The strong wind trend of the GJW SailJuice Winter Series set to continue at Rutland Water
1 February 2013
Strong winds have been the theme of the 2012/13 season of the GJW Direct SailJuice Winter Series, and strong winds is what the current pre-entry of more than 160 boats are likely to experience this weekend at Rutland Water.
It’s the 20th anniversary of the John Merricks Tiger Trophy, the annual winter handicap event held in memory of the Olympic silver medallist who won the inaugural event at his home club, and who was renowned as a speed demon in strong winds.
A cold, strong northerly breeze on Saturday, followed by a strong westerly on Sunday is the kind of forecast that will appeal to Fireball World Champions Tom Gillard and Simon Potts, who tore up the track at the Yorkshire Dales Brass Monkey a few weeks ago at Christmas time.
The wind should also suit overall SailJuice Series leader Pete Nelson in his RS600. But there is plenty of other talent scattered throughout the handicap fleet, with Endeavour Trophy winners Ben Saxton and Alan Roberts teaming up to compete in a hot Merlin Rocket fleet. Last year’s Tiger winners Tom Jeffcoate and Tom Pygall are back to see if they can do it again in their Scorpion, although the conditions look a good deal stronger this year than the light-wind drifter that concluded the pursuit race in 2012.
On the Saturday evening is the Tiger Trophy dinner where guests will be entertained by Rod Carr and his stories of managing last year’s Olympic Regatta, his time in charge of the RYA and as Olympic Team manager in 1980s and 1990s, during which time he witnessed John Merricks and Ian Walker win their 470 silver medal and a teenaged Ben Ainslie win his first gong.
This weekend’s event was set to be the finale of the GJW Direct Sailjuice Winter Series, and as such was made a non-discardable event from the best-four-of-six series. But with the snow and poor conditions having forced the Steve Nicholson Memorial Trophy to be postponed until Saturday 23 February, we may have to wait a while longer to see if anyone can topple Peter Nelson from the top of the standings, a position he has held since last November’s opening event, the Draycote Dash.
While entry for the Steve Nicholson Trophy was filled up well in advance, the rescheduling of the event has meant not all the original entrants will be able to make the 23 February event. So if you still want to get in on the action, further entries will become exclusively available at www.SailJuiceSeries.com. Online entries will reopen on Tuesday 5 February and will be allocated strictly on a ‘first come, first served’ basis.
Meanwhile, if you can’t make it to Rutland this weekend, you can follow all the action live, thanks to Simon Lovesey of SailRacer who will be writing blow-by-blow live updates throughout the racing. Follow the action online at: www.sailjuiceseries.com
Top 10 after four events of GJW Direct SailJuice Winter Series
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1 |
RS600 - PETER NELSON |
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2 |
SOLO - MICHAEL SIMS |
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3 |
LASER - CRAIG WILLIAMSON |
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4 |
PHANTOM - SIMON HAWKES |
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5 |
PHANTOM - ANDY COUCH |
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6 |
FIREBALL - THOMAS GILLARD |
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7 |
ENTERPRISE - MARK LUNN |
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8 |
MERLIN ROCKET - MATT BIGGS |
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9 |
OSPREY - MIKE PICKERING |
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10 |
LASER 2000 - MATT SARGENT |
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What is the GJW Direct SailJuice Winter Series?
The Series incorporates these six big winter events, with competitors counting their best four scores, one of which must be the concluding event, the Tiger Trophy:
- Draycote Dash, Draycote Water Sailing Club - Saturday 24th & Sunday 25th November 2012
- Brass Monkey, Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club - Thursday 27th December 2012
- Grafham Grand Prix, Grafham Water Sailing Club - Sunday 30th December 2012
- Bloody Mary, Queen Mary Sailing Club - Saturday 12th January 2013
- Steve Nicholson Trophy, Northampton Sailing Club - Saturday 26th January 2013
- John Merricks Tiger Trophy, Rutland Sailing Club - Saturday 2nd & Sunday 3rd February 2013
There are some great prizes not just for competitors but spectators and armchair followers too. We’re offering prizes for the best online media contributions, whether they be photos via Flickr, videos through YouTube, or tweeting or blogging through the Series Facebook page. Share your experiences and you could win some great Overboard waterproof cases for your tech (iPads, mobiles and cameras)...
http://events.sailracer.org/eventsites/content.asp?id=20448&eventid=51516
Some classes have adopted the Series as their own class winter travellers’ series, and for the class that does the best promotion of the Series, there's the chance to win an OverBoard waterproof bag for your tech (mobile, camera or iPad) - great for live reporting at your events.
In addition to title sponsor GJW Direct Insurance (www.gjwdirect.co.uk/dinghy), the UK’s largest direct boat insurer, our silver-level sponsors are:
Gul - Experts in Performance Apparel http://www.gul.com/
Trident - The Dinghy & Yacht Shop on the Web http://www.tridentuk.com/
Overboard - The Leaders in Waterproof Bags & Cases http://www.over-board.co.uk/
and we also have prizes from one of the Series’ longest-standing supporters: Holt, renowned for their dinghy and catamaran marine hardware.
SailRacer was there at the Draycote Dash for live reporting of all the action, and will be covering other events live so you can follow the racing from home.
Find out more about the Series here: www.SailJuiceSeries.com
Mike Lyons ghosted to victory in his Blaze singlehander to win the inaugural Oxford Blue, the fourth event to take place in this season’s GJW Direct SailJuice Winter Series. For a first-time event, 115 entries was an impressive turnout. No doubt most competitors were fearing a windy outing, hoping for a less breezy gap in the storms that have been battering the UK in recent weeks. Well they got their wish, and then some....
Datchet Water’s Ben Schooling raced his Musto Skiff to victory in the 2013 Fernhurst Books Draycote Dash, the first event of the GJW Direct Sailjuice Winter Series. On being asked the secret to his success at Draycote, Ben Schooling offered five observations about his performance....
The GJW Direct SailJuice Winter Series gets under way on the weekend of 23rd and 24th November at the Fernhurst Books Draycote Dash, the first of eight major winter handicap events in this tough Series. Last year at Draycote, Pete Nelson’s RS600 prevailed over the Merlin Rocket sailed by Dave Hayes and Jonny Ratcliffe, with Andy Couch’s Phantom singlehander in 3rd overall. Who will win this time?
A month after the conclusion of the GJW Direct SailJuice Winter Series, the clocks have changed to British Summer Time, yet Great Britain continues to be ice-locked in a chill easterly wind from Scandinavia. Perhaps the Series should have carried on a while longer, although six big winter handicap events from November through to February seemed plenty at the time. Winners of the 2012/13 championship were Tom Gillard and Simon Potts in their Fireball.
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.
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.
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.
