Rowsell Sails Merlin Rocket Travellers at Tamesis Club - Week 6
by Chris Balmbro 13 Feb 2012 12:09 PST
12 February 2012
The snowman surveying the river from the club lawn wasn't the only hangover from the previous week of the Rowsell Sails Tamesis Travellers Series. A streaky wind - this time largely westerly - was also pretty familiar. The previous evening had seen the club's Vice-Commodore's Dinner and this, along with lack of wind and icy conditions, contributed to only 8 boats making it on to the water.
Race 11
The same 4 hardy teams who'd turned out early the previous week showed their determination by repeating the feat for this week's first race.
Owing to the state of the wind, Charles Fox set Course L - an upsteam start and simple upstream/downstream sausage.
Despite being pushed hard by Matt Peregrine-Jones in the early stages, Mike Stephens began to stretch out a lead in the middle of the race and crossed the line comfortably ahead. Ken Duffell put in a strong challenge for second but Matt just held on.
Race 11 Results:
1st Mike Stephens and Nicky Erskine Tulloch – Flinkidink (1097)
2nd Matt Peregrine-Jones and Dana Church – Masquerade (995)
3rd Ken Duffell and Brian Corking – Harry (3599)
4th Charlie Morgan and John Adams – Lady Anne (1978)
Race 12
With the fleet doubled in size, a dogleg was introduced for the longer race. A ding-dong battle between Mike Stephens and Richard Harris saw the former triumph. This in spite of Mike initially ceding the lead to Richard after some confusion onboard Flinkidink about what course was being sailed. Mike put down his victory in part to careful study of Richard's technique.
The scrap for third looked to be going Matt Peregrine-Jones' way until David Vines pipped him in the fifty odd metres between the final dogleg mark and the finish. Similarly, Peter Mason rounded the final dogleg in fifth only for Ken Duffell to creep past sailing closer to the bank. Charlie Morgan rounded the final mark in seventh but pushed out in to midstream and managed to catch a nice puff that took him past both Ken and Peter to snatch fifth.
Race 12 Results:
1st Mike Stephens and Nicky Erskine Tulloch – Flinkidink (1097)
2nd Richard Harris and Harry Harris – Passing Cloud (1079)
3rd David Vines and Fiona Bolwell – Elusive (3347)
4th Matt Peregrine-Jones and Dana Church – Masquerade (995)
5th Charlie Morgan and John Adams – Lady Anne (1978)