Sailjuice Challenge on a mission to build Bigger, Better Dinghy Racing events in the UK
by Andy Rice 13 Mar 2025 10:59 GMT
The Sailjuice Challenge 2025 © Tim Olin /
www.olinphoto.co.uk
The organisers of the Seldén Sailjuice Winter Series are looking to promote better events across the whole year, not just the winter. Surveys and Daffodils are in the offing...
There was a real buzz to the RYA Dinghy & Watersports Show in Farnborough at the end of February, with a sense of optimism in the air for 2025.
It has been a strange few years for the sport since the Covid pandemic, when boat builders experienced an initial surge in demand during lockdown. Subsequently things have gone a bit quieter, although there was no sense of that among the buzz of a busy Dinghy Show.
The launch of a few new classes shows there are still plenty of optimistic builders in the industry, but how will they get a foothold in an already saturated dinghy racing scene?
Over the past 16 years, the Seldén Sailjuice Winter Series has brought together all types of small craft into one unified circuit across the cold months. The recent series had 94 different types of boat taking part, most of which will separate back into single-class open meetings during the spring and summer months.
More people running the event than doing the event?
But how many of those classes will actually be able to sustain their own open meetings? How many can be confident they'll deliver more participants than the club's volunteers and staff members to run the event on and off the water? With the exception of perhaps the 10 most popular fleets in the country, most dinghy classes just can't generate sufficient numbers to guarantee a good turnout. The economies of scale aren't there.
The Sailjuice Challenge has been designed to address and potentially solve some of these problems, as co-organiser Andy Rice explains: "Back in 2018 my co-organiser in the Seldén Sailjuice Winter Series, Simon Lovesey and I put together a group of multi-class handicap events under the banner of the Great British Sailing Challenge. Even through the warmer months of the year we were starting to see good numbers taking part, culminating in September 2019 with a Grand Final at Rutland Sailing Club.
Enter the SailJuice Challenge
"We were all set for doing the same again for 2020, but of course that was when Covid came along," says Andy. "The circuit lost that small amount of momentum that it had built up, but fundamentally the need for a more unified approach to dinghy open meetings hasn't gone away. So now we're relaunching a year-round circuit called the Sailjuice Challenge."
www.sailingchallenge.org
Simon Lovesey explains further: "We speak to a lot of people about this topic on a regular basis, both participating sailors as well as representatives of sailing clubs and classes. There does seem to be a latent demand for making something happen, something that's more sustainable than the current model of fragmentation. So we're doing a sort of 'soft launch' of the Sailjuice Challenge this season, starting with the Magic Marine Daffodil Regatta at Ullswater Yacht Club on 23 & 24 April.
"It's a well-established, well-run event in its own right. The Magic Marine Daffodil Regatta doesn't need our help but as we've seen with the past 16 years of the Seldén Sailjuice Winter Series, being part of a wider circuit only encourages more people to take part. So we're looking to join forces with other sailing clubs who'd like their existing events to gain more profile and appeal, and we're also keen to talk to clubs about the possibility of growing new events from scratch."
It's early days, but currently there are four events on the Sailjuice Challenge calendar, which you can find at www.sailingchallenge.org
If you'd like to find out about adding an event at YOUR sailing club, contact Simon at:
Simon and Andy are going to be hosting a Zoom meeting to discuss the Sailjuice Challenge further, and it's happening at 1900 hours GMT on Wednesday 26 March.
Topic: Sailjuice Challenge meeting: Future of UK Dinghy Racing Events
Time: Mar 26, 2025 19:00 GMT
Join Zoom Meeting
us06web.zoom.us/j/85239508094?pwd=zjTz1Abraaq06C6AYX11jUWI66aqNK.1
Meeting ID: 852 3950 8094
Passcode: 567505
Survey of what you think
They are also looking to get feedback from anyone interested in this topic. So whether you're a racing sailor, or an administrator for a class or sailing club, there's a short survey here. It will take less than 5 minutes to complete and it will help provide vital insight into the way you and others are thinking about the future of small boat racing.
Take the survey here (doesn't take long)
Further information about how to get involved, either as a participating Class or a host Sailing Club, please contact Simon Lovesey, email: