Helly Hansen Merlin Rocket Week - Day 3
Published 18:54 on 1 Jul 2025
The third day dawned with light cloud and absolutely no wind in the harbour. As often happens at Salcombe, by the time the fleet started to launch a Southwesterly had started to establish itself and by the 10.30 start time there was 4-5 knots across the harbour.
Morning Race - Green v Blue, Course 1,3,1,3,2,3
With the last of the ebb holding the fleet back, it was an almost clean start with the good money going on a Portlemouth Beach start. Mike and Jane Calvert executed their start to perfection and were away up the beat with a comfortable lead. Giving chase were Chris Gould and Sophie Mackley together with the Alexes, Jackson and Warren.
On the first run, the leading group of six boats pulled away from the chasers, putting pressure on Mike and Jane who just kept ahead around Crossways. Dave Winder and Beka Jones continued to show great pace in their new boat to start to challenge the top three.
As the race progressed, the wind was switching Southerly giving some big port lifts and making the approach to Crossways challenging. This proved to be the deciding factor when on the final lap, Mike and Jane sat in a hole as the Alexes came up on pressure to take the lead around Crossways. On the final beat to the line, Mike and Jane again jumped into the lead but on the final approach to the line they fell out of pressure with the Alexes coming in above them to take their second bullet of the week by no more than a foot.
Mike and Jane came home a slightly disappointed second, adding to their great series and showing that their new boat really does have wheels. Chris and Sophie added third to their run of top three results ahead of Dave and Beka. James Goss and Chris White, who had never been far off the lead all race, came home fifth ahead of Jen and Chris Dodds who had flown up through the top ten.
Afternoon Race, Red v Black, Course 1,7,1,5
The breeze had increased to a healthy 10-14 knots for the afternoon race. Despite the outgoing ebb under them, the fleet started cleanly with Ed Bradburn and Jonny Coate getting a flier to cross the fleet. Notable for being buried at the start were event leaders Tom Gillard and Rachel Gray, race winners Christian Birrell and Sam Brearey and Olympic medalist Stu Bithell who took a full 15 seconds to clear the line.
The top of the beat was very shifty and those who managed to hook into the righty coming out of North Sands prospered. Tom Stewart and Rob Allen rounded first and headed for Mill Bay where unfortunately they and those following them fell into a hole. Those who gybed at Blackstone carried pressure over to the town side and down past the Ferry making a big jump on those persevering on the Portlemouth shore. Tim Saxton and Holly McArthur held a narrow lead from Christian and Sam along with Stu and Katherine Bithell who had made remarkable recoveries, as they headed off into The Bag.
By the return into the Harbour from Gerston, Christian and Sam had consolidated their lead from Ollie Meadowcroft and Pete Gray with Stu and Katherine battling for third with Will and Arthur Henderson. Tom and Rachel had made their expected recovery and climbed up to sixth.
On the run back down through the town, the leading three took the Portlemouth shore with Tom and Rachel making further gains on the town side. Off into The Bag with Christian and Sam still leading but upon their return Tom and Rachel had come through to win quite comfortably, a truly extraordinary performance having been down in the thirties on the first run. The history of Salcombe Merlin Week is dominated by Phil King who won 13 titles. On this performance it looks like Tom is the new Phil!
Christian and Sam followed home in second ahead of Stu and Katherine who are appearing for three days only. Ollie and Pete added a fourth to their impressive series ahead of Will and Arthur. Sixth place went to Matt and Hannah Greenfield who had sailed excellently all race.
