Round six of the Selden SailJuice Winter Series, the John Merricks Tiger Trophy, is looking set for a challenging weekend for Ian Walker and the other legends getting ready for racing, not least an unlikely appearance from the commissioner of Hazzard County...
29 January 2019
The John Merricks Tiger Trophy this weekend at Rutland Water could prove the most challenging yet, as the Seldén SailJuice Winter Series reaches event six in the midst of an increasingly chilly start to 2019.
To get the early discounted entry, make sure you sign up at www.sailjuiceseries.com by this Thursday evening, to join in with more than 100 boats already registered for a weekend of tight, handicap competition. It looks set to be windy on Saturday and softer on Sunday for the no-discard Pursuit Race, so predicting a winner will be tricky.
A Formula 18 has performed well on handicap at recent editions of the Grafham Grand Prix, so how will the smattering of multihulls fare at Rutland? What about Bo Duke who has cast aside his differences with Boss Hogg, as the unlikely duo from the Dukes of Hazzard open up the throttle on their souped-up Tornado? Or Max McCarroll and Rosie Turtle who are driving up from Weston to race their Spitfire?
Biggest and potentially hardest one-design battle in the fleet will be between the 20-plus 420s that have entered, a welcome return for the class from where the Tiger Trophy originated. Son of Rutland, the late Johnny Merricks, won the first ever Tiger a quarter of a century ago in a 420 and went on to win the 420 World Championships. Johnny also happened to win an Olympic silver medal in the 470, and his old crew Ian Walker is making a return to Rutland crewing for Jess Lavery in the very same 470 that he and Johnny won their silver medal.
There’s some strong talent in the Fireball fleet, not least Dave Hall and Paul Constable who have attended every edition of the Tiger Trophy since it began 25 years ago. However, the current Fireball World Champion Matt Burge has teamed up with a past Fireball World Champion Vyv Townend to race in an Osprey together. Another former Fireball World Champion DJ Edwards is also racing an Osprey crewed by Mike Greig, and will provide a tough challenge for the son/father duo of Ben and Simon Hawkes from Castle Cove who are campaigning their way through all seven of the events on the Seldén SailJuice Winter Series.
As ever, the Series welcomes all kinds of small sailboats, with the National 18 and Norfolk Punt represented along with the Challenger trimarans, and two Moths, one foiling and one non-foiling.
The famous Tiger Dinner, tickets just £10, has the added draw of Ian Walker as guest speaker, followed by a charity auction that will include signed items from Sir Ben Ainslie and his America’s Cup campaign, Ineos Team UK.
With SailRacer providing GPS tracking for the first time at the Tiger Trophy, this event will now also serve as a qualifier for the Great British Sailing Challenge which culminates with a Grand Final at Rutland Water in late September.
Enter the Tiger Trophy here: www.sailjuiceseries.com
THE EVENTS
The following events constitute the Seldén SailJuice Winter Series 2018/19:
Fernhurst Books Draycote Dash, Draycote Water Sailing Club
17 & 18 November 2018
Datchet Flyer, Datchet Water Sailing Club
8 & 9 December 2018
Brass Monkey, Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club
27 December 2018
Grafham Grand Prix, Grafham Water Sailing Club
30 December 2018
Bloody Mary, Queen Mary Sailing Club
12 January 2019
John Merricks Tiger Trophy, Rutland Sailing Club
2 & 3 February 2019
Oxford Blue, Oxford Sailing Club
16 February 2019
You can find out more about the Series here: www.SailJuiceSeries.com
