SALCOMBE GIN MERLIN ROCKET WEEK DAY FOUR

Published 14:04 on 13 Jul 2023

The breeze was again from the South West blowing F3-4 with the best pressure down the Portlemouth shore, forecast to increase over 20 knots as the race progressed.

RACE 7: BLUE v BLACK Flights, COURSE 1,7,1,3,1,3

The Portlemouth shore was again the popular place to start with those who were a bit further off the beach benefiting from a lift that took them up the shore towards Mill Bay. Matt and Hannah Greenfield one a tight battle to round first from Jon Gorringe and Matt Currell, Taxi and Olly, and Tim Fells and Fran Gifford.

As the leaders ran through The Bag they were drawn into sailing a high line allowing Mike Calvert and Emma Clarke to take pressure through on the lower route to jump into the lead. As the leaders passed Saltstone, the breeze game in strongly for a screaming reach out to Gertson and back. Chris Gould and Sophie Mackley came through to chase Mike and Emma and these two extended away on the beat back against the tide up to Blackstone.

Mike and Emma were flying and extended away to win comfortably. Behind the leading two, there was a race long battle which eventually resolved itself with Taxi and Olly taking third ahead of Jon and Matt. Caroline Croft and Peter Gray took fifth with Will and Rob Henderson just pipping Tim and Fran for sixth.

First Silver Fleet were again Steve and Ally Tyler in 13th with Richard Page and Lizzy Dalby winning Bronze in 32nd.

RACE 8: RED v GREEN Flights, Course 1,4,1,4,1,3

With the sun out and a solid F4-5 blowing down the harbour, the afternoon fleet were in for a full-on blast. The start was at the top of the tide with the fleet spread out across the harbour. Initially those closer to the town side had a nice lift, with Arthur Henderson and Tom Ballantine showing well, but a left shift allowed Christian Birrell and Sam Brearey to cross over and pick a starboard lift to round ahead of Tom and Rachael, Arthur and Tom, and Ian Dobson and Ally Potts.

Tom and Rachael picked some great pressure lines down through the harbour to take a good lead at Yalton and looked like they were on the march to their fourth bullet. However, Christian and Sam were flying and ate their way into contention on the long beat back and took the lead at Blackstone. From this point they extended, finding all the strongest gusts down the run to Yalton.

In a very impressive demonstration of strong wind sailing, the top four battled for every advantage, with Ian and Ally coming through to take second on the line behind Christian and Sam, and Arthur and Tom also getting the better of Tom and Rachael for third. James Goodfellow and Rick Comes had a storming race for fifth ahead of Simon Potts and Oliver Hatley.

Behind the leaders there were many capsizes as the rugged conditions took their toll but 38 of the 42 starters made it home.

Tom and Ed low took Silver in 17th and Stuart Jenkins and Nicola Scaddan took Bronze in 33rd.

The PRO has decided that the forecast for Friday is going to make sailing and the recovery of boats from Mill Bay an impossibility, so racing has been cancelled. This means there will be no discard which closes the door for Christian and Sam and also Ian and Ally. Tom and Rachael hold a four point lead over Chris and Sophie with Taxi and Olly a further two points back.