11:16 GMT 7 March 2020

Another year starts for the Merlin Rocket Craftinsure Silver Tiller, first up was Burghfield Sailing Club.

The recent storms had thankfully stopped, and we were left with a nice 10 - 15 mph SSW. As always, the Merlin sailors were keen to get the season started with the majority turning up early to ensure all their work on their boats was up to standard.

All the boats were looking good (I might be biased though!). There are some nice little fettles across the fleet this winter. Of note Andy Davis/Pip Kilsby were sailing with a new mast and boom combo, which did not slow them down, and may be worrying for the rest of us.

The race officer James Anderson and team did an excellent job of setting a mix of windward-leeward, and "around the cans" courses. To be honest the racing was a blur to me, I remember beating, running and reaching. There was a lot of place changing with ever changing wind shifts and pressure.

The highlights from my point of view were as follows:

• Andy / Pip sailed very well and consistently throughout the day to take the overall win.
• Chris Gould / Caroline Croft seemed to get better and better, especially in the afternoon taking a win in the last race, for a 2nd overall.
• Fran Gifford / Pete Nicholson sailed an excellent day showing a dangerous mix of speed and tactical nouse.
• James Wells / Hannah Burt (3746) won the silver fleet. They seemed to really get to grips with Burghfield in the second half.
• Joe Mclaughlin / Sean Roberts (3724) won the bronze fleet

In addition, we were sampling the delights of being tracked by SailRacer. This meant there is really is nowhere to hide. Lots of people reviewed the tracks saying, "why did I tack there?"

Over the four races the furthest distance sailed went to Jon Steward / Russel Hall (3770) at 16 Miles. The fastest 20 second average speed in the morning was Chris Martin / Oliver McClellan (3787) at 7.78 KTS and Richard Coulter / Nick Yan (3774) at 7.26 KTS in the afternoon.

Thanks to Burghfield and the Merlin Rocket title sponsors Craftinsure. Thank you also to Mike Proven for the fantastic photographs.

Overall Results:

Pos	Fleet	Helm	Crew Name	Sail number	Boat	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	Pts
1st	Gold	Andy Davis	Pippa Kilsby	3735	Keyser Soze	Blithfield SC	1	1	1	‑2	3
2nd	Gold	Chris Gould	Caroline Croft	3803	Black Swan	Blithfield SC	4	‑5	2	1	7
3rd	Gold	Ian Sharps	Alex Warren	3712	Oakey dokey	Burghfield SC	5	2	4	‑7	11
4th	Gold	Matt Biggs	Tom Pygall	3801		Blithfield & Whitstable SC	‑7	7	3	3	13
5th	Gold	Frances Gifford	Pete Nicholson	3676	Hot Totty	Ranelagh SC	6	3	‑11	4	13
6th	Gold	Simon Potts	Holly McArthur	3802	Khaleesi	Burghfield SC	2	‑9	5	8	15
7th	Gold	Roger Phillips	Chris Kilsby	3736	Metachrosis	Burghfield SC	‑9	4	8	5	17
8th	Gold	Jon Gorringe	Mimi Gorringe	3791	Didley Squat	Midland SC	8	6	‑14	6	20
9th	Gold	Chris Jennings	Chris Martin	3658	Bernard	Burghfield SC	3	11	7	(DNC)	21
10th	Gold	David Winder	Pete Horn	3781		Hollingsworth SC	15	10	6	(DNC)	31
11th	Gold	Richard Whitworth	Katherine Kimber	3703		Parkstone & Hollingworth Lake SC	‑12	12	10	11	33
12th	Gold	Rob Henderson	Alice Markham	3709	Wild at Heart	LTSC	‑17	8	13	13	34
13th	Silver	James Wells	Hannah Burt	3746	Point N Squirt	Starcross YC	‑20	16	9	9	34
14th	Gold	Chris Martin	Oliver McClellan	3787	Quicksilver	Midland SC	11	‑15	12	14	37
15th	Silver	Paul Hollis	Paula Mason	3730	Blood Sweat & Beers	Blithfield SC	10	13	‑18	16	39
16th	Gold	Steven Leney	Gill Leney	3716	Carbonfootprint	Blithfield SC	14	‑19	15	10	39
17th	Silver	Chloe George	Ben George	3683	Blue Bird	LTSC	13	14	(DNF)	12	39
18th	Silver	Andrew Jones	Maddie Jones	3731		Burghfield SC	16	18	16	(DNC)	50
19th	Bronze	Joe McLaughlin	Sean Roberts	3724	Sublime	Tamesis	19	20	‑24	15	54
20th	Silver	Mark Waterhouse	Anna Aylward	3641	Puff The Magic Dragon	Parkstone SC	21	17	‑22	17	55
21st	Bronze	Jon Steward	Russell Hall	3770	Gertcha	Fishers Green	(DNC)	23	17	18	58
22nd	Silver	John Cooper	Becci Wigley	3732		LTSC	18	22	21	(DNC)	61
23rd	Silver	Mark Barwell	Louise Johnson	3784	Strung Along	Lymington Town SC	23	21	19	(DNC)	63
24th	Bronze	Richard Coulter	Nick Yan	3774		Fishers Green	‑24	24	23	19	66
25th	Bronze	Matt Smith	Aimee Allsopp	3442	Armed Forces	Midland SC	22	(DNF)	20	DNF	69
26th	Bronze	John Green	Patricia Hickey	3717	Vulcan	?	25	25	(DNF)	DNC	77