Gul sponsored National series kicks off this weekend at Burghfield
by Jeremy Carey 21 Mar 2014 07:16 GMT
22 March 2014
The Gul-sponsored National Series kicks off on Saturday at Burghfield © Kevan Bloor
National 12's set to blast into 2014 with a great forecast
The 2014 GUL National series kicks off this Saturday at Burghfield Sailing club with a one day open and with the wind looking set to be breezy it's going to be a great way to blow off the cobwebs.
With 2014 Bloody Mary winners Graham Camm and Zoe Ballantyne and 2013 National Champions Tom Stewart and Andrea Ralph meeting again, it is going to be all but plain sailing. Rumour has it that the Gore family have been putting their end of season purchase to good practice over the winter and are travelling down from the east coast to enter the mix, Christian and Sophie Day coming from Manchester, along with Jon Ibbotson and Nick Copsey and their respective crews. It's great to see sailors travelling such distances to place their markers on the start of the such a hotly contested series.
With the local fleet at Burghfield expanding further over the winter and a healthy list of pre-registered entries its going to be a cracker. Not only are the foilers out to play in numbers, but there is also a significant number of DB's (self draining boats) and AC's (single bottomed) also in the mix for their chance at glory. Prizes, as usual, will be awarded across the different types of boats sailing so there is, as ever, going to be high quality fierce competition throughout the fleet at all levels.
Gul are in their second year of sponsorship of the class and have once again surpassed themselves with their generosity, not only with event prizes, but also with a repeat of the end of season grand draw for a family weekend away at a luxury beach hotel with surf lessons in Cornwall. Every entrant to the events over the series will have their name put in the bag for the draw, the more events you enter, the greater the chance of winning this fantastically generous prize.
So here's looking to a great day's sailing, and whether you are at Burghfield in a 12 or just blasting about some where else, have a good one! I for one can't wait until 11am Saturday morning to avoid the general recall of an over enthusiastic fleet raring to go. Must remember to charge the GoPro and put it on the bow!