Sixteen boats turned out at Tamesis Club for the Silver Tiller and Thames Series, both sponsored by Craftinsure.
Racing at Tamesis on the River Thames is very much an exercise in zephyr seeking, quick reactions to significant wind direction changes, sometime 180 followed by 360 degrees, and local knowledge is key.
For readers unfamiliar with Tamesis it is a beautiful oasis of tranquillity in west London. Very picturesque with winds that are predominantly light as the water is not wide or open.
As an Open event the Silver Tiller introduced some modern Merlins known to win convincingly in the right conditions. But with the wind gods were not playing ball the competition remained with the narrow boats.
This resulted in the ultimate river boat – Passing Cloud 1079 – finishing overall winner, tied on five points with an even older Merlin, Crescendo 607 (mid-1950s) of Andrew Harris and Matty Key.
This pair relagating the relatively modern (’99ish) Luka 3560 of Ollie Houseman and Harriet Sandall to third place with six points.
A great weekend of sailing beautiful boats with intense racing. You had to see it to believe it, get involved.
The on-the-water competitive spirit was relaxed, and the breakfast and lunch were wonderful. There was no doubt everyone had a fabulous day and Tamesis, yet again, excelled in very positively demonstrating itself as a fun and friendly place to race.
Many thanks to all those at Tamesis for hosting the event.
The next Craftinsure Silver Tiller is at Lymington Town SC on Sunday 12 June.
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Merlin Rocket Silver Tiller – Birrell and Brearey rule at Whitstable
