Merlin Rocket Craftinsure Silver Tiller Round 4 at SYC

The weekend of the 1st and 2nd of June was officially the start of summer and, boy, was it, as the Merlin Rocket Craftinsure Silver Tiller headed to sunny Starcross Yacht Club.

The first race start was due at 1230, however, the water didn't arrive, so a delay for an hour. Race 1 kicked off at 1.30 in a fantastic 15 to 20 knots and sunshine. The order of the day was three windward leeward courses to save bouncing off sea bed, which was achieved by all.

The racing during the day was really, really close, 'sausage' courses to really keep the fleet compact. Race 1 was pretty much dominated by Chris Gould 'Gouldy' and Sophie Mackley with Ed Chapman and Sam Brearey, Ollie Meadowcroft and Pete Nicholson not far behind.

Race 2: Will and Arthur Henderson did a stunning port flyer and were gone, race over!! Mike and Jane Calvert got going with a 2nd, Ed and Sam constantly up there with a 3rd.

In the final race of the day, we (Matt Biggs and Beka Jones) finally got going and even led for a while, but not when it counted ?. Gouldy and Sophie first again, Matt and Beka second, Mike and Jane third.

Day 2, what a day, not a cloud in the sky, a bit of a breeze and a late start (time to recover from Saturday night) perfect.

Racing was again delayed for an hour, waiting for the water, but eventually got away at 2ish. Dave Lee and Angela Bridges nailed the first boat to lead around the first mark, followed by Matt and Beka with Mike and Jane on their tail.

By the end Matt and Beka took the win with Mike and Jane in second, giving them an overall meeting by one point. Dave and Angela did incredibly well to hold on and take the third, who says local knowledge doesn't help?

With a cut-off time to start race 5 at 4pm and the wind dying, the race officer decided to call it a day and we headed in to sit in the sunshine.

A big thank-you to Starcross Yacht Club Russell Gibbs PRO and his race team and in particular to Stave Harling for putting on a great event and making us all very welcome.

Also thanks to our series sponsor Craftinsure for their continued support and to CF by L and L for sponsoring this year's SW Series.

The next Craftinsure Silver Tiller is at Whitstable on the 22nd and 23rd June and the next SW Series is at Weymouth Sailing Club on 28th and 29th September.

Overall Results:

Report by Matt Biggs; images ©Garnett Showell and Heather Davies.