Thank you Anna Aylward for the report.
After a marathon six hours on the water, strap yourselves in for a marathon report from Day 4 of the Merlin Rocket Aspire National Championships at Tenby Sailing Club.
With Day 3 ending in a few sailors retreating to lick their wounds and nurse their boats back to full health - one sailor even travelling as far as England to get a bit of space from their boat - the sun rose on Day 4. Three races were scheduled to get ahead of a dodgy forecast for Thursday and Friday, with glorious sunshine and a pleasant breeze to accompany us. The sea monsters of the previous day had been vanquished although alleged sightings of a Kraken and a Welsh Dragon on the racecourse have yet to be independently verified.
Race 1 got away cleanly with Ben Saxton and Matt Rainback making it to the windward mark first. After some tussling down the run and a shiftier wind than previous days, Stuart Bithell and Tom Pygall had made it to the front by the second rounding of the windward mark, followed by Christian Birrell and Sam Brearey.
To those of us racing mid-fleet the order at front then appeared to remain that way for the rest of the race with Stu and Tom taking another bullet and keeping things very close at the top of the standings. There was a course alteration after two laps to move the windward mark and spreader further to the left, making it a lot easier to round.
Further back in the fleet, the author of this report was racing against their housemates, despite agreeing to spread out throughout the fleet to catch a flavour of the full race. The first gold boat was William Warren and Charlotte Fildes in a great 8th place, first silver boat was Sam and Leanne Thompson in 30th place, and first bronze boat was Phil Hardisty and Teddy Dunn in 29th place.
In the first break between races our onboard refreshment trolley had a selection of raspberry Lucozade, Robinson’s finest squash, and fresh Welsh tap water bottled at the source. The main course was ham and cheese sandwiches, but vegan options were also available.
There was a short delay while the race team set up for the Champagne race (aka as the Ranelagh Trophy) generously sponsored by Allspars. The wind was moving round to the west so the whole course had to shift and we were set up for a longer four laps of racing. This break was also an opportunity for one to take a short nap, as a Merlin Rocket at sea is a notoriously comfortable berth, which doubled up as a chance to get rid of a dodgy sunglasses tan by closing one’s eyes and tanning the eyelids.
It’s amazing how motivating alcoholic prizes can be, as the fleet shot off to the windward mark in a patchy and shifty breeze, with Mike and Jane Calvert rounding in first place, closely followed by Matt Biggs and Beka Jones, Maddy Anderson and Tom Ballantine, and Colin and Sean Anderson in a stunning fourth place. Mike and Jane had taken some time in the break between races to pull some strings on their boat and found the speedy setting as they flew through the race to take their first bullet of the week. Matt and Beka followed to finish second, both looking to finish well clear of the rest of the fleet.
A number of the sailors were caught out in the shiftier conditions, but on the final lap the breeze shifted round to the west some more and finally filled in to provide the champagne conditions worthy of the champagne race. The most efficient sailors of the day were Sophie Mackley and George Bender coming in 21st place to secure their champagne, while Rupert and Mary Henderson-White were the plucky sailors in 22nd place.
After a short break, this time refreshments were provided by KitKat and Nakd, and a brief AP while the start line was reset, we embarked on our third race of the day. It wouldn’t be a Merlin Rocket event if there wasn’t a general recall every now and then so the fleet duly pushed the line and the flag went up.
We gathered ourselves and regrouped behind the start line, now sporting a black flag, and this time we were away. Simon Potts and Emma Clarke were first to the windward mark, followed by Nick and Kate Craig and James Goodfellow and Rick Cornes. Nick and Kate had had to drop their entire rig early in the day to reaffix their jib sheave to the mast so it was great to see them up and running. Simon and Emma accelerated down the run and pulled out a thoroughly convincing lead for the rest of the race to take their first bullet of the week.
Further back in the race, James Wells and Anna Aylward decided to provide some entertainment and challenge Clive Eplett and Megan Pascoe to a gybing duel to the finish. James and Anna came out on top, but we were all winners with the boat handling practice.
After all that excitement, several helms handed the reins over to their crews to captain them back to the beach at speed. Some say it was to get that all-important practice in anticipation of a cut-throat crews race, others say it was to give those poor helms a rest, but by the look of some of those tacks we don’t think it was very relaxing.
All in all, what an excellent day, with two new race winners, a bucketload of sunshine, and three protests to get through before the fancy dress night. Stay tuned for the hotly contested fancy dress prizes announced tomorrow, this year’s theme: boat names.
At the end of today there is no change in the overall leaders, with Christian and Sam extending their lead by a few points. The gold fleet leaders remain the same as Alex Warren and Jonty Freeman, silver is still Phil Emery and Phoebe Paine having another splendid day alongside bronze fleet leaders, with also no change, as Jon Steward and Christian Hill.
Thanks as always to our sponsors Aspire Financial Advisers, Allspars, Becky Bettesworth, CF by L and L, GK Engineering and In The Welsh Wind.
