Helly Hansen Merlin Rocket Week 2025 at Salcombe Yacht Club - Day 5

The fifth morning dawned with wall to wall sunshine and a 5 knot SW sea breeze popped in at the surprisingly early time of 8.30, promising a good day's racing for the 102 teams.

Morning Race, Green v Black, Course 1,5,1,5

The neap flood tide held the fleet back with the line up split between the town and Portlemouth shores. In the last seconds there was a push at Watch House end which caught out three boats.

Helly Hansen Merlin Rocket Salcombe Week - Thursday racing - photo © Lucy Burn

Initially the Portlemouth group had little wind off Smalls Beach which allowed Simon and Anna Blake who had started towards the town side to make an early cross on a nice right hander to take a good lead up past Mill Bay to round Blackstone first. They were then able to run down tide with their unique Superfast Jellyfish design flying in these light conditions. A worthy mention should be made for SYC Vice Commodore AJ Squire who was right in the leading group with daughter Laura.

On the run down to Saltstone, the Alexes were sliding up into second after having to retire from their previous race, with Tom Gillard and Rachel Gray, Caroline Gould and Livvy Bell, and Dave Winder and Beka Jones not far behind.

Helly Hansen Merlin Rocket Salcombe Week - Thursday racing - photo © Lucy Burn

As a previous three-time winner of the week, Simon knows his way around the Ria like the back of his hand and was unlikely to put a foot wrong. Under a beautiful blue sky and pleasant breeze, presenting no problem areas on the race track, he came home comfortably ahead of the Alexes in second. Tom and Rachel managed to get past Caroline and Livvy to take third. Dave and Beka were fifth ahead of Anthony and Jo Gifford.

Afternoon Race, Red v Blue, Course 1,7,1,3

The breeze had built to a lovely 8-10 knots SW for the afternoon race and with an outgoing ebb tide, there was every chance of some BFD casualties. In fact there were 12 on the board, mostly at the Portlemouth end of the line where some youthful impetuosity led to carnage.

Helly Hansen Merlin Rocket Salcombe Week - Thursday racing - photo © Malcolm Mackley

On the restart the fleet were line shy and those towards the Portlemouth end were able to tack on to port and cross the fleet. Mike and Jane Calvert led across to the Woodville Rocks and crossed back to Biddle point which should have been favoured. However, they ran into a hole allowing Christian Birrell and Sam Brearey to come in from the right on pressure to scrape round ahead. Rounding third after an all time stellar first beat was local hero Graham Cranford-Smith with Innis Armstrong.

Helly Hansen Merlin Rocket Salcombe Week - Thursday racing - photo © Lucy Burn

On the run down to Blackstone, Tim Saxton and Holly McArthur, Will and Arthur Henderson, and David and Sarah Conlon were chasing hard. With good breeze all the way down to Gerston and back there was little place changing with Christian and Sam leading back into the harbour from Mike and Jane.

Helly Hansen Merlin Rocket Salcombe Week - Thursday racing - photo © Malcolm Mackley

On the last run back down to Crossways, Will and Arthur found good pressure to jump past Mike and Jane to take second. Christian and Sam came home for their second bullet of the week to keep them in with an outside chance of the title. Tim and Holly took fourth ahead of David and Sarah. James Goss and Chris White rounded out the top six.

Going into the final day, Tom and Rachel are vulnerable having been BFD meaning a number of teams could win if they slip up again. They will need a fourth if Christian and Sam win and they are in the same race. Interesting!

Results after Day 5: