As last year, three Whitstable boats, Phil and Karen Emery, Rien Zilvold and Julie Nuttall and John Cooper and Hilary Bradshaw entered Merlin Week at Salcombe.  There was a record entry of 102 boats making for a very congested starting line (despite the fleet being split into flights so only 51 boats raced at a time).  In one race Rien demonstrated the “dutch start” by standing in the water at the starboard end of the start line, holding his boat just behind the line on starboard tack, then jumping in and sailing off on the gun.  This worked so well that in the next race another competitor, David Hayes, copied it and went on to win the race! Conditions during the week were reasonably benign with lightish winds and lots of sunshine and a great week was had by all.  John and Hilary ended up 28th, Phil and Karen 31st and Rien and Julie 41st.