News

‘Samanda’ sailed by Tim Medcalf and Valerie Hamill won both the Chindit Trophy and Eric Archer Memorial Trophy at Minima YC on Sunday.

Conditions were typically variable and spiced up by a large dose of racing canoes.

The Merlin Rocket DeMay and Thames Series have a number of races across the rest of the summer and it would be great to see more of the Tamesis fleet on the start line.  Dates can be found on the fixtures page of the Merlin Rocket owners association website.

Tim Medcalf

Including capsize drill

And sail setting on the Oppies

There was lots of good sailing in the afternoon including plenty  capsizies ,some of which were deliberate !

Thanks again to all the family “helpers”

Please check out Howard Thatcher’s photos of the day on the following link – expires in 6 days

https://wetransfer.com/downloads/973d90138fac6881cbda50353292f5a420190609154726/a4979dff5407f1258c293000bcd3de7a20190609154726/b240b4

See you next Sunday
Eric Finlayson

Lower turnout than usual – but they had a lot of fun – even managing a synchronized capsize (unusally unintentional)!  Thanks to Andy and Nim Harris and helpers for running such a fun session – lots of smiles.

The first of the June Thursday’s probably provided the best weather and turnout of the Saga series so far, with a south westerly which lasted the race, but not much more, and a turnout of 16 boats including 6 different classes. Of these the Merlins were the most numerous with 5 boats and including a first race for the Geoff Bayliss in his beautifully restored Merlin 1773, sailing with his son Tom.

With so many boats the start line was a little crowded, not helped by a substantial header as the gun went causing a few incidents as helmsman tried to find clear wind.  However Ken Duffell and Mattie in Avenger took an early lead, only to be overtaken by the Tanners in the RS400 who stretched out their lead as the race went on and eventually finished far enough ahead of the chasing Merlins to save their time and win on handicap.  The Merlins had a good battle with Charlie Morgan crewed by new member Humphrey Dorrell eventually overtaking Ken and Mattie who managed to keep ahead of the Adams recovering from self-induced chaos on the start line, and with the Bayliss team ever threatening behind them.  Behind them, Graham King sailed a tidy race the take third on handicap and the Fireflies raced in close formation around the course with Jim Hamilton eventually finishing 20 seconds ahead of Tim and Ed Medcalf with the Daltons a further 30 seconds behind.

This last round now means that 8 boats have qualified with Charlie Morgan taking the lead with 5 points, the Adams relegated to second with 9 points, but mathematically capable of catching Charlie if they win all three of the next races, as are the Tanners and Barry Mourant.  In third place is Ken Duffell on 15 followed by David Baker on 18, Stewart Colley on 21, Jim Hamilton on 25, Graham King on 26 and Chris Taggart on 34.  We still have three races to go and plenty of points to play for, or just the opportunity of a very nice way to end a Thursday.

Thanks to the hard work of the catering team, the conversation flowed during supper with talk of what might have been if the right wind shift had been seen,  an a diverse array of subjects totally unrelated to sailing.

So  for a good sail and a convivial evening, see you next Thursday.

Tim Medcalf crewed by Valerie Hamill in Samanda  (nr 596) took part in the Craftinsure Silver Tiller event at Ranelagh SC last Sunday 2nd June, coming 5th against stiff competition.

For full report and more photos please see the Y&Y report

https://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/218193/Merlin-Rockets-at-Ranelagh

Photos:  Richard Jarvis

With several new members plus many existing students we had a busy day with a strong Westerly wind causing a fair number of lee shore incidents but only one accidental capsize .

The Oppies were great as ever , crash helmets came in handy !

The Toppers had a good workout and the 2k with Mirror sail also did well .

We are still getting training enquires from the Push the Boat Out Open Day and are planning a stage 3/4 course shortly so it’s great that we have recently recruited some volunteer Assistant Instructors.

Eric Finlayson

Photos: Jonathan Key

Competitors for the Centenary Cup Pursuit Race were greeted by lots of sunshine and a blustery southwesterly wind.  The course was laid above Stevens Ait which provided a good beat upstream, and a spinnaker run back for those who used them.

Fifteen boats took part.  The first to start – a new member Mark Gardner in his Mallard together with three Toppers – Henry Medcalf, Mattie Key and Edward Buss were eventually caught by the fleet with Richard Harris and David Baker in their merlins passing the Laser sailed by Kaan Yargici.  The National 18′ sailed by Henry Defries was reeling them in, but not fast enough.

It was great to see the Toppers out, and also the very interesting Mallard who did very well. The Toppers were neck and neck until the end.

Thanks to OOD Charlie Morgan and crew for running the race and Sophie and team for feeding us.

Results:

1st Merlin               1079  Passing Cloud  Richard Harris and Emma Macdonald

2nd Merlin             1357   Chimp  David Baker and Jim Green

3rd  Laser               203911             Kan Yargici

4th National 18′  374       Zephyr  Henry Defries and Carolyne Vines

5th Merlin              3333  Saltarello   John Adams and Maisie Key

6th Merlin              3479  Ragtime     Rupert Fletcher and James Berry

7th  Mallard            2                             Mark Gardner

8th  Merlin             3520  Frogmarch Peter Impey and Suzy Impey

9th  Laser                           Matulin  John Edmundson

10th  Topper            36323                Henry Medcalf

11th   Topper           15138                  Matty Key

The cadets had a great time on Saturday.

Thanks to Andy Harris and helpers for organising the afternoon.

Thanks to Jonathan Key for the photos

Thursday’s westerly wind prompted OOD John Redding to set a PX course with a double dog leg to make sure that we were all alert at the end of the day.

The wind did persist for most of the evening to provide good racing.  Eleven boats took to the water , including 6 boat types and it was good to see juniors joining in the fun with Henry Medcalf, in the Topper and Alden and Esme Horwitz in a Laser 2000.

Ken Duffell and Mattie Valentine  in their Merlin Avenger were the early leaders, stretching out a sizeable lead.  However this is Tamesis and a couple of light patches allowed John and Zoe Adams in turn to head the fleet, only to be pegged back by Barry Mourant and Carolyne Vines in the third Merlin, Fair Kop, which took the lead and held it to the end, far enough ahead to also take the race on handicap.

Behind them Tim and Ed Medcalf in their Firefly Scallywag had been quietly taking advantage of the bursts of wind and avoiding the flat patches to finish fifth on the water but second overall, followed on handicap by the Merlins and then the Albacore, Cobblers, sailed by David Baker and crewed by Barbara Adams.

Class        Sail No.    Name                                Helm                        Crew                                                            Points