Merlin Rocket Week at Salcombe Yacht Club

Sunday 15th–Friday 20th July

KING RE-CROWNED

If success is gauged by popularity then the 31st Merlin Week at Salcombe Y.C. was the most successful yet. Sponsored by the local firm of Estate Agents, Marchand Petit, it attracted an entry of 111 boats.

Last year’s entry was limited to 92 boats and there were a small number of people who were unable to take part. By the 1st December 2000 the club had already received 105 applications and it was obvious that there would have to be a re-think on how the event was run in order to deal with the increased demand. After negotiation with the Harbour Master and other local bodies Rear-Commodore Roger Davies was able to increase the maximum number of boats to 120 and, whilst not every place was taken this year, there is now extra capacity within the event to allow for future expansion.

The previous system of dividing the fleet into four flights and racing each flight against the others on a rotating morning and afternoon format had to be further refined. The physical dimensions of Salcombe Estuary limit the number of boats that can safely race at a time. It was decided that for the first three days racing the fleet would be split into it’s usual four flights but these would then be sub-divided into two starts, which would be 20 minutes apart. At the end of three days the top 7 boats in each of the eight sub-divisions would form a Gold Fleet. The rest of the week would then be sailed on a Gold & Silver fleet basis. The sailing instructions allowed for the best two results from the first three races to count.

Sunday morning’s first start showed the fickleness of racing in Salcombe. In sunshine and light airs seven boats cleared the start line, picked up a sea breeze and made huge gains on the rest of the flight. Within the seven racing was very close but it was John Bell & Graham Williamson (3569) who won. By the afternoon the wind had steadied and increased giving better racing conditions. Phil King & Kevin Driver (3606) and Will Rainey & Lieise Ward (3601) won their respective heats. The good weather continued on Monday. Last year’s winner Mike Calvert, crewed this year by Jane, (3549) won his morning heat as did Pat Blake, crewed by daughter Anna, (3559) in the afternoon. Tuesday morning saw a complete change in the weather. A depression was due to move through the area and it’s timing seemed to be unpredictable. P.R.O. Roger Davies postponed racing for an hour to better gauge the weather. When the morning races did start it was the incessant rain, rather than strong winds, that proved troublesome. Phil King, having won his first two races, was adjudged to be OCS on Tuesday afternoon. Richard Whitworth & Sally Townend (3593) and Dan Alsop, crewed by Jane Beaumont, (3471) won their heats.

With any system that involves ranking boats from different groups there are always one or two that are delighted to find themselves in the Gold fleet and equally there are those who are disappointed that they haven’t achieved the grouping that they hoped for. In the case of this year’s Merlin Week the situation was further complicated by the nature of the event, family and friendship ties are very strong. Groups often share accommodation, facilities and baby-sitters. The Association’s organising committee did receive requests for crews not to be in the same flight. This meant that there had to be an element of judgement by the committee into who might make the Gold fleet. Easy enough to do with established members of the class but not at all predictable with newcomers.

For the second half of the week the Gold fleet started first in each session and the Silver fleet started 20 minutes later. Wednesday saw the lightest of the winds of the week. Frank Rowsell & Jennie King (3539) in the morning and Mike Calvert in the afternoon were the Gold fleet winners, whilst David Townend & Anthony Lofts (3530) and Robert Smith & Matthew Ross (3590) took the Silver fleet honours. These two boats then met in Thursday’s morning race and Smith took the winning gun ahead of Townend and put himself in a strong position for overall victory. Richard Whitworth had a second win in the Gold morning race, whilst Phil King had a third win in the afternoon.

With a boat’s five best scores to count for the series King still had to count his earlier OCS going into the last day’s racing. The weather forecast was again not promising but the expected bad weather did not arrive until later in the day and the sailing programme was completed. In the event it proved to be academic. King won the morning race and counted four 1sts & a 2nd and thereby won his 8th title in nine years. Whitworth finished 2nd and this placed him level on points with John Bell who was due to race in the afternoon. The race was sailed in excellent conditions but Bell could do no better than 9th behind Tom Stewart & Keiran Collacot (3591). With identical places to count the tiebreak was resolved by the result of the very first race sailed on Sunday morning. Bell had won this and Whitworth had come 3rd. In the Silver fleet Smith won his third race in a row and whilst Townend won the afternoon race results from the first half of the week saw him slip to 3rd place overall behind Richard Cooke and Sam Waddoups (3535), who had sailed consistently throughout the week.

A special mention should be given to Mervyn & Melissa Allen who sailed the oldest boat, 799. Mervyn also entered, but did not race, Jack Holt’s original boat “Kate”. It is hoped that this will appear at an event in the near future. Reflecting on the week after it was over P.R.O. Roger Davies said that the new system had worked well. The Harbour Master was pleased with the fewer boats on the start line each race. The 20-minute interval between starts had in general been sufficient to keep the fleets apart. Class Chairman, Will Rainey, said that with the increasing number of new boats being built over the past two years the Association hoped that all 120 places would be filled next year.

Overall Results:

More Information:

• YachtsandYachting.com Merlin Rocket Page