Evening Folks

So who is heading to Starcross for the Steamer this weekend. Conditions looking good, just hope we have a Northerly/Southerly and not Westerly that may be the case.

B14s will be there and wondered if we'd be chasing down many Merlins this year.

See you there.

Something of a day of carnage!  Mike Mackie - we have your centreboard tip....:

merlins doing well

It seems as if the B14's did not do much chasing!

Ah but if you had been there you would have seen at least one flying around gardually picking off the Merlins. JG/TL definitely had us on their radar expecting a visit during the race. For a high performance dinghy, jumping off waves was hard work on both the boat and bodies. Went airbourne upwind and that hurt on landing. Great event, but one of the hardest sails I've had, mainly due to the sea state and how short in was. Wind gusts peaked at 37 mph during the race. Then the 3.5 hour drive home and for Dan another 1.5 hours. Worth it though, even if we did not finish, but did not capsize and felt in control, even when we nodived 3/4 of the boat into a wave at 15°!!!

See you at the Tiger in The Beast

Forgt to mention we had a screw/fitting come loose, so headed home undamaged and safe for another day

There was a great Merlin turnout with 13 boats on the water, although several other local crews decided to spectate, myself included.  Jon Gorringe and Toby Lewis finished 2nd overall and gave a masterclass in heavy air technique - one of the very few boats to risk flying their spinny.  Local team Mike Mackie and Roger Nutall were also sailing very well and led the Merlin fleet at several points in the race until a broken centreboard sadly put them out of the game.  Also a mention in dispatches must go to Vyv Game and Mike Tucket, sailing the veteran 3473, who were the only Starcross Merlin to finish and a creditable 14th overall.