Good Xmas Entries for Yorkshire Dales and Grafham

Yorkshire Dales Brass Monkey © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

Competitors in the Seldén Sailjuice Winter Series are gearing up for a busy few days, starting with the Magic Marine Yorkshire Dales Brass Monkey on 27 December and the Gill Grafham Grand Prix on 29 December.

After winning a windy event 12 months ago at Yorkshire Dales at the helm of a 420, Olympic campaigner Arran Holman is back this year racing a Solo. With over 60 entries for the event this will be a hotly contested event.

Magic Marine supports Yorkshire Dales

This year Magic Marine joins the title sponsors and, along with another sponsor North East & Yorkshire Youth Sailing Association, are providing 20 Magic Marine vouchers to winners across the fleet.

Magic Marine has also issued a 15% discount code for the Brass Monkey (expires 31/12/24) to celebrate their support for the event. Voucher code: BrassMonkey2024

This can be used at their main site and also their sports sunglasses.

On Boxing Day, triple champion Simon Horsfield and GJW Direct Coach was joined by PRO Phil Whitehead, looking ahead to some great post-Christmas racing in the stunning Yorkshire Dales. Simon (and his wife Katie) 2000, have had past success at the Brass Monkey, with a 2nd their best, so understands how to succeed at this lovely venue.

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Zhik Old Boats

Thanks to the Zhik 'Old Boats' scheme, there's a growing number of old boats competing in this year's Series. The Robline Polar Chase saw a 30-year old Enterprise recently purchased for £1,500, finished up in 14th overall from a packed entry of 86 boats, proving you don't need a new boat to succeed. There will be prizes across each event and an overall rankings presented at the RYA Dinghy & Watersports Show. If your boat is 20 years or older you are eligible. Please email with your boat details and you can get on the list.

More than 100 for the Gill Grafham Grand Prix

There's a huge range of boats lining up for the Gill Grafham Grand Prix on 29 December. Among a few multihulls are some Spitfire singlehanders from the host club, Grafham Water Sailing Club. Visitors include Megan Pascoe helming a 2.4mR singlehanded keelboat, Jon Swain's high-performance VXOne sportsboat and a WETA sailed by Dan and Seb Taylor.

Also making a return to the Series is Andrew Peake who's back helming a Musto Skiff just as he did when he won the overall trophy for the 2010/11 season.

Early into the new year and the racing continues with the rescheduled Fernhurst Books Draycote Dash on 4 & 5 January 2025.

Enter at www.sailjuiceseries.com

Here are the overall rankings after two of the nine events in this season's Series.

The Events

The following events are in the Seldén SailJuice Winter Series 2024/25:

• Sailing Chandlery Datchet Flyer, Datchet Water Sailing Club - 7 & 8 December 2024
• Polar Chase, Chase Sailing Club - 14 December 2024
• Yorkshire Dales Brass Monkey, Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club - 27 December 2024
• Gill Grafham Grand Prix, Grafham Water Sailing Club - 29 December 2024
• Fernhurst Books Draycote Dash, Draycote Water Sailing Club - 4-5 January 2025 [re-scheduled from November 2024]
• GJW Direct Bloody Mary, Queen Mary Sailing Club - 11 January 2025
• King George Gallop, King George Sailing Club - 18 January 2025
• John Merricks Tiger Trophy, Rutland Sailing Club - 1 & 2 February 2025
• Zhik Oxford Blue, Oxford Sailing Club - 15 February 2025
• Prizegiving at RYA Dinghy & Watersports Show, Farnborough - 22 February 2025

You can find out more about the Series at www.sailjuiceseries.com