A huge thank you to Will, Sophie and their team of helpers who together made for a simply awesome week both on and off the water.

Tenby Sailing Club pulled out all the stops from setting lovely courses despite the shifty conditions to the welcoming catering and bar team for pre sailing breakfast and brews to post sailing drinks and chips!

We loved every minute, even when we both went for a dip at separate times on one beat! Looking forward to Looe and progressing up the Silver fleet!!

Lou & Mark

Thanks very much to Tenby and also to Will and Sophie for a great champs.  It did somewhat take it's toll on the boat and fittings, so I would also just like to give a big public thank you to Phil Scott and Chris Martin for their fantastic help in sticking about 6 feet of side deck stringer and carlin back together on Wednesday night so I could sail again on the Thursday and Friday!  What a team, and surprising how many useful bits you can find in the £1.20 shop in Tenby at 7pm, many many thanks.

Total toll for the week then, 1 side deck falling apart, a scarf on a frame failed, a couple of big holes in a spinny , a broken gooseneck and a broken pole end.

There are apparently some photo sequences and some video of a couple of the more entertaining sailing manoevres I performed, such as the gybe in which I got caught up in the pole that fell off the boom, and missing the toestraps and falling out of the boat on the start line.

Thanks to James for putting up with all this comedy at the front end, though it has completely deterred him from wooden boat ownership!

Andrew & Heaven Sent

Thanks to Will, Sophie and all of the Tenby team for a brilliant week and our first Merlin Nationals. Sorry my back couldn't get fixed as successfully as Andy's side deck and we only managed two full races. Just as well really as the social programme was pretty full on too. Thanks to all the sponsors but in particular Steve and Sarah (the sailing gloves and visor have already been pressed into use) and to Taxi and Chris ( the lunchtime barrel of beer was inspired). Best wishes to Minicab. Will be back at Looe next year to try and do better ie at least 3 races. Ian and Angela