Report by Sarah Conlon

This weekend Nine Merlin Rockets travelled to Brightlingsea for the Women’s Championships. A windy forecast kept numbers low but all those who attended had a fantastic weekend!

Saturday was set to be our training day, and this went ahead in some heavy wind conditions. Coaches Mike Calvert and Chris Gould (supported by local Merlin expert Pete Nicholson) gave individualised tips to every boat resulting in a really worthwhile few hours on the water. This also gave all boats the chance to get used to the short choppy waves that Brightlingsea has. The main takeaway from the coaching was simple- a flat boat is a fast boat- through varying crew weights and set ups, everyone achieved improvements to boat speed and confidence in windier conditions. The day was completed with a tasty BSC supper and casual evening in the clubhouse.

Sunday dawned with much more favourable weather conditions; the wind built throughout the day steadily from 6-15knots from the south, which gave us a good sailing area and ability to watch some of the boats blasting along in the East Coast Piers Race on the horizon. PRO Oz and team set a great course and start line which made us all a bit keen for race one- straight off the bat we had our first (and only) general recall of the day! Learning our lesson, we had a clean retry and all got away onto the first beat. Mary Henderson & Jane Calvert led race 1 from start to finish but this was closely fought with Caroline Gould & Livvy Bell and Rebecca Videlo & Megan Pascoe. The tide appeared quite slack, and shifts were relatively small, so this eased us into the day nicely.

Race 2 began with slightly more breeze and the tide beginning to turn, Sarah Conlon & Tom Ballentine came off the pin at full speed and led the first lap and a half, keeping Caroline & Livvy and Mary & Jane just behind. An unfortunate hole on the final downwind left them 3^rd in this race with Caroline & Livvy taking the lead and Mary & Jane just behind. Next a strong battle between 4^th to 6^th was taking place which finished with Rebecca Bines & Eddie Bridle 4^th, followed by Antonia Wright & Ally Hall, then Abi Clegg & Ben Clegg.

For race 3, Sarah & Tom took the same pin start tactic and got the boat moving quickly to keep a lead from start to finish. Caroline & Livvy pipped Mary & Jane- keeping things interesting going into the final race of the day.

Race 4 was certainly windier across the course and hiking legs were beginning to fatigue! Mary & Jane sailed away to a convincing win, securing the overall prize. Rebecca & Megan took 2^nd with Caroline 3^rd. 4^th and 5^th was close between sisters Rebecca and Sarah, but Rebecca took 4^th in the end.

At the prizegiving spot prizes were given to Rebecca Bines, Abi Clegg and Amelia Little for competing in their first Merlin events as helms and overall prizes were given to Sarah & Tom in 3^rd, Caroline & Livvy in 2^nd and Mary & Jane in 1^st being the overall Women’s champions.

Thanks go to the organisers at Brightlingsea as well as those involved from the Merlin Rocket Association, who pulled together a cracking event!