Salcombe Gin Merlin Rocket Week 2019 - Day 3

Competitors awoke on Tuesday morning to wall to wall sunshine and a faint easterly that soon died away. As the morning flights made their way across to Mill Bay the first signs of a sea breeze started to appear.

Blue v Green flights. Course sailed: 1,4,7

With an hour and a half still to go to high water, the start was against a still strongly flowing flood tide. With the breeze more in the SSE than a typical sea breeze there were good port lifts to take along the Portlemouth shore. Consequently, the start line close to the beach was a popular place to be.

Richard Whitworth and Jemima Scroggie are giving a master class in starting. This time they avoided the scrum on the beach but kept high up towards the line so that with ten seconds to go they were able to flip onto port and have a clear lane down the harbour where they soon hooked into new breeze and were away.

Behind them Christian Birrell and Sam Brearey were in a good second but, oh dear, they were to appear again on the board of death. The race office has now decided to put sail number 3788 on the board in permanent marker pen to save time on future starts. They were also joined by Olly Turner for the second time and also William Warren.

With a long run down tide to Yalton, Richard and Jemima were long gone leaving a battle for second. Pete Ballentine and Rob Allen, having another excellent race, rounded narrowly ahead of Steve Crook and Sally Townend. On the beat back up to the harbour Tim Fells and Frances Gifford came through to lead from the Chrises (Gould and Kilsby) and these two extend away from the chasing group on the run down to Gerston. From that point on it was a relatively straightforward beat back on slack tide to the finish.

Richard and Jemima took their second bullet to consolidate their leading position with 1,2,1. Tim and Frances kept the Chrises at bay for second and third. Will and Arthur Henderson got the better of Pete and Rob on the beat to the line for fourth and fifth and Anthony and Jo Gifford took sixth and are putting together a very tide series.

Day 3's morning race during Salcombe Gin Merlin Rocket Week 2019 - photo © Malcolm Mackley

Red v Black flights. Course sailed: 1,7,1,3,1,3

With wind holding in the SSE, the first leg to Blackstone was predominantly a port tack. With the ebb tide underneath them the good money was to start two thirds across the harbour and get onto port early.

Matt Biggs and Beka Jones executed this to perfection with the exception of being two boat lengths over the line. Their fun time leading the fleet was short-lived, handing the advantage to Mike and Jane Calvert, who love these lighter conditions. While the leaders were chasing each other down the Portlemouth shore, Sophie Mackley and James Ward sailed deep on a line of pressure off Biddle Head to soak over to the town side and then came through under Mike and Jane to take the lead into the Bag.

On the tour down to Gerston and back, Mike and Jane demonstrated their prowess in these conditions to take a healthy lead back into the harbour. From there on it was a routine sail with a fetch up to Blackstone and broad reach back to Crossways.

Mike and Jane took the bullet ahead of a delighted Sophie and Wardy. Taxi and Pippa had slowly climbed up through the fleet to take third ahead of Jen and Chris Dodds. Roger and Jane Gilbert added a useful fifth to their 1,3, with Tim Saxton and Holly Scott sixth. Rolling back the years, Pat and Jilly Blake took an excellent seventh.

With Alex Jackson and Mary Henderson outside the top ten, Richard Whitworth and Jemima Scroggie now have a nice overall lead and are going to take some beating.

The forecast for the second half of the week now has the wind swinging into the westerly quadrant and presenting the opportunity for crews to stretch their legs a bit.

Day 3's afternoon race during Salcombe Gin Merlin Rocket Week 2019 - photo © Malcolm Mackley

Results after day 3:

Day 3's afternoon race during Salcombe Gin Merlin Rocket Week 2019 - photo © Malcolm Mackley