RECORD 122 ENTRY FOR DATCHET FLYER
The first round of the Seldén SailJuice Winter Series is looking busier than ever, and competitors are advised to arrive as self-sufficient as possible...
The Datchet Flyer, opening round of the Seldén SailJuice Winter Series, has attracted a record entry of 122 boats for this weekend, 6 & 7 December. With Covid restrictions uppermost in organisers’ minds, the doublehanders and singlehanders have been split into different days, Saturday and Sunday respectively.
Register Entries could have been even higher but for the fact that with National Lockdown #2 only being lifted a few days beforehand, many would-be competitors have been unable to retrieve their boats from sailing clubs whose gates have been padlocked for the past month. With almost 200 pre-registrations of interest, organisers would have been forced to make selections about who could or couldn’t attend.
As it is, everyone that is able to make it to Datchet Water Sailing Club this weekend has been awarded a place. So much so that some eager beavers have even entered both days in different boats. Multiple Endeavour Champions Nick Craig and Toby Lewis will be racing a hot Merlin Rocket fleet on Saturday and Nick will be back on Sunday to try his hand in the Hadron H2 singlehander.
The same is true of Tom Gillard who will be sailing with another former winner of the Seldén SailJuice Winter Series - Rachael Rhodes - in a Merlin one day, with Tom returning the next day to compete in his Streaker.
Over the past six years, the inner city kids from East London’s Greig City Academy have made a big splash in different parts of the sport including two participations in the 600-mile Rolex Fastnet Race. This weekend sees three entries from Greig City Academy, with Jaydon Owusu and Azat Ulutas racing in a hot 420 fleet with 14 entries, and then Jaydon returning on Sunday to hike out his ILCA 7 (formerly Laser Standard), while fellow Greig City acolyte Kai Hockley will be in the ILCA 6 (formerly Laser Radial).
Another one to watch in the 420s is Harry George who in the past has competed at the Datchet Flyer and many other Sailjuice events with his dad James. This time Harry has Arlo Braund in the front of the 420 while James is crewing for Nev Herbert in a Scorpion.
The youth sailors are unusually well represented at this event, with the lack of alternative competition in the UK making the Datchet Flyer more popular than normal. Aside from the strong support by the 420s, a follow-on from last season, there are RS Fevas and a strong turnout of Toppers set to compete this weekend.
As ever the rock stars are out in force, not least last year’s winner of the Datchet Flyer, RS Aero sailor Pete Barton, as well as the defending champions of last season’s Seldén SailJuice Winter Series, Simon Horsfield and Katie Burridge in the 2000. The 505s sees former Olympic representative Penny Clark sailing with husband Russ, who will be up against former national champions Charlie Walters and Dougal Cram, and reigning European Champions Roger Gilbert and Ben McGrane.
With a moderate to strong forecast, it could suit the world-class Fireball crews such as Chips Howarth/ Vyv Townend and Matt Burge/ Dan Schieber who between them have won more world and national titles than perhaps any of them can remember. The Contenders will also relish a stronger forecast, notably local legend Stuart Jones.
The other side of this Series is diversity, with so many different classes lined up this weekend including Doug Pybus in a lowrider International Moth and Gareth Russell putting in a rare but welcome appearance for the Hornet class.
BRING YOUR OWN PROVISIONS
There will be an online briefing this Friday evening with vital information about participation this weekend. Please note that access to the club is forbidden other than in an emergency, so it’s important to bring your own drinking water, food and any other provisions that you might normally expect to buy at the club.
And be ready to do your changing by the car, not in the changing rooms. All communications for the event will be online, including protest hearings, briefings, prize giving, and all back-office functions.
STEERING GROUP MEETS FOR FIRST TIME
With all the uncertainty over what COVID restrictions will be in place over the winter and already changes to the 2020/21 Seldén SailJuice Winter Series format, we have been looking at scoring arrangements to handle a number of different scenarios. A series scoring working group has been established, with representation from a cross-section of class associations, sailors and RYA race officials. The group met last weekend and have come up with a methodology to cover anticipated circumstances, from one event to all events progressing. The updated Notice of Series will be published before the Datchet Flyer.
Plans continue for the other events in the Series to go ahead as originally announced, always with the proviso that things can change at any time, which is why the criteria for pre-registration have been designed to be as flexible and fair as possible.
Here’s a reminder of how pre-registration works, and the criteria by which entries are prioritised:
£5 advance deducted against the actual entry fee for each event
Spaces only allocated to those who have paid an advance against a number of criteria depending on the circumstances of each event
Order when payment for advance received (earlier entries given priority)
Class allocation - to ensure spread of classes represented
Demographic allocation (age and gender)
Number of events registered for
Number of events attended in previous Seldén SailJuice Winter Series
Host club members allocation
Distance to travel
If a sailor is successful in being allocated a space against an individual event they will be sent a payment link for the balance of the entry fee which has to be paid within 10 days unless otherwise stated in the payment request.
If event cancelled, advance refunded 100%.
If entry not allocated, advance refunded 100%.
No refunds if the event goes ahead and sailor doesn't attend after being allocated a space.
Pre-registration for the events is now open at www.sailjuiceseries.com
THE EVENTS
The following events are in the Seldén SailJuice Winter Series 2020/21:
Datchet Flyer, Datchet Water Sailing Club
5 & 6 December 2020
Burghfield Brass Monkey, Burghfield Sailing Club
27 December 2020
Grafham Grand Prix, Grafham Water Sailing Club
3 January 2021
CANCELLED - Bloody Mary, Queen Mary Sailing Club
9 January 2021
King George Gallop, King George Sailing Club
23 January 2021
John Merricks Tiger Trophy, Rutland Sailing Club
6 & 7 February 2021
Oxford Blue, Oxford Sailing Club
13 February 2021
RESCHEDULED - Fernhurst Books Draycote Dash, Draycote Water Sailing Club
6 & 7 March 2021
You can find out more about the Series here: www.SailJuiceSeries.com
Further Information for media:
Please contact Andy Rice
email: info@sailjuice.com
Phone: 020 8133 9330
Website: www.sailjuice.com
Photo Credits: Tim Olin
Notes to editors:
Previous winners of the Seldén Sailjuice Winter Series
2019/20 Simon Horsfield & Katie Burridge (2000)
2018/19 Simon Horsfield & Katie Burridge (2000)
2017/18 Alistair Goodwin (Laser)
2016/17 Matt Mee & Emma Norris (RS200)
2015/16 Ian Dobson & Andy Tunnicliffe (GP14)
2014/15 Nick Craig & various crews (Merlin Rocket)
2013/14 Michael Sims (Solo)
2012/13 Tom Gillard & Simon Potts (Fireball)
2011/12 Peter Gray & Rachael Rhodes (Scorpion)
2010/11 Andy Peake (Musto Skiff)
2009/10 Olly Turner & Richard Whitworth (Merlin Rocket)
SailJuice.com is the ‘how to sail and race faster’ website, with hundreds of articles and exclusive interviews with National, World and Olympic Champions. Professional sailing journalist and editor of SailJuice.com, Andy Rice, came up with the concept of the SailJuice Winter Series (originally known as the SailJuice Global Warm-Up) as a way of increasing participation levels in dinghy racing during the off-season in the UK.
SailRacer manages event websites and processes online entry for major National, International, Youth and training events, providing online scoring, analysis and advanced sports presentation including GPS tracking and live video.
Seldén Mast Ltd is the world leader in dinghy spars. More races are won by Seldén Spars than any other brand. Dinghy spars are made using Seldén unique XPS aluminium with CNC cut tapers, automated welding and heat treating resulting in the highest quality and most consistent dinghy spars available. Seldén also produces about 400 carbon masts per year for boats including high performance dinghies and race yachts using state of the art Mandrel Filament Moulding Technology.
1/12/2020 17:16
Photo © Tim Olin
2021 Great British Sailing Challenge | |
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29-30 May 2021
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The Great British Sailing Challenge is a series of handicap racing events that take place throughout the year, and it's open to pretty much any sail-powered craft. The Challenge will involve events throughout the whole year, with the target of around 100 boats taking part in each event on larger waters, and running events close to capacity on smaller lakes and reservoirs. Competing sailors will earn ranking points from each event they compete in, with the top 100 sailors invited to a winner-takes-all-final in Autumn 2020 to award the best sailors of the year. The series is managed by SailRacer.