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.
© Tim Chapman
"It was averaging 18 knots, with some occasional gusts over 25," said Wilkins afterwards, "although most competitors had it at about five knots stronger than that. It could have been the dense cold breeze that you tend to get in the winter, which can make the breeze feel stronger."
While sailors were tipping in left, right and centre across the reservoir, keeping the tireless rescue teams working full bore all afternoon, Smith and Needham sailed majestically around the trapezoid course with seemingly little bother. That said, even Smith admitted to three capsizes during the course of the day. "There was one at the end of the second race near the leeward mark, ended up teabagging Tim and he fell off, another when the spinnaker sheets went under the bow, and another down the run. But I think everyone fell in at some point during the day."
Some ended up beached on the lee shore by the concrete dam, having to leave their boats there until there was time to rescue the equipment later. All in all, a big day.
In the evening there was the customary dinner to celebrate the life of John Merricks, the Olympic silver medallist who learned his trade on Rutland Water and who would have loved the big breeze of this weekend.
The following day dawned even windier, and there was nervous chatter at the prospect of the pursuit race taking place in high wind, with the exception of a few gung-ho competitors such as former OK World Champion Nick Craig. In the end, the race officer decided to call off the racing, although Craig went out anyway and put on a masterclass of survival sailing in his OK while everyone else packed up to go home.
Meanwhile, Smith and Needham were celebrating winning the Tiger Trophy and picking up the £1,000 cheque at a prizegiving in the brand new John Merricks Training Centre. This is a high performance facility funded by Sport England, Rutland SC, the John Merricks Sailing Trust and Tony Everard at Everards Brewery. John's father, Dennis Merricks, and Tony Everard were there to open the new building and to present the prizewinners with their hard-won trophies.
Smith said he'd find something to spend the money on. "There's always something to spend money on with the Five-Oh. Twin poles, I reckon, to make the gybes a bit easier." Not that it looked like they need any help gybing the boat in the strong winds of Saturday. Smith and Needham have also won the opportunity to sail with Team GAC Pindar at the Cowes Week Extreme 40 event as VIP guests.
Runner-up to the 505 was the 420 of Chris Taylor and Caroline Croft who also won the Junior Tiger Trophy, with last year's overall winners, Merlin duo Matt Biggs and Ben Hollis in third. Biggs and Hollis also win the SailJuice Global Warm-Up 2011, the winter travellers series that encompassed four of the major multi-class handicap events and which concluded this weekend at Rutland.
Thanks to Rule 26 for event logistics and site branding, and Everards Brewery for all the prize glasswear and Tiger beer for every entrant.
John Merricks Tiger Trophy 2011 winners:
Tiger Trophy: Andy Smith & Tim Needham (NCSC) 505
Junior Tiger Trophy:- (Highest placed Junior team.) Chris Taylor and Caroline Croft (HISC) 420
Shere Khan Trophy - (Highest placed team with combined age of 75+) Roger Dean & Dave Turner (Rock SC) 505
Lady Tiger Trophy- Val Millward (RSC) Challenger
Full results here: http://www.sailracer.org/results_report.asp?status=0&usr=sr&event=15404
Where Peter Barton had capsized his way around the Bloody Mary three weeks earlier, the more moderate conditions suited his T-foiled Cherub to a T, with Barton and crew David Ellis winning both races of the Asymmetric fleet. After two events, victory at the Bloody Mary plus their 3rd at the Steve Nicholson keeps Andy Smith & Tim Needham's 505 in pole position, but just a point ahead of Barton's Cherub...
With sub-zero temperatures, bone-chilling winds gusting over 25 knots, just 61 entrants and 29 finishers, this year's Bloody Mary must go down as one of the toughest in its 37 year history. This classic pursuit race throws up many different kinds of winners, and this year it was the turn of a 505, immaculately sailed by Staunton Harold's Andy Smith and Tim Needham, to lift the coveted trophy.
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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 
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.
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.
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.
