Nick Craig is the early leader of the SailJuice Global Warm-up 2011 after winning the single-handed division of the Grafham Grand Prix on Sunday. Craig, from Frensham Pond Sailing Club, scored equal points with fellow Phantom sailor Simon Childs from Hayling Island. Childs won the first race, and was second in the next, while Craig scored his second and first the other way round, and won the singlehander division by virtue of winning the final race. The Phantom fleet dominated the division, taking the first five places overall.
The 46-boat single-handed division was the largest fleet racing at Grafham which, despite the Arctic conditions of recent times, still attracted a total of 135 boats competing in four separate fleets. With the formula that governs the scoring for the SailJuice Global Warm-up attributing a higher value to racing in a larger fleet, Craig's victory puts him at the top of the standings at this early stage of the series.
Lying in second overall is the Flying Fifteen keelboat raced by local Grafham sailors, Dave Lucas and Mark Longstaff. It was a controversial event for the Fifteen fleet, with visiting sailors from Hayling, Charles Apthorpe and David Rickards, suffering a disqualification after attempting to cross the fleet on port tack. Lucas and Longstaff stayed clear of the melée to win their fleet, which made it the third year in a row that Lucas has won at the Grand Prix. "I forgot to collect the trophy from the engravers," admitted Lucas to fellow competitors at the prizegiving. The way he has sailed the past three years, perhaps it could become the Lucas perpetual trophy.
© Ian Fairclough
Andrew Peake lies third overall in the series after winning the Fast Asymmetric fleet, while Merlin sailors Matt Biggs and Ben Hollis are in fourth having won the Medium fleet.
There are some races within races in the SailJuice Global Warm-up 2011, with some class-specific prizes up for grabs. Leading the race for a £100 voucher from RS Sailing are RS 200 duo, James and Eluned Stewart from Weston Sailing Club, while another Weston club member, Ian Morgan is top-placed Laser in the race for one of two brand new sails being donated by Laser Performance.
This coming Saturday is the second event of the Series, the Bloody Mary at Queen Mary Sailing Club. A National and World Champion in multiple classes, Nick Craig was undecided as to whether he will be showing up again in the Phantom or whether to pull out another vessel from his quiver of dinghies. However, to be eligible for the overall prize in the SailJuice Global Warm-Up he's going to have to stick to one boat, and judging by the runaway performance by the Phantom fleet at Grafham, the Phantom would be a strong bet for Craig.
Link to overall standings in the SailJuice Global Warm-up 2011:
http://www.sailracer.us/eventsites/content.asp?id=1655&eventid=51516
Link to overall results from the Grafham Grand Prix...
http://www.sailracer.org/events/v2-results.asp?eventid=68684
The Grafham Grand Prix was the first of four events in this year's SailJuice Global Warm-up, with competitors counting their best three results from the following events:
Grafham Grand Prix, Grafham Water Sailing Club
Sunday 2nd January 2011
Bloody Mary, Queen Mary Sailing Club
Saturday 8th January 2011
Steve Nicholson Trophy, Northampton Sailing Club
Saturday 29 January 2011
John Merricks Tiger Trophy, Rutland Sailing Club
Saturday 5th & Sunday 6th February 2011
With an entry deadline of 5 January, you have to be quick, but you can still enter the Series here: www.sailracer.org/globalwarmup
With the final prize-giving for the series set to take place at the RYA Volvo Dinghy Show at Alexandra Palace on the weekend of 5/6 March 2011, there some great prizes being provided by: Rooster Sailing, Hyde Sails, Holt, RS Sailing, Laser Performance, YachtsandYachting.com and SailJuice.com
Enter the Series here: www.sailracer.org/globalwarmup
Andrew Peake has closed the gap on series leaders in the SailJuice Global Warm-Up 2011, the Merlin Rocket of Matt Biggs and Ben Hollis. Peake scored two bullets in the asymmetric division at the Steve Nicholson Memorial Trophy at Northampton Sailing Club last Saturday. Two 3rd places gave Biggs and Hollis 4th overall in the doublehanders fleet, to add to their other consistent scores from the Grafham Grand Prix and Bloody Mary.
Musto Skiff sailor Andy Peake has found himself as the new, unexpected and somewhat reluctant champion of the SailJuice Global Warm-Up 2011. Almost a fortnight since the final event of the UK dinghy winter travellers’ series concluded at a windy John Merricks Tiger Trophy at Rutland Water, controversial debate about the legality of their experimental sails has forced the winners, Merlin Rocket sailors Matt Biggs and Ben Hollis, to relinquish the title.
The SailJuice Global Warm-Up 2011 concluded in dramatic fashion at a very windy John Merricks Tiger Trophy last weekend. While the 505 of Andy Smith and Tim Needham swept all before them to win all three races on Saturday and a £1,000 cheque for their hat trick, the Merlin Rocket of Matt Biggs and Ben Hollis quietly went about its business to finish 3rd overall at Rutland Water.
Last year Matt Biggs and Ben Hollis won the Doublehanded division at the Steve Nicholson Memorial Trophy, and this year the Merlin Rocket sailors also find themselves at the top of the series leaderboard at the half way stage of the SailJuice Global Warm-Up. 
At the halfway stage of the SailJuice Global Warm-Up 2011, Matt Biggs and Ben Hollis have sailed their Merlin Rocket to the top of the leaderboard after notching up a useful 9th place from 238 entries in this weekend’s 
Matt Biggs and Ben Hollis sailed their Merlin Rocket to victory in the John Merricks Tiger Trophy at Rutland Water last weekend. Biggs and Hollis have now scored consecutive wins in the SailJuice Global Warm-Up, after winning the Doublehanded division of the Steve Nicholson Memorial Trophy the previous weekend.
After 13 years of trying, the £1,000 cheque to the first team to win all races at the John Merricks Tiger Trophy has gone to Andy Smith and Tim Needham, who conquered some fierce conditions in their 505 this weekend. Some competitors were surprised when race officer David Wilkins, an Olympic silver medallist, decided to send sailors out for the three handicap races on Saturday. "David reckons it's only 20 knots," muttered competitors grimly in the changing rooms, looking as though they were about to sent out to almost certain doom. 
Tom Jeffcoate and Tom Pygall won the John Merricks Tiger Trophy 2012 by the skin of their teeth. Competing in sub-zero conditions, the Scorpion National Champion equalled Merlin Rocket racers Matt Biggs and Ben Hollis from Blithfield with 20 points apiece from the four races. But on the tie-break the trophy went to the Scorpion sailors.
With the Steve Nicholson Memorial Trophy just completed, the SailJuice Global Warm-Up 2012 has passed the half-way stage, with a Fireball still sitting in pole position. It was a light wind regatta at Northampton last Saturday, but it could be a different story at the Tiger Trophy this weekend....
The third edition of the SailJuice Global Warm-up brings together five of the biggest winter handicap racing events into a unified series, to find out just who is tough enough to race their way through the brutal cold of a British winter. It kicks off with the Grafham Grand Prix on 2 January 2012.
