Merlin Rocket Open at Burton Sailing Club

Merlin Rocket Open at Burton Sailing Club © Christine Statham

Merlin Rocket Open at Burton Sailing Club © Mike Hampton

Merlin Rocket Open at Burton Sailing Club © Mike Hampton

Burton Sailing Club at Foremark Reservoir were delighted to host the Merlin rocket open meeting last Sunday. As well as providing our legendary welcome and hospitality, we were also able to offer the 17 crews who made the journey a good wind of 12 to 15 knots average, gusting occasionally up to 20 knots, and relatively cool conditions at a comfortable 23° - remember this was coming out of a week of temperatures in the 30s.

Two of the entrants had minor problems with rigging and so the first race got under way with 15 boats. Perhaps it was excitement or overenthusiasm as the start line became pretty chaotic but on the gun only one boat was still over the line and with the individual recall they quickly returned and recrossed. The course was basically two beats and two runs arranged in a very tall "X" shape with a gate to make life a little easier for the scores.

The immaculately turned out fleet was matched by the high standard of sailing resulting in some extremely close racing and a lot of changing places, but with never a shout or close moment between any of the crews. During lap two of the three laps a small gap developed between the leading four and the next half dozen with close racing in each of the groups particularly in the chasing pack who were virtually side-by-side together into the last mark.

On the last lap things evened out a bit and 3746 James Wells and Anna Aylward from Hooe Point Sailing Club took the line a few seconds ahead 3829 Mike Calvert and Jane Calvert from Axe with 3700 Rob Kennaugh and Andrew Prosser from Midland Sailing Club literally climbing onto their transom.

Sadly, Ian Laing from Oldham in his beautiful wooden craft 2805 had to retire finding the gusty conditions somewhat taxing. He would not be the last of the retirees as winners of the first race, James and Anna, deserve a prize as the most unlucky team having travelled all the way from Plymouth to lose their mast early in the second race.

Similar conditions prevailed in the second race with the wind maintaining strength with plenty of gusts and shifts to give the sailors something to think about. The course was changed to remove the potential for conflict in the crossover point of the first course putting in a longer second beat with two very broad reaches to round the final leeward mark.

The start was a little more controlled than the first race with all the boats a meter or two behind the line but, again the racing was very close particularly on the first lap until the last leg when a gap of 20 or 30 seconds developed between the first three and the chasing pack. However during the second lap Rob and Andrew (3700) were able to make good progress bridging the gap and got themselves onto the tail of the front front three, but were unable to get further coming in fourth behind Mike and Jane Calvert 3829, Andy Davis and Holly Evans from South Staffs 3787 And Ed Bradburn and Johnny Coate also from South staffs in 3724 third.

Towards the end of the second lap, the top nine were reasonably close together but, whether it was the difficult conditions, bad luck or incidents, large gaps were developing between the trailing five people boats so their race was shortened to two laps, possibly saving some from a DNF as they might have been outside 20 minute limit behind the leader at the finish.

Merlin Rocket Open at Burton Sailing Club - photo © Mike Hampton

After lunch, with a conditions still challenging the fleet had dwindled to 10 starters, reduced to 9 boats during the first lap. Some of the marks had been rearranged to reduce the length of the 2nd beat and make the last two legs a reach and a run. Three laps were set as the target and all made it in the time limit. Racing was as tight as ever and from the committee boat it was impressive to watch the efficiency and accuracy of some of the crews dropping their Spinnaker and setting up the boat for the Leawood Mark with mere inches to spare. Rob and Andrew, 3700, were rewarded for their efforts in the previous two races by taking the lead and maintaining this to the finish giving them second place overall at the end. Mike and Jane Calvert complimented their first and second with another second giving them the overall and a well-deserved win. Third overall went to Andy and Holly, 3787 who added a 3rd to the fourth and second in the previous races

On behalf of Burton Sailing Club and as OOD for the day, I would like to thank all the sailors who travelled so far to make this a really enjoyable event.

Overall Results: