Hat-trick win of the Seldén Sailjuice Winter Series
Simon Horsfield and Katie Burridge, along with stand-in crew Natalie Johnson, have won the Seldén Sailjuice Winter Series 2020-2021. This is the third consecutive victory for Horsfield and Burridge.
The team from the Army Sailing Association/Thorney Island Sailing Club were pushed hard for overall victory by Luke Fisher from Emberton Park who sailed his RS Vareo singlehander. Fisher finished on 15.7 points from his best three out of four events, not quite enough to topple the Horsfield and Burridge’s Laser 2000 which ended up with 12.4 points.
Third place went to Patrick Overs’ Solo from Paxton Lakes SC, with fourth also going to a Paxton Lakes sailor, Paul Carrington and his Streaker.
The only winter event of 2020-2021 that went ahead on schedule was the Datchet Flyer last December, so the Series was extended into the warmer months of 2021. In May the first ever Grafham Belle took place, with the Medway Marathon in June. The concluding event, the John Merricks Tiger Trophy, was in late August.
Since starting in 2009, the Selden Sailjuice Winter Series brings together some of the biggest winter handicap racing events into a unified series. It aims to appeal to as many classes as possible, with typically around 1,000 competitors in almost 100 different types of boat, from fleets as diverse as the traditional Norfolk Punt and National 18 to emerging classes like the Hadron H2 singlehander.
The Great Lakes Group runs the handicap numbers for the series and accommodates virtually any kind of sailing dinghy into the competition, including those fleets that struggle to establish a number on the RYA PY system.
The Series has also proven popular with big fleets like the RS Aero who have the strength in numbers to run their separate events, yet still enjoy competing alongside other types of dinghies in mixed handicap competition.
Full details of the upcoming Series for 2021-2022 are on Facebook.
John Merricks Tiger Trophy at Rutland Water Sailing Club
Images courtesy of Tim Olin
