From the A-Rater to the Waszp: Almost the A-Z of dinghies racing at The Tiger
by Andy Rice 2 Feb 06:01 GMT
4-5 February 2023
Roger Gilbert & Ben McGrane © Tim Olin /
www.olinphoto.co.uk
No.8 in the Seldén SailJuice Winter Series is coming up this weekend and there's still time to enter online for the The John Merricks Tiger Trophy before the late-entry fee kicks in...
Moderate westerlies for Saturday and moderate north-westerlies for Sunday promise a great weekend of racing on 4 & 5 February at the John Merricks Tiger Trophy.
Rutland Sailing Club are getting ready to host some close racing in the eight event of this season's Seldén SailJuice Winter Series. The competition consists of a series of back-to-back races on the Saturday and a Pursuit Race on the Sunday.
Of the 70 teams already entered, they range in size and ambition from the foiling Waszp to the Thames A-Rater, along with the 2.4mR sit-in solo keelboat and Challenger trimarans. Four RS21 keelboats are taking part too, so it's a dinghy show on water, on the largest reservoir in England and one of the most picturesque too.
ENTER NOW - www.sailjuiceseries.com
You can enter on the day, although there's still time to enter at a cheaper rate if you sign up online. If you want to buy tickets for the sit-down dinner at Rutland Sailing Club on Saturday evening after the Six Nations Rugby has played out on the big screen, get your names down by Thursday morning.
Seldén sticker competition
Remember, if the series photographer Tim Olin snaps a picture of you and your boat with a Seldén sticker on display, you get entered into a prize draw to win an R60 ratchet block from the Seldén deck hardware range. There have been numerous prizewinners already this season.
Runners & Riders
So far eight Musto Skiffs have entered the event. Musto Skiff National Champion, Sam Pascoe, was recent runner-up at the Bloody Mary at the start of January. He'll be up against last year's World Championship runner-up Andy Tarboton. But will they and the other Musto Skiffs be able to beat Ben Schooling, who has won a number of events in the Seldén SailJuice Winter Series over the years?
Last year's overall winners of the Seldén SailJuice Winter Series, Roger Gilbert & Ben McGrane, were also winners of an extremely Tiger Trophy in 2022, and will have to be at their best to beat 505 rivals Michael Sims & Carl Gibbon. Sims was overall series winner nine years ago hiking out his singlehanded Solo. Another interesting duel of trapeze boats will be the ongoing battle for Osprey supremacy between Pete Gray & Geoff Edwards versus Roger & Iain Blake.
After recent years have gone well for the faster trapeze boats, will this be one for the slower hiking classes? The recent King George Gallop was a good outing for the Enterprises, so maybe a chance for Paul Young & Nathan McGrory to move further up the rankings from their current 5th overall. Or others further down the Top 10 overall rankings, such as Finlay Cochrane (Laser 4.7) or James & Samuel Clancy in their Merlin Rocket.
With current overall leader Ben Flower absent on Olympic campaigning duty for Canada in his Laser, could the Tiger be an opportunity for the second and third overall competitors to pounce? Respectively, that's Jamie Blake's Laser in 2nd overall and Sam Mettam's RS Aero 6 in 3rd overall.
Seldén SailJuice Winter Series 2022/23 Events:
- Fernhurst Books Draycote Dash, Draycote Water Sailing Club
20 & 21 November 2022
- Datchet Flyer, Datchet Water Sailing Club
3 & 4 December 2022
- Yorkshire Dales Brass Monkey, Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club
27 December 2022
- Burghfield Breezer, Burghfield Sailing Club
27 December 2022
- Grafham Grand Prix, Grafham Water Sailing Club
2 January 2023
- Bloody Mary, Queen Mary Sailing Club
7 January 2023
- King George Gallop, King George Sailing Club
21 January 2023
- John Merricks Tiger Trophy, Rutland Sailing Club
4 & 5 February 2023
- Oxford Blue, Oxford Sailing Club
18 February 2023
- Prizegiving at RYA Dinghy Show, Farnborough
25 February 2023
You can find out more about the series at www.SailJuiceSeries.com