Tight finish

Just one point separated the low scoring leaders at the Merlin Rocket's Silver Tiller

33 Merlin Rockets arrived at Whitstable to be greeted by light airs and sunshine. Would the sea breeze kick in or would it remain light and shifty. It looked as if R/O Jon Silk and his team would have their work cut out.

Day one and with two races scheduled the weather was going to be the big player today.

Race 1 kicked off in a light breeze with The Black Pearl (Will Warren/Chris Robinson) and Business As Usual (Glenn Truswell/Ollie Turner) taking up the charge. Over the first two laps it was to be these two vying for the lead with the pack in hot pursuit. However, the breeze had other ideas and on lap 3 the Fat Lady sung. The pressure dropped and changed direction. The big beneficiary was 2 Pints of Lager (Matt Biggs/Rob Kennaugh) who worked their way into the lead and extended to a commanding lead, finishing 15 minutes in front of Keyser Soze (Andy Davis/Ellie Bremner) and Smart Tart (Simon Blake/Phil Dalby). Top local boat was Devilled Kidney (Dan Parsons/Hamish Kilburn).

With the breeze dying, the fleet headed for shore. Saturday night followed the usual pattern of partying and late night clubbing, but who would survive to the enjoy the following day.

Sunday and the fleet were greeted with fog. Following a 45 minute postponement, the fleet launched at 1030 to hopefully get 3 races in.



Race 3, and straight into the black flag with 3 binned on the first recall. On the restart, it was Business as Usual that led off the start and held the middle right to lead round the windward mark and gradually pull away from the fleet to win by 2 minutes 25 seconds. Second was the Black Pearl followed by Keyser Soze, Quick Fix (Mike Calvert/Ian Garwood) and Time & Tide (John Bell/Graham Williamson).

Race 4 and this time a General Recall under the Blue Peter, going straight into the black flag. This time the fleet were caught by a left shift and so were shy of the line on a flood tide. Tacking out of the middle of the line, it was Livestrong (Chris Lewns/Tom Pygall) and Stomper (Tom Stewart/Liam Dempsey) that cleared the fleet and headed off into the lead as the sea breeze built to a force 3. Throughout the first beat it was to be these two that swapped the lead but at the windward mark Livestrong led by 25 seconds from Business as Usual who had overtaken Stomper, only to hit the mark and spun, rejoining in third. Livestrong held their 25 second margin over Stomper for the two laps to the finish. Stomper was closely followed by Business as Usual, Keyser Soze and The Black Pearl.

With Business as Usual and Keyser Soze veying for the meeting, all was to play for. The final race, race 2 held over from the previous day, was to be sailed in a force 3 fading to force 2. On this occasion after the first general recall, the restart was again under the black flag. Monkey Business (Alex Jackson/Chris Whitehouse) won the pin and held the left hand side of the beat with Smart Tart. Leading round the windward mark, Monkey Business was followed by Smart Tart. Both were hounded but not passed by Business as Usual and Keyser Soze for the first lap with Smart Tart slipping to fourth. Then it was Keyser Soze who first past Monkey Business, then Business as Usual who was under pressure to stay in the chase. With Keyser Soze looking to take the event, it was Business as Usual that proved they can pull the rabbit out of the hat to claw second and take the meeting by one point.

A well run event both on and off the water. With hopefully god conditions as bodes well for the Nationals in August. The next meeting is Salcombe Week on 11 July with 100 boats attending.

Results:

Pos	Boat	Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	Tot	Net
1	BUSINESS AS USUAL	Glen Truswell	Olly Turner	-5	2	1	3	11	6
2	KEYSER SOZE	Andy Davis	Ellie Bremer	2	1	-4	4	11	7
3	THE BLACK PEARL	W Warren	C Robinson	-6	4	2	5	17	11
4	2 PINTS OF LAGER	Matt Biggs	Rob Kennaugh	1	6	-7	6	20	13
5	LIVESTRONG	Chris Lewns	Tom Pygall	-12	7	8	1	28	16
6	STOMPER	Tom Stewart	Liam Dempsey	-11	8	6	2	27	16
7	MONKEY BUSINESS	Alex Jackson	Chris Whitehouse	4	3	-34	9	50	16
8	SMART TART	Simon Blake	Phil Dalby	3	5	11	-13	32	19
9	QUICK FIX	Mike Calvert	Ian Garwood	8	-13	3	10	34	21
10	TIME AND TIDE	John Bell	Duncan Bell/Graham Williamson	-15	9	5	11	40	25
11	HOT TOTTY	Pat Blake	Jill Blake	-35	10	10	7	62	27
12		Jon Gorringe	Pete Horn	-17	12	9	8	46	29
13	DEVILLED KIDNEY	Dan Parsons	Hamish Kilburn	7	15	12	-21	55	34
14	ATTACK OF THE CLONES	Dave Winder	Pippa Taylor	13	11	-15	12	51	36
15	BRAZILIAN	Phil Emery	Sophie Mackley	10	14	14	-18	56	38
16	TIGER TIGER	Alan Warren	James Warren	9	18	13	-19	59	40
17	COOL COOKIE	Andy Bines	Derick Gentry	20	-21	16	14	71	50
18	STILL NOT OVER	Ross Jackson	Dave Reid	-21	17	17	16	71	50
19	BOLA BOLA	John Cooper	Hilary Bradshaw	-26	19	18	15	78	52
20	SLIPPERY WHEN WET	Will Rainey	Kelly Miller	-35	16	19	17	87	52
21	TWINKLE TOES	Robert O'Toole	Suzie Bell	18	-24	20	20	82	58
22	INDECISION	David Proctor	Teresa	14	-25	22	23	84	59
23	DARK 'N' STORMY	David Charlton	Celia Charlton	16	20	-34	25	95	61
24		Rien Zivold	Austen Scully	-25	22	23	24	94	69
25	KIND OF BLUES	N Forwood	Will Lowes	19	26	25	-29	99	70
26	MELLOW YELLOW	Alan Jackson	Lorna Laval	-35	23	27	22	107	72
27	IF	Paul Aldridge	Melissa Sorrell	22	-28	24	27	101	73
28	LIGHT FANTASTIC	Tim Harridge	Ben Harridge	23	-29	26	28	106	77
29	TOO DARK N STORMY	Richard Page	Elizabeth Page	-35	31	21	26	113	78
30	AUNT FANNY	Stuart Gurney	Donna Rouse	24	-34	29	32	119	85
31	WHITE SAUCE.ER.ER	Mike Fitzpatrick	Gary Danilewicz	31	27	-34	30	122	88
32	POACHED SALMON	Steve Mitchell	Ken Fobbester	-31	30	28	31	120	89
33	MIDNIGHT FLIGHT	Douglas Maxwell	Sheridan Killwick	28	32	30	-33	123	90
34	THE BIG ISSUE	Richard Davis	Olivia Bell	27	-35	35	35	132	97