Helly Hansen Salcombe Merlin Week - Day 6
Published 10:33 on 5 Jul 2025
The final day of Helly Hansen Salcombe Merlin Week dawned to another day of blue skies with a light Southwester forming in the harbour and forecast to increase. The overall result was still up for grabs with both leading protagonists in the morning race.
Morning Race, Red v Black, Course 1,3,1,3,1,3
With the flood tide against, the fleet split to both ends of the line with Tom Gillard and Rachel Gray starting near the Watch House and Christian Birrell and Sam Brearey on the Portlemouth shore. Tom and Rachel were soon into a port hander and stretching away into the lead up past Woodville Rocks at which point they crossed the tide with a comfortable lead over the Portlemouth side boats. They looked to be on their way to a clear lead at Blackstone but Tom Stewart and Rob Allen who had carried on up through Crab Pots came in on a lovely righty to take the lead with David and Sarah Scanlon in third.
By the leeward mark, Tom and Rachel had won inside boat and were away, stretching out on the beat back up to Blackstone. David and Sarah were going very well battling with Tom and Rob for second until the top of the third beat when Simon and Anna Blake came from the town side to join the fight along with Will and Arthur Henderson.
Tom and Rachel continued with their demonstration sail to come home far ahead for their fourth bullet and to comprehensively take the title for the fifth consecutive year. A truly sensational performance.
On the final beat to the finish, Will and Arthur won the inside berth off Fishermans to cross over and take second at the Watch house, closely followed by Tom and Rob in third and Simon and Anna in fourth. Doing very well coming up the town side, Christian and Sam jumped into fifth ahead of Tim Saxton and Holly McArthur.
Afternoon Race, Green v Blue, Course 1,4,1,3,1,3
A perfect Salcombe afternoon to finish off the week with wall to wall sunshine and a moderate Southwesterly with some punchy gusts. With the start of the ebb flowing the fleet lined up for a clean start and a right hander gave those at the town end the advantage. Tim Fells and Fran Gifford were in the prime spot and consolidated their control of the right side to round Blackstone ahead.
On the long run down to Yalton, Chris Gould and Sophie Mackley reached across some big gusts to jump up into the lead from Tim and Fran with Mary and Rupert Henderson-White tight behind.
These three teams had a close battle around the next two laps with each taking a turn in the lead. Mary and Rupert led onto the last run but Tim and Fran were able to gybe across the tide in pressure to secure inside boat at Crossways and lead back to take the win, a great way to sign off their partnership.
Mary and Rupert were an impressive second ahead of Chris and Sophie in third which was enough to secure them second overall. Dave Winder and Beka Jones completed a very consistent run of top five results to take fourth, with Mike and Jane Calvert fifth and Alex Jackson and Alex Warren sixth to secure them fourth overall.
And so ends another fantastic week of Merlin Rocket racing in the beautiful and challenging Salcombe Ria. We have again witnessed a performance of the highest order by Tom Gillard and Rachel Gray. Given the depth and quality of talent in the fleet, they are sailing on a different level and it has been an absolute privilege to witness. Can anyone challenge them? We will find out when the 2026 edition of this great event comes around on 5-10 July.
