Get in now for the GJW Direct SailJuice Winter Series 2015/16
by Andy Rice 14 Oct 2015 18:34 BST
14 October 2015
The Datchet Flyer 2014 © Tim Olin /
www.olinphoto.co.uk
Last year three events filled up to capacity. The seventh season of the GJW Direct SailJuice Winter Series is set to be as popular as ever. If you want to sharpen your racing skills during the 'off season' against some of the UK's finest dinghy racing talent, enter now before the events fill up...
Entry is now open for the GJW Direct SailJuice Winter Series, which kicks off with the Fernhurst Books Draycote Dash on the weekend of 21/22 November 2015. Sailors have already signing up before events get filled to capacity, as many were last year with three events selling out. Previous winners include multiple national and world champion Nick Craig who won last season with various crews in his Merlin Rocket, 2015 RS400 National Champion Michael Sims who won the 2013/14 season in a Solo, and 2015 Fireball World Champion Tom Gillard who won the 2012/13 season.
Four out of seven
There are seven events in this year's Series. You can take part in as many or as few events as you like. If you want to follow in Nick Craig's footsteps and have a crack at the championship title, you need to count your best four results from these seven events. Competing at more than four events gives you more shots at getting a set of good scores to put on the board.
The events
The following regattas constitute the GJW Direct SailJuice Winter Series 2015/2016:
- Draycote Dash, Draycote Water Sailing Club
Saturday 21 & Sunday 22 November 2015
- Datchet Flyer, Datchet Water Sailing Club
Saturday 12 & Sunday 13 December 2015
- Brass Monkey, Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club
Sunday 27 December 2015
- Grafham Grand Prix, Grafham Water Sailing Club
Monday 28 December 2015
- Oxford Blue, Oxford Sailing Club
Saturday 2 January 2016
- Bloody Mary, Queen Mary Sailing Club
Saturday 9 January 2016
- John Merricks Tiger Trophy, Rutland Sailing Club
Saturday 6 & Sunday 7 February 2016
Find out more at
www.SailJuiceSeries.com
For your club and your class!
If chasing prizes for personal glory is not sufficient incentive already, this year you get the chance to compete for your Club and your Class! We will take the best three results from each team (club or class) at each event to find out who are the top-performers across the Series.
MUSTO Speed Challenge
Sailracer has already run a very successful MUSTO Speed Challenge during the summer, and now you get another shot at competing. The prize goes to the fastest boat matched to its corrected speed using the Great Lakes Handicap numbers.
Great Lakes!
Talking of the Great Lakes, the boffins who do all the number-crunching to produce these increasingly accurate handicap numbers have created their own website, which you can find at greatlakes.org.uk
It goes into the principles behind the process, and explains how the Great Lakes Committee works hard to produce the fairest handicap racing numbers possible.
Wind-based handicaps
We believe the next big step in fair handicapping is to run wind-based variants of the standard handicap number currently being used. While a number of different boats have a good crack of the whip in medium airs, there are some classes that do disproportionately well in light winds, and others that do really well at the strong end of the spectrum. Typically it's the hiking out boats with generous sail area that perform best in a drifter, and the underpowered boats and/or trapeze boats that tend to do best in the breeze. A surprising number of the winter events take place in a drifter or a gale, so we think it's time to implement a number that better reflects how different types of boats perform at both extremes of the wind spectrum. We're not going to apply it to this year's GJW Direct Sailjuice Winter Series, but we are going to run a virtual championship using these alternative numbers whenever an event takes place in particularly light or strong conditions. However if the breeze is moderate, or if there's any doubt, we'll stick with the standard Great Lakes numbers. Should be interesting to see what effect these other numbers might have on results!
Make it your class Winter Series
Last year a number of classes scheduled the GJW Direct SailJuice Winter Series as a key part of their calendars, with SailRacer producing class specific extracted results. Any class interested in their own Winter Series as part of the GJW Direct SailJuice Winter Series, please contact Simon Lovesey @ SailRacer, with class prizes for any achieving 15+ entries.
Amalgamated entry
SailRacer's online entry system means you can enter anything from one through to all seven events and make a single payment, saving you time and guaranteeing your place in advance. A number of the events were oversubscribed last year, and we're expecting the same again this year. Enter early!
Prizes for competitors and classes
Thanks to generous support from Series sponsors, we have some great prizes for competitors and some classes too. A major prize giving is scheduled for the RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show at Alexandra Palace in London on the weekend of 5/6 March 2016. We will look back at highlights from the series and interviews. The 2015/16 season will see a number of new Prize Categories, including most travelled and top speeds.
Enter now!
Enter the Series at www.SailJuiceSeries.com
The website will tell you more about the events in the Series, and we'll keep you updated on everything else you need to know.