Peter Gray wins second Seldén SailJuice Winter Series title
by Andy Rice 21 Feb 10:21 GMT
18 February 2023
Peter Gray & Geoff Edwards win the Seldén SailJuice Winter Series 2022-23 © Tim Olin /
www.olinphoto.co.uk
It's eleven years since Peter Gray won the overall title in a Scorpion. This year the Staunton Harold sailor wins the Seldén SailJuice Winter Series sailing an Osprey with Geoff Edwards.
Peter Gray & Geoff Edwards (Staunton Harold SC) have become overall winners of this season's Seldén SailJuice Winter Series, but only by the skin of their teeth. It was a close-run thing against Ben Flower (Paington SC) who raced his Laser/ ILCA 7 to a healthy lead in the early stages of the nine-event series but couldn't defend his lead in the later events due to Olympic campaigning duties for Canada.
Gray & Edwards needed a top six at the final event, last weekend's Oxford Blue, if they were to beat Flower overall. A fifth against a fleet of 85 at Farmoor Reservoir was just good enough to take out overall victory, for which the Osprey team will receive the trophy this weekend at the RYA Dinghy & Watersports Show at Farnborough. It was the closest ever finish in the 14-year history of the series.
Joe Scurrah (Carsington SC) sailed his RS Aero 7 to third overall after a very consistent season, just beating Ollie Groves & Martin Penty (Beaver SC) in their RS400 by less than a point.
Gray was surprised to learn that it was eleven years since he'd last won the overall series (on that occasion sailing a Scorpion with Rachael Rhodes, now his wife, Rachael Gray). "It's amazing to think it's so long ago," laughed Peter. "It's good to win it again, this time with Geoff. We'd sailed together in a few other classes and we wanted to identify the right boat for us both.
"We thought about the 505 or the Fireball, but we gave the Osprey a go last year at the Nationals when the class association was kind enough to lend the class boat to us. We didn't get much racing in that week though, because there wasn't much wind, so they were kind enough to let us borrow the boat for the Seldén SailJuice Winter Series.
"Now we've bought an older Osprey for ourselves, and Rachael and I both have new Scorpions coming too."
Like previous winners, Gray says the Seldén SailJuice Winter Series is the ideal way to keep your racing skills sharp through the colder months. "It's good, tight racing that keeps you on your toes and it stops you going rusty," he said.
"The way the events and the series are run, it's very slick, and the format is quite nice. There's a bit of a cluster of events around Christmas but you can put a series together by doing one event a month across the winter season, and that's pretty much what Geoff and I did."
Gray says it was a nice feeling returning to Staunton Harold to drop off the boat. "I got a big cheers from everyone when I arrived, which felt great. It's been a good winter."
The Osprey was the only trapeze boat to make the top ten overall this season, which being predominantly light airs has tended to favour the slower, hiking classes. Roger Blake and Jonathan Osgood (Great Moor SC) sailed their Osprey to ninth overall, but Roger was beaten by his son Jamie who hiked his Laser to fifth overall.
See the overall results from the Oxford Blue
Prizegiving - Saturday 25th Feb
The prize-giving for the Seldén SailJuice Winter Series always attracts one of the biggest crowds at the RYA Dinghy & Watersports Show which takes place in Farnborough this weekend.
The prize-giving starts at 1015am on the Main Stage, on the Saturday morning of 25 February, soon after doors open for the weekend.
Overall Series Top Ten:
| Pos | Class | Helm | Crew | Club | Dash | Flyer | Breezer | Monkey | GGP | BM | Gallop | Tiger | Oxford | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | Osprey | Peter GRAY | Geoff EDWARDS | STAUNTON HAROLD | 4.84 | 5.77 | | | 2.44 | | | 10.31 | 6.58 | 19.63 |
| 2 | Laser (ILCA 7) | Ben FLOWER | | PAIGNTON | | 1.92 | 6.45 | | 6.82 | 7 | | | | 22.19 |
| 3 | RS Aero 7 | Joe SCURRAH | | CARSINGTON | 6.45 | | | 24.24 | 4.88 | | | 11.34 | 7.89 | 30.56 |
| 4 | RS400 | Ollie GROVES | Martin PENTY | BEAVER | | | | 33 | 13.64 | 15 | | 4.12 | 10.53 | 31.32 |
| 5 | Laser (ILCA 7) | Jamie BLAKE | | GREAT MOOR | | 11.54 | 19.35 | | 99 | 21 | 293 | 25.77 | 34.21 | 60.98 |
| 6 | RS200 | Ben WHALEY | Lorna GLEN | PARKSTONE | | | 25.81 | | | 22 | | 39 | 13.16 | 646 |
| 7 | RS Vareo | Luke FISHER | | EMBERTON PARK | | | 12.9 | | 15.91 | | 16.13 | 21.65 | 82.89 | 66.59 |
| 8 | Enterprise | Ann JACKSON | Nick SCUTT | BURGHFIELD | | 15.38 | 293 | | | | 6.45 | | 42.11 | 92.97 |
| 9 | Osprey | Roger BLAKE | Jonathan OSGOOD | GREAT MOOR | 41.94 | 38.46 | 35.48 | | 34.15 | 24 | 22.58 | 18.56 | 60.53 | 99.28 |
| 10 | RS Aero 6 | Sam METTAM | | PAPERCOURT | 22.58 | | 41.94 | | 18.18 | 18 | | 697 | | 100.7 |
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