Merlin Rocket Craftinsure Silver Tiller & Allspars South-West Series Parkstone Yacht Club

19 boats enjoyed some truly epic sailing at Parkstone Yacht Club, for the combined one day Craftinsure Silver Tiller, two day Allspars South West series and PYC Easter regatta weekend.

If you've never experienced the magic of racing at Parkstone, described as 'Salcombe on Steroids' by SW series coordinator Ben Archer, then you really have missed out! Full harbour tours incorporating strangely-named marks of random shapes and sizes meant that there was no sign of sausage/triangles, but instead gave many tactical options over endlessly challenging legs covering all points of sailing. Although there were well over 100 boats racing in the regatta, superb race management from the PYC team meant that all the fleets were kept well apart and all races flowed seamlessly.

Gold Fleet sailors Maddy Anderson and Tom Ballentine lead the fleet during the Craftinsure Silver Tiller at Parkstone Yacht Club - photo © Phil Jackson / Digital Sailing

The rain had cleared for the first start with a strong and punchy NE breeze giving challenging gusty and shifty conditions. Fast out of the blocks were Chistian Birrell and crew Dave, closely followed by Stu Bithell/Emma Clark, then Simon & Ally Potts. Christian lost his early lead due to navigational error allowing Stu/Emma to take control at the front. The second downwind leg gave everyone a spectacular 3-sail reach right across most of the length of Poole harbour just at the point of peak wind of 25knots - epic indeed! The front 3 boats maintained their positions to the finish with Tom Ballantine and Maddie Anderson sailing superbly to claim 4th.

Race 2 was an entertaining variation of a windward-leeward/figure-of-eight course in similarly punchy conditions but with 8 boats opting out of the drama. Once again, the three main protagonists lead the way and finished in the same order, with Ollie Meadowcroft and Rob Allen sailing well to finish 4th.

Stuart Bithell and Emma Clark win the Craftinsure Silver Tiller at Parkstone Yacht Club - photo © Phil Jackson / Digital Sailing

Race 3 was the same course but with another 4 boats opting out. This left only 9 boats to enjoy the fabulous conditions, as by now bright sunshine covered the course, which made the breeze even gustier. A series of random shifts at the windward mark brought several other teams up to the sharp end of the fleet, giving some different boats a chance at the front of the fleet. However, there was plenty of place-changing down the offwind legs as finding and staying in the gusts became more and more advantageous. Stu/Emma maintained their run of 1st places, with Mike & Jane Calvert coming through well to take second place, Ollie/Rob took third, and William Warren and Andy Prince claiming 4th.

Easter Sunday dawned bright and sunny but soon high cloud cover meant that the breeze became more stable, and dropped to a manageable 8-15 knots. This time the fleet had the luxury of a leading RIB, to avoid the unfortunate navigational confusion of Saturday's races, and we were treated to another harbour tour This included a fabulous long downwind leg giving significant gains and losses on either side of the course. There was plenty of place-changing as much of the fleet enjoyed multiple gybes to stay in the gusts and take advantage of the tide. At one point Christian with regular crew Sam Brearey found themselves in the unusual position of being at the back of the fleet! There were no such problems for Mark Barwell & Louise Johnson who made the brilliant decision to take a straight-line no-gybe approach, and sailed through most of the fleet to round the leeward mark in the mix at the front. On the windward leg Stu/Emma and Ollie/Rob took advantage of a stupendous port lift which unfortunately took them well past the lay line for the next mark. This ended Stu and Emma's run of 1st place finishes. Mike/Jane snook through to lead, closely followed by Christian/Sam who had recovered exceptionally well from the downwind leg. The Calverts went on to win followed by Christian/Sam, and Ollie/Rob in third, with Steve & Ally Tyler using their local knowledge well to claim 4th place.

Wonderful harbour tours during the Craftinsure Silver Tiller at Parkstone Yacht Club - photo © Phil Jackson / Digital Sailing

The final race gave us another course with yet more marks to identify - thank goodness for the lead boat! The breeze had dropped further, suiting the Calverts who established an early lead and held it to the finish. Christian completed his set of second places, with Ollie/Rob consistent in 3rd. Mark/Lou had their best result of the weekend finishing well in 4th. Unfortunately, Stu/Emma were rather too keen on the final start but had the consolation of winning the Easter Egg prize for the only boat OCS on the Sunday!

In the final reckoning Stu/Emma won Saturday's one-day Craftinsure Silver Tiller event, but the overall Allspars SW series two-day event was won by the Christian/Dave/Sam combo, despite not winning a race.

Saturday Craftinsure Silver Tiller Fleet Winners:

Gold - Maddy Anderson and Tom Ballentine
Silver - Steve and Ally Tyler
Bronze - Freddie Parton and Giles Griffith

Steve and Ally Tyler win Silver Fleet at the Craftinsure Silver Tiller at Parkstone Yacht Club - photo © Phil Jackson / Digital Sailing

Freddie Parton and Giles Griffth win Bronze Fleet at the Craftinsure Silver Tiller at Parkstone Yacht Club - photo © Phil Jackson / Digital Sailing

Many thanks go to the Superb Parkstone team for hosting a brilliant weekend of racing!

The next Craftinsure Silver Tiller is at Wembley Sailing Club on Sunday 27th April and the next Allspars South West Series is the Final Fling 11th and 12th October. All Merlin Rocket events for 2025 can be found portal.merlinrocket.co.uk/events

Overall Results: