Merlin Rocket Silver Tiller at Lymington Town Sailing Club

Launching time - Merlin Rocket Silver Tiller at Lymington Town © LTSC

With a promising forecast and the end of season Craftinsure Silver Tiller prize-giving dinner/dance being hosted by the wonderful Lymington Town Sailing Club team, 27 teams entered.

With the busy slipway launching slot available 10-10.30, ahead of the 420's, 29ers and Oppies, it was locals Mark & Lou in The Kraken who headed out early only to find, as many teams did, that it wasn't quite as warm as rigging had been in the comfort of the sailing club lawn and clubhouse!

Mike and Jane Calvert sailing Back in Business used the excuse of a broken control line on the sail out to nip back in for another jumper, bacon sandwich and coffee before joining in the fun for race 2. Ed Chapman decided to settle his argument about water temperature with his crew by releasing Jam's toe straps and dunking him in a full 45mins before race 1: a lovely refreshing dip to start proceedings!

Launching time - Merlin Rocket Silver Tiller at Lymington Town - photo © LTSC

Race 1 had a strong outgoing tide running across the race track which had a number of teams looking to the locals to see which way to go.

However, it was visitors Ed Chapman/Jam Adam in Gary, Rebecca Videlo/Rob Henderson in Quick Fix and James Wells/Anna Aylward in Point n Squirt who took the early initiative leading for the first couple of laps of a sausage/triangle course in a fresh SE'ly F4. Rebecca/Rob showing blistering downwind pace in the ex-Calvert boat, with Ed/Jam edging the upwind pace. It was only Rebecca/Rob's and Ed/Jam's synchro dismount at the end of lap 2 that let James/Anna to take the lead to the finish gate.

However, we had another lap! Dave Winder and Beka Jones having finally woken up properly following the 4hr journey that morning turned on the afterburners downwind finding extra pressure down the left-hand side and hoovered up the lead to take the race 1 win in the aptly named ship Return of the Jedi.

Race 2. No stranger to the Merlin, but this week guest helming Peer Pressure, the Lenz boat with superstar crew Vicki Lenz in the front in charge of speed, Nigel Wakefield made a cracking pin end start to be jostling for the lead, finishing 3rd. Rebecca/Rob sailed an excellent race, making no mistakes to finish 2nd.

However, it was Ed & Jam, not swimming this time, who with solid upwind pace and making no mistakes downwind who took the race win. William Warren with Andy Prince recovered their race 1 DNF (read swim) to show their all-round pace in Roberta to finish 4th.

Race 3. With the final race and a discard to come into effect, the day really could belong to any of seven boats, however it really was Ed/Jam's to lose counting 3,1. Challenge accepted! Mike/Jane having missed race 1 had got their heads around the course during race 2, then proceeded to lead the fleet, with everybody else in hot pursuit fighting tooth and nail.

Mike/Jane having built a little cushion after two and a half laps, switched off a little to be reeled back in down the bottom of the last run. In the close quarters action at the end of the run the money was to get to the left to have the inside line, but while not going too far due to the strong right to left tide. James/Anna took advantage staying on the right for shortest distance and rounded on the outside of Mike/Jane making life uncomfortable for them up the short beat to the gate finish.

But again, it had been Rebecca/Rob on that final run who had chosen the best line and with great pace to have got to the bottom mark first, sail the short beat and take their first Silver Tiller win and with it the overall day.

Rebecca and Rob win overall - Merlin Rocket Silver Tiller at Lymington Town - photo © LTSC

Other mentionables for the day;

• This year's Grand Slam winners Chris Gould and Sophie Mackley in Black Swan having a very consistent 4,5,4, finishing 4th overall (and earning Shoreham bragging rights).
• Great to see Fancy Liquor back on the circuit; the P&B works boat being ably sailed by Tom Lonsdale and Emily Batterton, who we'll hopefully see more of next season.
• Mark Stockbridge and Charlie Cotter showing a little boat handling rustiness taking 4 swims in (out?) of Fragile.
• Peter Male, crewed by son Tim Male. First wooden boat Moondance Assasin and completing all three races; a feat not achieved by several crews, especially considering Peter's seniority.
• 23 of the 27 teams were mixed teams. 4 of the 27 entered teams were helmed by Women. Age ranged from 21 to over 80. How inclusive and diverse are those stats?!
• Upon returning to shore we were greeted with a Lymington tradition: an urn of hot tea and doughnuts in the boat park for everyone! I love going to Lymington!!!
• Gold fleet winners: Rebecca Videlo and Rob Henderson in Quick Fix (I think they might be in Platinum next season!).
• Silver fleet winners and 14th overall: Dave Lee and Angela Bridges in The Angels' Share.
• Bronze fleet winners and 19th overall: Guy Browne and Greg Martin in the General Lee.

Windward mark rounding in choppy wind cross tide - Merlin Rocket Silver Tiller at Lymington Town - photo © LTSC

In conclusion, a fabulous day at Lymington where we had really close racing resulting in the top three boats separated by just 1 point, and perhaps the emergence of future overall Silver Tiller winners? Rebecca and Rob sailed a super days racing and would've been in the hunt for winning the first race as well had it not been for one simple mistake. A team to watch next year...

This event concludes the Craftinsure Silver Tiller and the open meeting calendar from the Merlin Rocket class for 2025. Thank you to all our sponsors, report writers, photographers and the many many sailors who have taken to the water. The 2026 calendar will be out early November, where we hope you can join us on the water to help us celebrate our 80th Anniversary.

Launching time - Merlin Rocket Silver Tiller at Lymington Town - photo © LTSC

Overall Results: