Eight Events for 17th edition of Seldén Sailjuice Winter Series

by Andy Rice 3 Nov 06:38 GMT

Seldén Sailjuice Winter Series © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

The Seldén Sailjuice Winter Series is back for its 17th edition of the travellers' circuit which has become part of the calendar for so many small boat classes in the UK.

There are eight events for this season, and competitors from almost a hundred different types of boat will need to put together their four best scores in order to give themselves a shot at the overall title. It's also the eighth year of title sponsorship from Seldén Mast, who have been such unwavering supporters of the circuit even through the difficult Covid lockdown years.

A word from recent champions

Last year Tom Gillard and Rachael Gray put together a strong set of results to become overall winners of the 2024/25 season. They competed in their Scorpion doublehander, and the racing over the winter season set them up perfectly for a barnstorming summer of success across a range of dinghy classes. Gillard, racing with Gray in a range of hiking classes, along with Fireball crew Andy 'Shandy' Thompson, won the following events:

Fireball Australian Nationals
Fireball UK Nationals
Fireball Inlands
Salcombe Merlin Week
Merlin Nationals
Scorpion Nationals
Streaker Nationals
Lark Nationals

The one that got away from Gillard, however, was the Fireball Worlds in Lake Garda. "Third at the Fireball Worlds, this was not a good one for us," he said. "A pretty disappointing finish to the year. Since then I've had some time out of sailing." Gillard has said he might do some of this winter's events but is also taking some time out travelling over Christmas. But he's in no doubt of the value of the winter competition to keep up his competitive skills. "The Seldén Sailjuice Winter Series is a great way to keep fitness up over winter. Racing is always better than training."

Seldén Sailjuice Winter Series - photo © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

Comeback for Pascoe?

The previous season, 2023/24, was dominated by Sam Pascoe racing his Musto Skiff. He went on to win the Musto Skiff World Championship a few months later in the summer of 2024, and he also attributes part of his world title success to the hard yards of racing over the winter. "The 2023/24 Seldén Sailjuice Winter Series made sure I started the 2024 Musto Skiff season race ready and with perfect boat handling," he said. "It definitely was a massive part of my very successful unbeaten year of racing. It was great fun meeting up with lots of mates who sail different boats. I am looking forward to doing the 25/26 series with my son Benjamin." The Pascoe son/ father combo will certainly be ones to watch for overall victory. Benjamin, aged nine, with Sam crewing, won the 59-boat 2000 Nationals at Hayling Island a few months ago.

Enter for this season for £20 off Magic Marine kit

Entries are now open for the eight events, starting with the Fernhurst Books Draycote Dash on the weekend of 22 & 23 November. Technical clothing specialist Magic Marine, after their sponsorship of last summer's Sailjuice Challenge, are offering a £20 voucher for anyone who enters two or more events before the Draycote Dash weekend. As usual, the handicapping will be run under the Great Lakes Group, a well established set of handicap numbers, a variation from the standard RYA Portsmouth Yardstick numbers.

Enter here

Thanks to King George Sailing Club

The events of the series have tended to be a bit southern-centric, and nine in a season has been a bit too much to handle. A few years back when a lack of water meant the Bloody Mary couldn't go ahead, King George Sailing Club stepped in at short notice and ran an extremely successful and well received King George Gallop. The Gallop has since been part of the Series for a number of seasons but this year won't be part of the circuit. Series organisers Simon Lovesey and Andy Rice would like to thank everyone at King George who has done such a great job of organising and running the King George Gallop over the years.

Navigators & General support expert coaching for everyone

Where can you get free expert coaching to help you race your dinghy faster? Outside of the Olympic or Youth circuits, most of us every-day dinghy racers have never had access to coaching. A lot of us are self-taught and we make it up as we go along.

But three-time winner of the Seldén Sailjuice Winter Series, 2000 helmsman Simon Horsfield, is back for another year to offer free coaching to competitors taking part in the upcoming travellers' circuit.

Thanks to sponsorship from insurance company Navigators & General, supporting the Winter Series for the first time, Simon will again be providing a comprehensive coaching service throughout the winter.

Simon will be bringing all his expertise as a full-time sailing coach for the Royal Navy as well as his previous similar coaching role for the British Army, and always loves to share his knowledge and passion with sailors at every level of the sport.

"No matter what level you're at, an outside perspective from a coach can really help sailors raise their game," says Simon who, with wife Katie, won three consecutive editions of the Selden Sailjuice Winter Series. "There's a special way of getting around the course cleanly in a busy handicap fleet with lots of traffic, so we'll be looking at the tactics and strategy on the race course as well as helping people with their boat set-up and boat handling skills."

Enter the series here

The Events

The following events are in the Seldén SailJuice Winter Series 2025/26:

Fernhurst Books Draycote Dash, Draycote Water Sailing Club - 22 & 23 November 2025
Datchet Flyer, Datchet Water Sailing Club - 6 & 7 December 2025
Polar Chase, Chase Sailing Club - 13 December 2025
Yorkshire Dales Brass Monkey, Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club - 27 December 2025
Gill Grafham Grand Prix, Grafham Water Sailing Club - 4 January 2026
GJW Direct Bloody Mary, Queen Mary Sailing Club - 10 January 2026
John Merricks Tiger Trophy, Rutland Sailing Club - 31 January 2026 & 1 February 2026
Oxford Blue, Oxford Sailing Club - 14 February 2026