420s at the John Merricks Tiger Trophy, Rutland Sailing Club

From: YachtsandYachting.com
420s at the John Merricks Tiger Trophy, Rutland Sailing Club
2/3 February 2008
By Miles Palmer 04:48 5 February 2008
Twenty-three 420s entered the
Tiger Trophy to honour the
memory of John Merricks in the
form of competitive but fair
sailing and above all having fun
throughout the weekend. Whilst
the forecast was for a relatively
light Saturday and windy
Sunday there was a fair breeze
all weekend, the programme of
three races on Saturday and a
pursuit race with over 200
entries on the Sunday certainly
whetted the appetite.
The 420s were part of the slow
fleet with Fireballs, Merlin
Rockets, Lasers and a few
RS200s, this meant that the
start line was congested and a
number of general recalls were
inevitable.
Photo © Tania Samus / photoblink.co.uk
Fantastic mixed-class racing at the Tiger Trophy 2008
Race one started in 15knts and
the fireballs smoked off the line,
the first beat was won by Anna
Burnet, only to be overhauled
by James Rusden, Matt
Rainback and Imogen Stanley.
As the wind picked up so did
the casualties, Imogen and
Kate MacGregor lost their mast
whilst changing settings, Ben
came in for a replacement
spinnaker and many more just
thought that it was far too cold
to go sailing.
Race 2 saw Hamish Stone win
the first beat, only for Matt
Rainback to storm past on the
reach. With the wind freshening
all the time the attrition rate
increased. Within the 420 fleet
line honours were taken by Matt
(who was 10th in the whole
fleet), followed by James and
Josh Pistol.
A few banged heads at the Tiger Trophy 2008
James decided to stamp his mark on Race 3 by leading from the start to finish and in the
process being first overall, followed by Ben Palmer and Ben Saxton in third. Matt decided that

thawing out was more appealing than completing the race and decided that the first beat
should be all the way to the showers. All of the 420 sailors returned to shore satisfied with a
hard day’s sailing if a little on the chilly side. The evenings festivities went off with the usual
verve, but the editor cannot comment on any specifics!!
Sunday dawned with a South Easterly at over 20 knots and forecast to have gusts in the 30s
during what was to be an eventful pursuit race. The race was set at 2 hours with the 420s
starting at just 9 minutes in. The course was set up to provide early spectator entertainment
from the club house. So with a short beat, it was James Rusden followed by Ben Saxton who
hit the bear-away mark first and latched on to an almighty gust that took them clear of the
fleet. Anna Burnet with crew David Kohler followed for a couple of laps until a capsize saw
them overtaken by Matt and Ben Palmer. During the next lap, James managed to tip it in to
windward and then was seen sailing off without his crew and had to retire. Matt and Ben had
a dingdong battle for the whole two hours, which Ben won by one boat length at the end.
Whilst all of this was going on Ben and Tim Saxton only had one thing on their minds to win
the race, this almost came to a sticky end as Ben pulled the rudder off the stern and forced a
capsize. But with Dylan Fletcher and Align Sign just yards away in a 29er the hooter went and
Ben had won the pursuit race.
Congratulations to Ben and Tim and many thanks to all of the volunteers at Rutland who
made the event so enjoyable and safe, but above all to the John Merricks Trust who organise
this wonderful event
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