Vintage Merlin Rocket Open at Fishers Green Sailing Club
by Godfrey Clark 20 May 2014 01:47 PDT
17 May 2014
Vintage Merlins at Fishers Green © Godfrey Clark
Fishers Green SC held its first ever Merlin open meeting on 17th May, counting for the De May Vintage series. With a forecast of less than 4 knots of breeze, it was feared that no–one would travel, but some visitors joined the recently formed home group and 3 races were held in very light and variable conditions.
Given that what little breeze appeared, did so from every point of the compass at some time of day, it was no surprise to see almost every boat finding themselves in the lead at some time somewhere on the course!
The only team to remain in front when it mattered was the family team of Jon/Annabell Steward, sailing their recently re-hogged and extensively restored 'Nutshell'. With age/spec allowances taken into account, the older boats tended to win through on handicap with the results only calculated after all the boats had finished.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Boat | Sail No | Helm | Crew | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | Nutshell | 1742 | Jon Steward | Annabelle Steward | Fishers Green | 1 | ‑2 | 1 | 2 |
| 2nd | Pooh | 1189 | Ben Marshall | Sel Shah | Thames SC | 2 | ‑3 | 2 | 4 |
| 3rd | Cindy | 723 | Melvyn Allen | Little Tosh | Tamesis | 4 | 1 | (DNS) | 5 |
| 4th | Nitro | 2972 | Nick Crickmore | Richard Holmes | Waveney & Oulton Broad | ‑6 | 6 | 3 | 9 |
| 4th | Will O the Whip | 2005 | Mo Allen | Nick Yannakoyorgos | Fishers Green SC | ‑5 | 5 | 4 | 9 |
| 4th | Hamlet | 3185 | Godfrey Clark | Claire Clark | Fishers Green SC | ‑7 | 4 | 5 | 9 |
| 7th | Cream Cracker | 2997 | Richard Coulter | Chris Hill | Fishers Green SC | 3 | (DNF) | DNS | 12 |
| 8th | Shimmer | 2562 | Harry Steward | Sarah O Brian | Fishers Green SC | ‑8 | 7 | 6 | 13 |