Speed Sails have put together this tuning guide to help you set your boat up close to its ideal settings. These settings should be regarded as a starting point for fine tuning as individual boats and crews may need to alter them slightly for best performance. When you have your boat set up, remember to mark everything so that the settings can be reproduced quickly.

Speed Sails Merlin Tuning Guide

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We've been busy lately adding Milanes Foils to our website for many classes.  So if your looking for a new Rudder, Centreboard for your Boat, Milanes foils are the way to go!.  Heres a bit about Milanes

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The Merlins arrived at Hayling joint with the Solo's, unfortunately it was a bit two windy for the Merlins and sat it out, instead everyone watched the few Solo's race around in the harbour in the 25 knot plus wind.

Sunday began a different day and the first race was dinghy sailing at its best with the eighteen knot south westerly meaning lots of surfing and exciting downwind rides. Geoff Carveth and Graham Williamson led around the windward mark chased closely by Speed Sails sailors Andy & Tom, Andy & Tom managed to pass Geoff & Graham down wind to lead. John Gorringe & Toby Lewis gave a hard chase, Geoff and Graham managed to pass Andy & Tom up the last beat and held it until the finish. 

For the second race of the day the wind had increased and despite following Chris Martin and Ben Hendon into the first mark, William Warren and Chris Robinson won, Gorringe/Lewis had worked their way up the fleet to second. Third place was taken by Simon Lytton and Jackie Lytton, newcomers to the fleet who sailed an absolute blinder closely followed by Andy & Tom on a late charge.

It was at this point that the RO Roger Palmer received a BrambleMet wind reading of thirty knots plus and wisely decided to abandon racing for the rest of the day. It was consistency that won the day; as Gorringe and Lewis, who hadn’t left the top three throughout the competition, came first overall. Warren and Robinson took second with Andy and Tom in third place tying on points.

This year saw Salcombe provide excellent weather, Jon Gorringe & Toby Lewis put up a strong battle finishing second in every race. Simon Blake & Alex Jackson managed to defend there title and come out champions once again.

Again another great performance for Speed Sails Jon & Toby, Matt & Ben and Rich & Chris all using Speed Sails and finishing in the top 6.

Check out the link below for the full results.

Full Results

Photo Courtesy of John Murrell.

Congratulations to John Gorringe & Toby Lewis who came out on top at Lyme Regis. John & Toby held their form from the inlands and showed great pace in the shifty offshore breeze. Andy & Tom also showed great consistency, unfortunately for them they had an OCS in the race that they won which means they didn't tie for the lead.

Speed sailmaker borrowed Matt Biggs's boat as Matt was away on business, this was the first time that he had sailed a Merlin since he won the nationals back in 1999. Sailing with Ben Hollis showed good pace as well and finished 4th.

Again another great result for Speed Merlin sails in the Silver Tiller.

The Merlin Inlands were held at Draycote and John Gorringe & Toby Lewis stormed to victory using Speed Sails, they won every race on the Saturday. Our own Andy & Tom won the only race on the Sunday showing superb speed in the 30 knots+ breeze.

Only one race was held on the Sunday which proved a bit to windy for the second race, so with that it was enough to give John & Toby the title, Andy & Tom finished second.

8 of the top 11 were using Speeds, this is a great result for all the hard work we have been putting into our sails and the service we provide.

Congratulations to John & Toby and all those using Speeds.

Speeds have been well up in all of the Silver Tiller open meetings so far, 9 of the top 15 are using Speeds.

Showing consistency already Matt Biggs & Ben Hollis top the series, there's still along way yet but we wish them the best of luck.

Hamble was the first event of the season, Andy & Tom came out on top. This is the third year in a row that Andy has won this event.

Salcombe was the next event and it didn't disappoint, it was certainly snakes and ladders going through the bag and the event was certainly won and lost in there. Stuart Bithell had a nice romantic weekend, sailing with his girlfriend they finished 2nd to Ian Dobson & Andy Tunnicliffe, Matt & Ben came home third.

Chichester followed Salcombe and shared the weekend with Midland. Matt & Ben were victorious at Chichester, Simon Blake second and Will Warren & Sophie Mackley third. On Sunday Mike Calvert & Ian Garwood won with Andy & Tom in second, Matt & Ben in third.

Beautiful sunshine greeted everyone to Banbury, unfortunately the wind didn't turn up. Andy stepped in for Ben Hollis to crew for Matt Biggs. Matt & Andy sniffed out the tricky shifts to win the first two races, Duncan Salmon and his new super crew Harriet Salmon won the last race to give them second spot. Simon Blake & Alex Jackson came home in third.

After Banbury the light winds followed to Cookham. With not much wind the boats to be in were the tricked up old boats, Duncan Salmon was the first modern Merlin finishing fourth. One crew to watch for in the future is young Jack Tosh, Jack finished 5th at the Banbury open with Richard Whitworth and then 2nd at Cookham sailing with Martin Hunter.

It certainly all changed around for the open at Rutland, with wind gusting upto 30 knots it proved testing for all. Andy this time sailing with of our young sailmakers Chris who won all three races. The battle for second ended up with Will Warren & Chris Robinson and Matt & Ben finishing third.

Brightlingsea brought a bit of everything, all wind conditions were seen in all the races, thankfully the sun was out all weekend. It was neck and neck between Andy & Tom Stewart. Tom came out on top with Andy second, Matt & Ben finished third.

Pictures courtesy of Pat Blake.

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A light northerly shifting breeze made for tough sailing for handicap racing sponsored by Speed Sails, 2 races were sailed with the fleet split into Fast and Slow fleet starts.

In the first race the 3 Merlin Rockets and the Phantom of Mike Tustin romped ahead leaving the Slow Fleet trailing far behind as the breeze died. Matt Biggs crewed by Ben Hollis in his Merlin established a 3 minute lead over Andy and Richie Adams whilst Richard Dee and Chris duelled with Mike Tustin in his Phantom. The Albacore of Neville Herbert finished 4th on handicap.

The slow fleet had a closer tussle between the Bartley Streaker of Debbie Degge leading the Solo’s of Brian Stammers and Graham Robinson over the line.

The second race started in a reasonable breeze and Matt Biggs tussled with Andy enjoyed another Merlin benefit with a very close finish and Richard Dee followed in 3rd place. The Albacore again came through on handicap in 4th place.

The slow fleet slide further back as the wind faded after Fast Fleet leaders finished their race. This led to more mixed results in the fleet with Solo’s leading the way on handicap with Dave Brand winning race 2 from Trevor Thomas but Debbie Degge scraped in to win overall from Brian Stammers and Graham Robinson.

Mike Biggs won overall with 2 first places after a very good display of light weather sailing.

The Junior Fleet was led home by Crispin Beaumont and Nick Wilson sailing a Feva whose race included 2 Feva’s starting on an advantageous port tack on a busy start line in the first race and nearly succeeding in clearing the fleet in a slower boat. Crispin and Nick finished a creditable 8th overall.

Overall Results:

Slow Fleet

Fast Fleet