Merlin Rocket HD Sails Midland Circuit at Burton Sailing Club
by Gill & Steve Leney 9 Jun 2023 21:10 BST
4 June 2023
Merlin Rocket HD Sails Midland Circuit at Burton © Ben Edward
On arrival at Burton Sailing Club on Sunday 4th June, we got out of our cars and promptly put our coats on. Blue sky with a North Easterly bitter wind. Still, we are in Britain.
The wind throughout the day, though not strong, was wild in direction with 30 to 40 degree
shifts keeping the 14 boats firmly on our toes.
It was also amazing how unpredictable the shifts were. However, something about cream comes to mind and the only with three straight wins was Matt Biggs & Beka Jones. In the first race, Matt was struggling being hounded by our own rockstars the Pete & Rachael Gray.
The final race of the day for your author (Steve & Gill Leney) was all going to plan, second around the windward mark, no Gray's in sight, all we needed to do was to hang onto the shirt tails of Matt. On the second run of a windward-leeward course, we hoisted and sat there. Turned to our left and saw Paul Hollis & Paula Mason and Young Colin & Sean Anderson screaming down on a reach. Not to worry I thought, still no sign of the Gray's.
Next beat, just managed to get in front of Paul & Paula, and Colin & Sean, tacked on a shift with the mainsheet cleated hard in, and fell in without sufficient wind to empty. It was like the Wacky Races but really good fun.
It was nice to see three Classic and three Vintage boats join in and didn't fall in. Thanks very much to Burton Sailing Club who always make us feel welcome.
Next on the HD Sails Midland Circuit is Blithfield Sailing Club on 2nd July.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Fleet | Sail No | Helm | Crew | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | Modern | 3801 | Matt Biggs | Beka Jones | Bartley | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 2nd | Modern | 3759 | Peter Gray | Rachel Gray | SHSC | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
| 3rd | Modern | 3716 | Steve Leney | Gillian Leney | Blithfield | 4 | 2 | RET | 6 |
| 4th | Modern | 3667 | Paul Keeling | Michelle Keeling | Blithfield | 3 | 4 | 5 | 7 |
| 5th | Modern | 3730 | Paul Hollis | Paula Mason | Bartley | 6 | 5 | 3 | 8 |
| 6th | Modern | 3749 | Colin Anderson | Sean Anderson | Bartley | 7 | 7 | 4 | 11 |
| 7th | Modern | 3727 | Mark Stockbridge | Charlie Cotter | Upper Thames SC | 5 | 6 | 6 | 11 |
| 8th | Classic | 3547 | Peter Male | Tim Male | Blithfield | 8 | 9 | 7 | 15 |
| 9th | Vintage | 723 | Stuart Jenkins | Nicola Scaddan | Hampton/UTSC | 9 | 8 | 10 | 17 |
| 10th | Vintage | 268 | Guy Browne | Greg Martin | TVSC | 10 | 12 | 8 | 18 |
| 11th | Classic | 3530 | Mike Colles | Lauren Morgan | Midland | 12 | 14 | 9 | 21 |
| 12th | Classic | 3567 | Martin Smith | Karen Beston | Redditch | 11 | 10 | 12 | 21 |
| 13th | Vintage | 2410 | Ian Laing | Andrew Hunt | Hollingworth | RET | 13 | 11 | 24 |
| 14th | Modern | 3602 | Martin Evans | Chris Evans | Cookham Reach | DNS | 11 | 13 | 24 |