Aspire Merlin Rocket National Championship at Looe Sailing Club - Day 2
by Tim Fells 19 Aug 2019 11:58 PDT
17-23 August 2019
Aspire Merlin Rocket Nationals at Looe day 2 © Neil Richardson
Looe turned on the style for the second day of the Aspire Merlin Rocket Championships. A force 3-5 from 240 deg with sunshine and waves meant that everyone in the fleet could enjoy a superb day on the water.
It was a two race day and PRO Nigel Denchfield again chose the Sausage - Triangle - Sausage format for both races, keeping the fleet close and opening more tactical options on the runs. Racing was of the highest calibre with everyone able to drive their boats to the max and play the 5-10 degree shifts and find the pressure lanes downwind.
In the first race of the day for the Beecher's Cup, Nick Craig and Toby Lewis (recovered from his first day sickness) extricated themselves from an average start and headed into the right hand corner to lead around the top mark. Defending champions and race one winners Christian Birrell and Sam Brearey were soon giving chase and engaged in a race long battle with Nick and Toby. Going onto the last sausage Christian and Sam had just gained the upper hand but Nick and Toby were able to gybe into pressure to retake the lead at the leeward gate and take their first bullet.
Ben and Roz McGrane, who had been travelling very fast on day one until they dismounted near the bottom gate, were back on form to take a strong third ahead of the Chrises Gould and Kilsby who had replaced their broken mast and were none the slower for it. Taxi and Pippa rounded out the top five for the second time.
For the second race for the Clyde Quaich Trophy, the breeze was switching around a bit as some rain clouds passed the course. Christian and Sam went right initially but them crossed back in the leading bunch to pick up a leftie at the top and lead around. Those who gybed at the spacer prospered in more pressure and it was Jon Gorringe and Pete Gray who rounded the gate in second.
Roger Gilbert and James Stewart were going well after a challenging first day when they lost their tiller extension and briefly got the better of Jon and Pete. Meanwhile, the Chrises were again steadily moving forward and on the final beat had eased past Roger and James to take third behind Jon and Pete and the flying Christian and Sam who took their second bullet. Simon and Ally Potts came home in fifth after your correspondent binned it on the last run.
Stars of the silver fleet were Andy Dalby and Pete Horn who were flying around at the front of the fleet and secured two top 15 results to move up into 13th overall.
In the Bronze fleet. John Cooper and Becci Wigley were going very nicely towards the sharp end of the fleet in the first race and ended the day in 38th overall.
Results after Day 2:
Pos | Boat Name | Sail No | Fleet | Helm | Crew | Founders Cup | Beechers Cup | Clyde Quaich | Pts |
1st | Blue My Mind | 3788 | Gold | Christian Birrell | Sam Brearey | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
2nd | Messy Monty | 3776 | Gold | Nick Craig | Tobytastic Lewis | 3 | 1 | 6 | 10 |
3rd | Didley Squat | 3791 | Gold | Jon Gorringe | Pete Gray | 2 | 10 | 2 | 14 |
4th | Keyser Soze | 3684 | Gold | Andy Davis | Pippa Kilsby | 5 | 5 | 7 | 17 |
5th | Stealth | 3722 | Gold | Roger Gilbert | James Stewart | 13 | 6 | 4 | 23 |
6th | Khaleesi | 3802 | Gold | Simon Potts | Ally Potts | 6 | 13 | 5 | 24 |
7th | Okey Dokey | 3712 | Gold | Ian Sharps | Alex Warren | 7 | 11 | 10 | 28 |
8th | Dory | 3739 | Gold | Ben McGrane | Roz McGrane | 14 | 3 | 12 | 29 |
9th | Fancy Liquor | 3764 | Gold | Tim Fells | Fran Gifford | 11 | 16 | 8 | 35 |
10th | Metachrosis | 3736 | Gold | Roger Phillips | Will Crocker | 9 | 14 | 19 | 42 |
11th | Bernard | 3658 | Gold | Chris Jennings | Chris Martin | 8 | 24 | 15 | 47 |
12th | Arwen | 3726 | Gold | Will Henderson | Arthur Henderson | 4 | 20 | 24 | 48 |
13th | The Bear | 3766 | Silver | Andy Dalby | Pete Horn | 20 | 15 | 13 | 48 |
14th | The Oldie | 3673 | Gold | Caroline Croft | Tom Lonsdale | 16 | 22 | 17 | 55 |
15th | Goon | 3795 | Gold | Alex Jackson | Mary Henderson | 15 | 19 | 23 | 57 |
16th | Roberta | 3796 | Gold | William Warren | Rachel Rhodes | 22 | 9 | 27 | 58 |
17th | Speed Machine | 3742 | Gold | Pete Ballantine | Rob Allen | L05 | 25 | 18 | 58 |
18th | Red Mistress | 3759 | Gold | Sam Barker | Megan Pascoe | 31 | 12 | 16 | 59 |
19th | Panther | 3774 | Gold | Jon Turner | Richard Parslow | 26 | 17 | 22 | 65 |
20th | Mockingjay | 3777 | Silver | George Yeoman | Sophie Yeoman | 24 | 21 | 26 | 71 |
21st | Wild at Heart | 3709 | Silver | Rob Henderson | James Ellis | 21 | 23 | 28 | 72 |
22nd | Something | 3803 | Gold | Chris Gould | Chris Kilsby | DNF | 4 | 3 | 73 |
23rd | Pokey | 3801 | Gold | Matt Biggs | Beka Jones | 18 | 26 | 35 | 79 |
24th | The Force Awakens | 3781 | Gold | David Winder | Liv Bell | 17 | 34 | 30 | 81 |
25th | Sylvia | 3711 | Silver | Sam Thompson | Leanne Thompson | 32 | 29 | 21 | 82 |
26th | Strung Along | 3784 | Silver | Mark Barwell | Louise Johnson | 33 | 36 | 14 | 83 |
27th | Doris | 3786 | Gold | David Wade | Ben Rayner | 12 | 8 | RET | 86 |
28th | Night Fury | 3775 | Gold | Dan Willett | Pete Nicholson | 23 | 38 | 25 | 86 |
29th | Quicksilver | 3787 | Silver | Chris Martin | Samuel Bailey | 19 | 30 | 38 | 87 |
30th | Robert | 3756 | Silver | Sophie Mackley | James Ward | 29 | 51 | 9 | 89 |
31st | Baloo | 3807 | Gold | Tim Saxton | Jodie Saxton | RET | 7 | 20 | 93 |
32nd | Never Been to Salcombe | 3582 | Silver | Ben Pickering | Nathan King | 34 | 35 | 31 | 100 |
33rd | General Lee | 3690 | Silver | Tim Harridge | Claire Mills | 27 | 40 | 34 | 101 |
34th | Peer Pressure | 3778 | Gold | David Lenz | Vicky Lenz | RET | 28 | 11 | 105 |
35th | Stanley | 3749 | Silver | Ben Hollis | Colin Anderson | 28 | 41 | 37 | 106 |
36th | Enchanted Evening | 3666 | Silver | John Meadowcroft | Oliver Meadowcroft | 44 | 31 | 32 | 107 |
37th | Quick Fix | 3691 | Gold | Mike Calvert | Jane Calvert | 25 | 18 | RET | 109 |
38th | NKS | 3732 | Bronze | John Cooper | Becci Wigley | 42 | 27 | 41 | 110 |
39th | Rockatross | 3804 | Silver | Andrea Brewster | Charlotte Fildes | 45 | 37 | 29 | 111 |
40th | Why Ask | 3740 | Silver | Patrick Blake | Jilly Blake | 36 | 39 | 36 | 111 |
41st | Puff the Magic Dragon | 3641 | Silver | Mark Waterhouse | Mat Currell | 30 | 33 | 49 | 112 |
42nd | Disciple | 3769 | Silver | Graham Cranford Smith | Rob Langley | 38 | 48 | 39 | 125 |
43rd | Outnumbered | 3745 | Silver | Paul Dean | Russell Hall | 37 | 47 | 44 | 128 |
44th | The Clone Wars | 3735 | Gold | Dave Hall | Paul Constable | RET | 32 | 33 | 131 |
45th | Pointer | 3790 | Silver | Colin Brockbank | Suzy Brough | 40 | 46 | 45 | 131 |
46th | Ichthys | 3794 | Bronze | Julian Harms | Timothy Harms | 41 | 54 | 42 | 137 |
47th | Velella | 3772 | Silver | Phil Emery | Phoebe Paine | 49 | 44 | 47 | 140 |
48th | Fluffy | 3719 | Bronze | Rob Martin | Jan Martin | 35 | 43 | RET | 144 |
49th | DES | 3723 | Bronze | Geoff Kimber | Helen Kimber | 43 | 49 | 54 | 146 |
50th | Brambles | 3800 | Bronze | Richard Bramley | Liam Weighill | 47 | 52 | 51 | 150 |
51st | One Love | 3767 | Bronze | Ben Archer | Olivia Bellini | 48 | 50 | 55 | 153 |
52nd | Armed Forces | 3442 | Bronze | Matt Smith | Jared Lewis | DNC | 42 | 46 | 154 |
53rd | Nostra Dormouse | 3577 | Bronze | Joe Tosh | Will Lowe | UFD | 45 | 43 | 154 |
54th | Factory Maid | 3704 | Bronze | Jemma Horwood | Sel Shah | 51 | 55 | 48 | 154 |
55th | Heaven Sent | 3511 | Bronze | Andrew Mills | Ellie Mills | 50 | 59 | 52 | 161 |
56th | Monkey Puzzle | 3706 | Bronze | Lawrence Tosh | Jack Tosh | RET | 56 | 40 | 162 |
57th | Light Fantastic | 3555 | Bronze | Emma Robertson | Carl Weighill | 53 | 61 | 50 | 164 |
58th | Urban Warrior | 3668 | Bronze | Mark Smyth | Julie Cronshaw | 46 | 53 | DNC | 165 |
59th | Carbonator | 3639 | Bronze | Dan Heaton | Rory Hunter | 39 | RET | DNS | 171 |
60th | Wizard in Blue | 3449 | Bronze | Carl Whitehill | Samuel Whitehill | DNC | 57 | 53 | 176 |
61st | Heavy Particle | 3482 | Bronze | Richard Burton | Patrick Burton | 55 | 58 | DNC | 179 |
62nd | Dark `n` Stormy | 3619 | Bronze | Guy Browne | Greg Martin | 52 | DNF | DNC | 184 |
63rd | Shiny Happy People | 3695 | Bronze | Pete Slack | Connor Langan | 54 | DNF | RET | 186 |
64th | Snorting | 3561 | Bronze | Joe Shaw | Hannah Burt | RET | 60 | RET | 192 |
65th | Narnia | 3751 | Bronze | Huw Reynolds | Phil Scott | RET | RET | RET | 198 |