Merlin Rocket DeMay and Thames Series at Hampton Sailing Club

Close after the start - Merlin Rocket DeMay and Thames Series at Hampton © Emma Bunner

Hampton Sailing Club held its annual open meeting for the Merlin Rocket Class on Saturday 13th October. Usually this is held over two days at the weekend but this year, with a strong stream in the Thames and a forecast of virtually no wind on the Sunday, we took the decision to hold both the Vintage De May series race and the Thames series race concurrently on the Saturday.

In fact there were no boats eligible for the Thames series but too modern for the DeMay series sailing, and there was little difference in the final result despite applying handicaps to the DeMay results and not the Thames series. 11 boats competed overall.

After a brief postponement to allow all competitors to get to the island and organised, the first race started at 11:30. With probably something like 3 or 4 knots of stream the starts were not easy. Mark rounding was also tricky and the first mark had initially been laid rather further downstream than ideal, needing a painful crawl back up the Middlesex bank past Garrick's Temple before getting back into reasonable wind for the rest of the lap.

Pre-start - Merlin Rocket DeMay and Thames Series at Hampton - photo © Emma Bunner

Hywel Bowen-Perkins with ace crew Deirdre Bell led this race all the way round. Behind him John and Livvy Bell sailed round in second place. Rob and Hattie Cage came back from fifth at one point to slip into third place, getting by Charlie Morgan and his crew on the last lap.

The second race was started almost back-to-back, or as close as we get on the river. The first start was bizarre, and could probably only happen in the Merlin class. As the wind had come round quite a bit to the west (as forecast) we started in the opposite direction, upriver. Despite the strong stream pushing the boats away from the line, we managed a general recall with at least six boats (including me) still on course side at the start. We got away on the second attempt.

Merlin Rocket DeMay and Thames Series at Hampton - photo © Emma Bunner

There was a little more wind as well as the change in direction, which meant that the previously favoured Surrey bank now had little wind and the fleet headed for the Middlesex bank. However, the first mark had been laid with the assumption that the fleet would be coming up the Surrey bank hence rounding the mark to starboard. There was quite a bit of shouting and general chaos before order was restored on the downwind leg.

Rob and Hattie finished first despite a third lap wobble when John and Livvy Bell briefly held the lead before ending up second. Stuart Jenkins and his daughter Imogen got their act together for third.

Merlin Rocket DeMay and Thames Series at Hampton - photo © Emma Bunner

That took us to the lunch break which we passed inside munching on an excellent cold lunch, looking at the rain outside and, on devices, INEOS Britannia being quite comprehensively beaten by the New Zealand team.

The third race started in more wind, which had also swung more to the west as forecast. The only change to the course therefore was changing the upstream mark to a port hand rounding.

Ollie and Egle led for the first two laps before being overtaken by Rob and Hattie. Behind these two there was quite a bit of place changing with John and Livvy coming back from sixth on the first lap to finish third. Then it was back to the club to tuck into the cake before moving on to the evening's curry!

Rob and Hattie Cage, first overall - Merlin Rocket DeMay and Thames Series at Hampton - photo © Emma Bunner

This was quite a challenging day's sailing with a variable wind and strong stream. Yet we managed to complete three races without any major mishaps though several boats nudged marks or even managed to tow them a short distance round a rudder or centreboard (your correspondent included).

Prizes were awarded for the first four places with some excellent kit was given away by Craftinsure, who have been generously sponsoring the series.

The next (and final) event on the Thames and Vintage series for 2024 is on the 20th October at Ranelagh Sailing Club for the Downriver Race.

John and Livvy Bell, second overall - Merlin Rocket DeMay and Thames Series at Hampton - photo © Emma Bunner

Overall Results:

Merlin Rocket DeMay and Thames Series at Hampton - photo © Emma Bunner