Craftinsure Merlin Rocket Silver Tiller Round 2 at Wembley Sailing Club

Craftinsure Merlin Rocket Silver Tiller at Wembley © Rob O'Neill

Craftinsure Merlin Rocket Silver Tiller at Wembley © Rob O'Neill

The second Craftinsure Merlin Rocket Silver Tiller event took place on Sunday 15th March 2019. 17 visitors were welcomed, despite the troubling world situation, from as far afield as Hollingworth, Blithfield, South Staffs, Hayling Island, Lymington, Midland, Burghfield, Brightlingsea together with our friends from London, Ranelagh and Fishers Green.

Following the complimentary tea coffee and bacon rolls the 25 boats and 50 Merlin sailors set off for the usual Wembley format of three races back to back.

As has been the case all this year it was windy and as there was slightly too much south in the direction gusty and very shifty.

David Winder Liv Bell took off from the start of the first race to lead for most of it closely pursued by Andy Davies and Pippa Kilsby, together with Stuart Bithell (having a rest from his Olympic duties) crewed by Katherine Kimber. Andy and Pippa, managed to get into the lead only to have a mishap with the spinnaker going under the boat which slowed them down allowing and Stu and Katherine into the lead to win with Ian Sharps and Alex Warren second and Dave and Liv third.

There was a quick turnaround for the second race after bottles of water and Mars Bars have been distributed by the rescue boats. Andy and Pippa led for most of the race only to have Ian and Alex catch a 'lucky' gust (depending on who you speak to) to get through to first with Andy and Pippa second, and Caroline Croft and Chris Gould third. Unfortunately, Stu and Katherine had gear failure leading to retirement and the end of the meeting for them.

For the final race the wind has turned more round to a more favourable Southwest leaving leading to a different course set by RO John and Judy Gill. The port biased line caught out Fran Gifford, who had spent the day before training Wembley members and she managed to snag and drag the pin some considerable distance to leeward, allowing various people to cross the line who would not otherwise have done so! Ian and Alex lead to start with only to be overtaken by Andy and Pippa, again depending on who was telling the story, it was either pipped or more a steady cruise by, although the latter phrase had no place in the shifty and gusty winds. Caroline Croft and Chris Gould were third and despite starting last Fran came through to a very creditable fourth.

Following a rather damp pack up in the rain the fleet then enjoyed the famous Wembley chilli con carne, which went down very well.

Craftinsure Merlin Rocket Silver Tiller at Wembley - photo © Rob O'Neill

Thanks to John and Judy Gill for running three excellent races, the RS200 and Laser classes for providing the catering and John Green with our class captain Joe Shaw for organising the entire event.

We are all hoping that the current situation will allow the season to continue, although sadly the next event at Midland Sailing Club has been cancelled.

Overall Results:

1st Silver Fleet: 3749 Colin and Sean Anderson
1st Bronze Fleet: 3774 Richard Coulter and Chris Hill

1st Old Boat: 3583 Ben Eaves and Ron Kennaugh
1st Wembley Boat: 3715 Richard Cooke and Luke Moore