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Silver Tiller

Merlin Rocket Silver Tiller – Wembley Sailing Club

October 1, 2012 by superuser Leave a Comment

Craftinsure Merlin Rocket Silver Tiller Report- Wembley Sailing Club 23/09/12

Sunday 23rd September saw 21 Merlin Rockets assemble at Wembley Sailing Club for the 2012 Merlin Rocket Silver Tiller Open Meeting sponsored by Craftinsure. It has been fifty years since Wembley Sailing Club (situated on the Welsh Harp Reservoir) hosted its first Silver Tiller Open and this particular event proved to be quite a memorable anniversary!

Race 1 began in a gusty F2 as the skies opened and the rain poured, which built up to F3 gusts that caught some out and caused a few capsizes! Dave Winder & Pippa Taylor made the early running opening up a lead from John Turner & Richard Parslow in second and this is how it remained to the finish with Matt Biggs & John Hackett finishing third.

Race 2 was away at the second attempt but now under black flag and Dave Winder and Pippa Taylor immediately led. The wind had died by now to a F1 and with the accompanying heavy showers it seemed unlikely that the forecast F3 with F6 gusts was going to materialise. The race for second was much closer with any one of Matt Biggs & John Hackett, Paul Hollis & Ben Hendon, Duncan & Harriet Salmon and John Turner & Richard Parslow being in contention the whole way round the course. Towards the end of the race and with the wind starting to build, Winder & Taylor consolidated their lead to take the win with Hollis & Hendon second, Biggs & Hackett third, Turner & Parslow fourth, and Duncan & Harriet Salmon finishing fifth.

During the gap to the start of the third race, the wind continued to increase and the fleet were now presented with a F3 gusting up to F6 and yet more rain. These conditions were going to cause even the very best to go for a swim and so it proved! Andy Davis & Tom Pygall revelling in the extreme conditions led all the way from just after the start. Matt Biggs & Ben Hendon were an early capsize casualty on lap 1, but then managed to recover and sail through the fleet to take a fine second place whilst avoiding the many capsized boats caught out by the sledgehammer like gusts. Jon Gorringe & Nicki Bass also enjoyed the trickier conditions to finish third. Jon Turner & Richard Parslow meanwhile had succumbed to a huge gust and wind shift at the gybe mark and wiped out at very high speed! Duncan & Harriet Salmon arriving shortly afterwards and finding Turner & Parslow capsized right in their path had nowhere to go and heroically pressed the capsize button in an effort to save both boats from destruction. Now with yet another boat joining the mix, a three way raft ensured some unfortunate rigging damage and three inevitable retirements. Elsewhere in the fleet a broken mast and a full on pitch pole were the casualties as the gusts became ever stronger right up until the final lap when a passing squall made it supremely difficult for those stalwart crews still sailing.

The fleet tired but in true Merlin rocket tradition – unbeaten – then retired to the clubhouse for a very welcome meal of hot chilli & potatoes followed by prize giving, with prizes generously donated by Rooster Sailing. Dave Winder & Pippa Taylor won overall honours from Matt Biggs and John Hackett second, Paul Hollis and Ben Hendon were third, Jon Turner & Richard Parslow finished fourth and retained the Century Cup trophy for the first helm and crew with a combined age of over 100 years old! Elsewhere, Alan & Alice Markham won the prize for the first boat over 10 years old.

Report & Results by Paul Dean

WEMBLEY SC Silver Tiller results 23 09 12

Photographs by kind permission of John McKelvie

Filed Under: Events, News Tagged With: merlin rocket, Silver Tiller

Blithfield Merlin Silver Tiller 2012

March 21, 2012 by superuser Leave a Comment

by Chris Martin

36 boats gathered at Blithfield SC for the first standalone Craftinsure Silver Tiller event of 2012. The late start meant competitors were greeted with spring like sunshine, and what looked like a nice force two which lulled everyone into a sense of false security as the day developed into one of the most bizarre that your correspondent has ever sailed in!

 

Race one got off cleanly, and the fleet were lead around the first mark by Jon Gorringe and Toby Lewis.The breeze at this point was relatively steady, but there were massive gains to be made if you picked the bends correctly. Gorringe and Lewis held onto their lead to win the race, followed home by Dan Willet and Pete Nicholson all the way from Brightlingsea. Richard Adams and Chris Gould came in third.

 

Race two is probably best remembered for how many ways the conditions can torture a race officer. Initially a highly port biased line lead to a general recall and a restart under black flag. In the last 30 seconds to the restart it was apparent that the committee boat was the place to be. This lead to a number of BFDs. The swinging breeze never kicked back around to the left and some boats managed to get to the first mark in one, led by Paul and Michelle Keeling. It all looked cut and dried after one leg, but the wind had not done with us yet. Half way down what was supposed to be a run, in not a lot of wind a massive wind shift and a force 4-5 with heavy rain came in from nowhere and turned the fleet inside out. This race was won by the Adams/Gould team, with Andy Davies and Tom Pygall second.

 

Race three. Again this started in not a lot of breeze, which died off to pretty much nothing halfway up the first beat. About half the fleet headed right to get closer to some ominous looking clouds, but having tempted us with a sudden blast earlier on the breeze was not to materialise until later. Those who picked their way up the left did the best, and three home boats rounded first Matt Biggs and Ben Hollis leading with Steve/Ben Hendon and Chris Martin/Matt Smith in hot pursuit. The clouds headed closer and the wind did fill in just as the lead pack got around the second mark, luckily for the leaders this was not disastrous as they shot away while the bunch behind took each other’s wind. Biggs/Hollis held onto their lead, with the fleet newcomers Steve/Ben Hendon also holding onto second place. Another newcomer to the fleet Chris Jennings crewed by Liese Scott came in third.

 

Overall the Midland team of Richard Adams and Chris Gould took the GKN Trophy. Our thanks go to everyone who helped run the event, and especially to Jon Batt and Nick Broomhall in the committee boat who must have been having kittens pretty much all day! Hopefully the weather for the Inlands in September will be kinder. We look forward to welcoming the fleet back.

 

1st 3650 Richard Adams and Chris Gould Midland SC

2nd 3712 Jon Gorringe and Toby Lewis Parkstone YC

3rd 3644 Steve and Ben Hendon Blithfield SC

4th 3627 Dan Willett and Pete Nicholson Brightlingsea SC

5th 3658 Chris Jennings and Liese Scott Burghfield SC

6th 3583 Chris Martin and Matt Smith Blithfield SC

 

 

Merlin Rocket Open Meeting 2012
17th March

Pos Sail No. Helm Crew Club R1 R2 R3 Nett
1 3650 Rich Adams Chris Gould Midland 3 1 (37.0 DNS) 4
2 3712 Jon Gorringe Toby Lewis Parkstone 1 -4 4 5
3 3644 Steve Hendon Ben Hendon Blithfield 4 -10 2 6
4 3627 Dan Willet Peter Nicholson Brightlingsea 2 -5 5 7
5 3658 Chris Jennings Liese Scott Burghfield -9 6 3 9
6 3583 Chris Martin Matt Smith Blithfield 5 -11 6 11
7 3684 Andy Davis Tom Pygall Blithfield 10 2 (37.0 DNF) 12
8 3735 David Winder Rory Mackenzie Hollingworth 6 7 (37.0 DNC) 13
9 3732 Tom Jeffcoate Ben Rayner Notts County 7 8 (37.0 DNC) 15
10 3565 Paul Keeling Michelle Keeling Blithfield 12 3 -13 15
11 3730 Paul Hollis James Dawes Blithfield -15 9 7 16
12 3510 Mike Raine Jane Hill Rudyard Lake 8 -15 9 17
13 3722 Matt Biggs Ben Hollis Blithfield 17 (37.0 OCS) 1 18
14 3339 Tim Male Rebecca Male Blithfield 11 (37.0 DNF) 8 19
15 3617 Tom Chadfield Andy Chadfield Blithfield 13 13 (37.0 DNC) 26
16 3701 Steve Hunt Ruth Hunt Pilkington -18 17 10 27
17 3719 Mike Partridge Claire Davis Hayling Island -25 18 12 30
18 3663 Chris Haworth Jo Harvey Blackpool and Fleetwood 14 16 (37.0 DNS) 30
19 3645 Jeremy Deacon Joanna Deacon Cookham -26 22 11 33
20 3581 Mark Reddington Colin Staite Bartley 22 12 (37.0 DNC) 34
21 3705 Geoff Wright Katie Wright Blithfield -23 19 15 34
22 3610 Richard Dee Chris Winters Midland 20 (37.0 OCS) 14 34
23 3402 Rob Kennaugh Abi Spurr Blithfield 21 14 (37.0 DNC) 35
24 3508 Colin Anderson Sean Anderson Redditch -31 20 16 36
25 3680 Steve Watson Phil Scott Midland 19 23 (37.0 DNS) 42
26 3566 Jon wood Heather Earlswood -29 25 17 42
27 3547 Peter Male Luke Tucker Blithfield -28 26 18 44
28 3619 Guy Browns Tommi Cluley Trent Valley 24 21 (37.0 DNF) 45
29 3567 Martin Smith Karen Blithfield -32 27 19 46
30 3548 Kieron Mason Henry Mason Blithfield -30 29 20 49
31 3533 Russell Brayshaw Nicola Wilkinson Hollowell -35 28 21 49
32 3518 Julian Harris Samuel Harris Midland 27 24 (37.0 DNC) 51
33 3723 Robert Line Peter Hill Head 16 (37.0 OCS) (37.0 DNC) 53
34 3653 Chris Brown M Williams – 33 (37.0 DNC) (37.0 DNC) 70
35 3346 Ian Mackenzie Angela Mackenzie Blithfield 34 (37.0 DNF) (37.0 DNC) 71
36 3716 Steve Leney Gill Leney Blithfield (37.0 DNC) (37.0 DNC) (37.0 DNC) 74

3 races, 2 to count.

Filed Under: Events, News Tagged With: Silver Tiller

Merlin Rocket Silver Tiller – Hamble River Sailing Club – Warming Pan 10th 11th March .2012

March 21, 2012 by superuser Leave a Comment

By Stephen Storey 12th March 2012

With Craftinsure again kindly sponsoring the 2012 Merlin Rocket premier traveller series the Silver Tiller, the season’s first event – the Warming Pan – took place on 10th and 11th March at Hamble River Sailing Club timed to coincide with the clubs 50th anniversary celebrations.
Out on the water difficult conditions prevailed all weekend and made life challenging not only for the competitors who had to battle tide with very light and changing wind directions but also for the race team in setting realistic courses to cope!
After an over enthusiastic rush at the line resulted in a general recall the first race finally started in a light north westerly with Richard Adams and Chris Gould in 3650 leading the fleet away on a reaching start down river for 3 laps around the windward leeward course in Southampton water. As the breeze slowly died away and the tidal effect became dominant it was the risky strategy of Jon Abbotson & John Gifford in 3707 who by taking a long tack out through the ebbing tide towards the west shore found themselves back in contention for a well-deserved win on the shortened course. Dan Alsop & Jennie King a close second in 3539 followed by Will Rainey and Will Carroll in 3693.
With less than 5 minutes ashore the fleet launched again for race two and in the resurgent force 1 breeze and bright sunshine the ever competitive Merlin Rockets tested the race team with their second general recall of the event. After a short postponement Richard Whitworth and Chris Winters pulled away to lead the race in almost identical conditions to those prevailing earlier. Tim Fells and Chris Downham in 3727 made an early challenge though not consistent enough to hold off the pressure from the ever wily Dan Alsop in Gangsta who again finished to take another consistent second place and the prize for Saturdays overall best Merlin Rocket result.
Sunday morning for race number 3 provided little more in the way of wind with the Race Officer electing to confine all boats to the river with a short beat off the start line and a broad reach down to the bottom mark being the favoured option.
As the race progressed and notwithstanding some of the closely fought racing amongst the fleet – notably Dave Dobrijevic and Jeremy Williamson in 3708 who came through to finish in a fine 5th place – undoubtedly the win of the weekend must go to Frances Gifford and Sophie Mackley. From the gun they steered Alan Warrens “Tiger Tiger” 3696 through every slight puff of breeze and wind shift to finish a clear 27 minutes ahead of the second placed boat of Ben Archer and Andy Brewer, both of whom sailed well throughout and especially in covering their own position in the major 180 degree wind shift on the last leg of the course.

2012 Warming Pan Overall Results

Class: Merlin-Rocket Discards: 0 Discards: 0

Pos Sail
M3707 Boat
Monkey Business Sailed By
Jon Abbotson & Michael John Gifford Race Results
1, 9, 3 Pts
13
1 M3707 Monkey Business Jon Abbotson & Michael John Gifford 1, 9, 3 13
2 M3650 Headcase Rich Adams & Chris Gould 6, 3, 4 13
3 M373 Faithless Richard Whitworth & Chris Winters 4, 1, 15 20
4 M3684 Keyser Soze Andy Davis and Tom Pygall 9, 4, 7 20
5 M3539 Gangsta Paradise Dan Alsop and Jennie King 7, 2, 13 22
6 M3696 Tiger Tiger Frances Gifford & Sophie Mackley 5, 17, 1 23
7 M3732 M 3732 Dave Wade & Ben Rayner 7, 8, 9 24
8 M3634 Ministry of Pleasure Ben Archer & Andy Brewer 19, 5, 2 26
9 M3693 Slippery When Wet Will Rainey and Will Carroll 3, 14, 14 31
10 M1097 Flinkidink Mike Stephens & Jodok Gerber 8, 11, 12 31
11 M3685 The Black Pearl William Warren and Chris Robinson 14, 10, 8 32
12 M3730 Blood Sweat & Beers Ben Hollis & James Dawes 10, 15, 10 35
13 M3658 Re-Entry Chris Jennings & Roger Gilbert 16, 17, 6 39
14 M3727 Fragile Tim Fells & Chris Downham 12, 7, 25 44
15 M3734 M 3734 Sam Pascoe & Tim Rusk 10, 13, 25 48
16 M3712 Oakey Dokey Jon Gorringe & Nick Bass 17, 16, 16 49
17 M3708 Wicked Dave Dobrijevic & Jeremy Williamson 25, 25, 5 55
18 M3718 Miss Aigletinger David & Fiona Sayce 25, 6, 25 56
19 M3719 Fluffbum Babylove Mike Partridge & Claire Davis 12, 20, 25 57
20 M3661 Schmoozy Blue Graham and Ben Scroggie 15, 19, 25 59
21 M3579 Mango Tango Joe Mclaughlin & Charlie Morgan 25, 25, 11 61
22 M3698 M 3698 Graham Cranford-Smith & Tim Powell 18, 18, 25 61
23 M3556 Make it So Alex Jones & Jack Oeund 25, 25, 17 67
24 M3729 Shabazzle Jon Turner & Alan Tylor 25, 25, 25 75

Filed Under: Events, News Tagged With: Hamble River Sailing Club, Merlin, Silver Tiller

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