Day 4 of Salcombe Gin Merlin Week and the top 5 are lining up to take the title.
The discard has not yet kicked in but if it had then the top positions are very close and look like this . . .
Richard Whitworth and Jemima Scroggie have 1,1,2 (5)
Roger and Jane Gilbert 1,1,3 (5)
Mike and Jane Calvert 1,2,2 (3)
Alex Jackson and Mary Henderson 1,2,2 (10)
Andy Davis and Pippa Kilsby 1,3,4 (12)
It is hard to see the winner coming from outside these top 5.
Morning Race – Blue v Black flights – For the first time this week there was a clean start. The majority of the fleet elected to start on the Portlemouth shore with Si Blake and Phil Dalby making of the best of it.
Roger and Jane Gilbert chose to start further out into the stream on port but with more pressure and soon slipped into second chasing Si and Phil out past Blackstone.
The Gilberts remained untroubled in the lead and sailed confidently through to take their second win of the week and put themselves right in the mix for the title.
Mike and Jane Calvert held onto a long port tack away from Crossways to sail through and take second place.
Afternoon Race – Green v Red flights – At the second start, the wind switched left allowing those who had positioned towards the Portlemouth shore to tack on to port and fly up the harbour with the tide under them.
The leading breakaway group of four to Blackstone were Taxi and Pippa Kilsby, Jenny and Chris Dodds, Richard Whitworth and stand in crew for the day Beka Jones and Steve Crook with Sally Townend.
Slowly the chasing group closed the gap to the leaders with Alex Jackson and Mary Henderson recapturing their form of the first two days to climb through to second at the line behind Taxi and Pippa who took their first win of the week.
Salcombe Gin Merlin Week – Leading positions after Day 4
1st 3691 Mike Calvert and Jane Calvert 2 3 1 2 – – 8 pts
2nd 3703 Richard Whitworth and Jemima Scroggie 1 2 1 5 – – 9 pts
3rd 3722 Roger Gilbert and Jane Gilbert 3 1 5 1 – – 10 pts
4th 3684 Andy Davis and Pippa Kilsby 4 8 3 1 – – 16 pts
5th 3795 Alex Jackson and Mary Henderson 2 1 12 2 – – 17 pts
6th 3742 Peter Ballantine and Rob Allen 7 2 5 4 – – 18 pts
7th 3726 Will Henderson and Arthur Henderson 1 7 4 8 – – 20 pts
8th 3803 Chris Gould and Chris Kilsby 3 12 3 4 – – 22 pts
9th 3735 Jenny Dodds and Chris Dodds 6 12 4 3 – – 25 pts
10th 3676 Antony Gifford and Jo Gifford 5 9 6 7 – – 27 pts
