Ranelagh
Sailing
Club
Merlin Rocket Open Meeting
Ranelagh
Merlin Rocket Open Meeting
2002
RTYC
Merlin Rocket Open Meeting
 The Embankment, Putney, SW15
1LB 020 8788 4986
Sunday February 8th 2004
14.30 Start
First
race in the Thames Series for 2004
Contacts:- Thomas
Stolper, Class Captain, 020 8812 3899
merlinrocket@ranelagh-sc.co.uk
Nick Price, Commodore, 020
8870 9234
commodore@ranelagh-sc.co.uk
In view of recent interest
we will also be awarding a prize for the first boat with a sail number of less
than 2900 based on the handicaps for old boats in the yearbook ie.
2833 - 3000 PY + 30
2165 - 2832 PY + 40
1616 - 2164 PY + 50
895 - 1615 PY + 60
500 - 894 PY + 70
Below 500 PY + 80
There is a highish tide forecast for Sunday so cars should be left up the side
roads or on a goodish rise along the embankment. Map on the Club web page,
www.ranelagh-sc.co.uk
Club will be open from about 12.30 with free tea, coffee and biscuits as well as
more substantial fare after the race. (Or less substantial depending on your
tastes)!
Ranelagh
Sailing Club
Spring Open Meeting and Silver Tiller
2 February 2003
(Pictures after report)
26 Merlins traveled to
Ranelagh for the first Silver Tiller meeting of the year and were rewarded with
a testing sail in blustery conditions. The
snow and ice of the previous week had melted, in Putney at least, and the
forecast was good with a Westerly 4-5 being predicted.
Unfortunately, a Westerly wind at Putney tends to mean a lot of close
reaching with little beating or running in the race. This transpired to be the case, however it did anything other
than make the race processional. The
testing conditions made for close tactical racing testing both the reactions and
boat handling of all the competitors.
The race, as usual, was set up and
down a mile long stretch of the river with a club line start meaning the whole
fleet starting on port tack. The
leading bunch quickly emerged as those who had got a good start in clear wind. The exception to this was our esteemed chairman Pat Blake,
ably crewed by Alex Jackson, who were a long way behind the leading bunch when
the gun went (more of these two later!).
First round the Hammersmith buoy was
Simon Blake crewed by Linton Jenkins in Manana.
Simon and Linton had pulled out a comfortable lead by the first buoy and,
barring disaster only had to sail safely to take the meeting.
Not surprisingly, they did just this and recorded their first Sliver
Tiller win of the year. Formidable
stuff.
The battle behind these two was
intense with many place changes and some close racing.
Getting off to a good start was J McLaughlin who was second behind Simon
and Linton, after the first lap, slipping to finish 7th by the end of
the race. William Warren crewed by
Rachel Cooper climbed from 4th at the end of the first lap to 2nd
by the finish and the prize for the greatest recovery must go to Chairman Blake
and Master Jackson who recovered from their poor start to take 3rd on
the line. Andy Harris crewed by Rob
Wilder gave a good demonstration their river sailing skills with a consistent
race finishing in 4th place by the end.
All
in all, the club put on a well run meeting, John Stokes had his collection of
old Merlin photos on display which include pictures of Jack Holt and Beecher
Moore sailing Merlins at Ranelagh in the 50’s and the famous tideway race
sponsored by the Evening Standard with the best part of 80 Merlins racing to
Tower Bridge and back in a Westerly gale in the 60’s (historians, I stand to
be corrected on the details)!
Now that the Silver Tiller is under
way, does that mean it’s summer?
Results:
|
1st
|
3612
|
Manana
|
Simon Blake & Linton
Jenkins
|
Cookham Reach SC
|
|
2nd
|
3580
|
Chambulls
|
William Warren & Rachel
Cooper
|
Shoreham SC
|
|
3rd
|
3620
|
Cool Cookie
|
Pat Blake & Alex Jackson
|
Cookham Reach SC
|
|
4th
|
3599
|
Harry
|
Andy Harris & Rob Wilder
|
Tamesis
|
DUNCAN IS FIT AGAIN!
(Ranelagh SC Merlin Rocket Open, River Thames Series, 10th February 2002)
"Over the winter, we have
spent an awful lot of time on two-boat-tuning, weight lifting and boat handling
to get fit for the Ranelagh Open", admitted Duncan Salmon winner of the RSC
Merlin Rocket Open. This commitment was a result of a very poor performance
during the previous Merlin Open at Ranelagh, last autumn, where Salmon only
managed a second place after a subscription-like series of wins during the last
couple of years.
The newly acquired boat handling
skills allowed Duncan Salmon and Ian Garwood (3575) to catch the first gust
after the start and pull away from the field. They won the race on the usual
sausage course between Putney Bridge and Hammersmith Bridge with a lead of more
than two minutes over Colin Brockbank (3589). Andy Jones (3571) crossed the line
in third position. The top six places remained unchanged during the race.
South-westerly winds on the
north-westerly course provided plenty of reaching but the bend in the river and
the odd wind shift made timing for the spinnaker hoist tricky.
Two N12 sailors from Ranelagh,
Christopher Edwards and Bim Daser chartered John Stokes' NSM2 (3288) and
displayed a steep learning curve as they swapped their jib-stick for a spinnaker
pole. On the last straight, they sailed past Mervyn Allan (3522) and finished
sixth despite an individual recall. Relating to his OCS, Bim Daser complained
about the lengthy bell ringing business from the race officers, which made it
difficult to know when exactly the preparatory and start signals were given.
However, nobody else seemed to have similar problems...
After the race there were rumours
that Andrew Mills (3347) had some problems identifying the up-river mark on the
difficult 2-buoy-course. Apparently, this resulted in Paul Gilbert (3466) being
sailed past the mark. Subsequently, both "enjoyed" the closest
racing during the day and in the end, it was Andrew Mills who finished one
second in front of Paul Gilbert.
1st 3575 Gravadlax Duncan Salmon / Ian Garwood Wembley SC
2nd Fat Bottom Colin Brockbank / Martin Hughes Wembley SC
3rd Hakuna Matata Andy Jones / Ben Jones Cookham SC
| 
Ranelagh Sailing Club
