Draycote Dash victory for Peter Nelson's RS600

by Andy Rice on 26 Nov 2012 With raging storms and lashings of brutal rain flooding parts of England overnight, the conclusion of the Draycote Dash looked uncertain on Sunday morning. With winds blowing in excess of twenty knots at the start of the 100-minute Pursuit Race, some competitors in the slower boats seemed reluctant to get on the water in time for their starts. Brenda Hoult’s Laser 4.7 from Hill Head led for the best part of a lap despite having crossed the line some minutes after her allotted start time. Some of the 90-strong handicap fleet stayed ashore, not wanting to risk their boats in the strong breeze skudding across Draycote Water.

But then the wind started to drop quite dramatically, sometimes to below 10 knots, and it was the turn of the Scorpions and Merlin Rockets to take up the battle for the lead. Considering the drop in breeze during the course of the race, the slower handicap boats that started earlier might have been expected to benefit. Yet it was the 505 sailed by Andy Davis and Mike Senior who came through to win the double-points, non-discardable Pursuit Race. This elevated them to seventh overall, but it was a fifth place for Peter Nelson’s RS600 that proved sufficient to give him overall victory in the Draycote Dash 2012, the first of six events in the GJW Direct SailJuice Winter Series.

Third place in the Pursuit Race elevated David Hayes and Jonny Ratcliffe’s Merlin Rocket to second overall, with Andy Couch’s Phantom in third place, just edging out another Merlin (Matt Biggs and John Hackett) and Ian Morgan’s Laser from the podium.

And so for the time being, Peter Nelson holds the lead in the GJW Direct SailJuice Winter Series, with the next event on 27 December, the Brass Monkey at Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club. Some competitors were rewarded for entering the series early, with Laser 2000 sailor Matt Sargent winning a signed copy of Asymmetric Sailing by Andy Rice, and former SailJuice Winter Series winner Olly Turner winning some Gul winter gear. There are further prizes up for grabs for those who enter before 20 December. With seven different classes in the top 10, early indications from the Draycote Dash is that the Great Lakes handicapping system is producing some of the fairest racing yet seen in UK handicap dinghy racing.

Provisional Results

14:00 Sun

Rank	Fleet	Class	SailNos	Helm	Crew	Club	PY	R1	R2	R3	R4	Pursuit		Nett
1st	Fast	RS600	920	Peter Nelson		Northampton Sailing Club	920	6	-52	8	4	10	80	28
2nd	Fast	Merlin Rocket	3734	David Hayes	Jonny Ratcliffe	Hayling Island Sailing Club	980	14	-21	13	5	6	59	38
3rd	Medium	Phantom	1345	Andy Couch		Rudyard Lake Sailing Club	1010	-7	3	5	6	28	49	42
4th	Fast	Merlin Rocket	3743	Matt Biggs	John Hackett	Blithfield Sailing Club	980	-19	9	10	11	12	61	42
5th	Slow	Laser	188781	Ian Morgan		Hill Head Sailing Club	1118	1	-15	4	12	26	58	43
6th	Fast	Osprey	55	Mike Pickering	Mike Priddle	Restronguet Sailing Club	944	-21	7	17	17	4	66	45
7th	Fast	505	9088	Andy Smith	Alex Davies	Notts County Sailing Club	889	20	-57	7	3	16	103	46
8th	Fast	505	9063	Andy Davis	Mike Senior	Blithfield Sailing Club	889	-41	31	15	9	2	98	57
9th	Medium	Scorpion	1987	Steve Hall	Oli Wells	Pinnell and Bax	1042	-65	15	21	7	14	122	57
10th	Medium	Scorpion	2013	Peter Gray	Rachael Rhodes	SHSC	1042	25	5	19	(83.0 DNF)	22	154	71

Full results here.