Seldén SailJuice Winter Series set for breezy showdown at Oxford
by Andy Rice 17 Feb 2022 07:46 PST
19 February 2022
Seldén SailJuice Winter Series Oxford Blue © Tim Olin /
www.olinphoto.co.uk
The Seldén SailJuice Winter Series concludes this Saturday at the Oxford Blue, and the forecast is looking somewhat fresh for Farmoor Reservoir...
Batten down the hatches! Storm Eunice is on her way to continue the bad work started by her cousin Dudley on Wednesday. But the hope is that the worst of Eunice will be well behind us by the time competitors are rigging up for this Saturday's Oxford Blue at Farmoor Reservoir.
The final event of a Seldén SailJuice Winter Series that has hurled all extremes of weather at Britain's toughest dinghy racers, the Oxford Blue could prove the toughest test yet for the 70-plus boats entered from more than 30 different classes.
Will it be another day to suit the 505s? Roger Gilbert & Ben McGrane have already won an unprecedented three events so far this season, enough to bring them Series victory before this weekend is even contested.
Then again, it's a smaller race course which could play more to the strengths of the slower but more manoeuvrable classes such as the various hiking singlehanders. There will be at least three flavours of RS Aero competing, the brand new 6 rig going out against the more established 5s and 7s.
The Seldén SailJuice Winter Series does it best to welcome all-comers and two seldom spotted beasts are entered for the Oxford Blue: the Iso and the Snipe. It's going to be a fascinating weekend of high-speed action.
Meanwhile here's a round-up of the story so far this winter...
Overall rankings
With five events now completed, the first discard kicks in. Roger Gilbert and Ben McGrane (505 - Netley SC), have now won three events, and second in the fourth, so no surprise to see them jump 13 places to take the top spot and uncatchable. Last year's runner up Luke Fisher (RS Vareo - Emberton Park SC), drops to second, with Ben Flower (Laser ILCA 7 - Paignton SC) third. Beyond the winning 505, places are still very close, with 19 boats having the potential to make the top 10.
RestartSailing Top Club
The Laser Radial (ILCA 6) class had a strong showing at the breezy Tiger Trophy and jump 3 places to the top of the class rankings, knocking the Laser (ILCA 7) class from 1st. The RS200s jump 2 places to complete the podium. Rankings based on the best three results for each class across every race.
Trident Top Club
Lymington Town SC sailors had some good results at Rutland and hold onto Trident Top Club, with Draycote and Burghfield not far behind.
CraftInsure Club Rankings
It is great to see more family teams, either sailing together or in separate boats, competing for CraftInsure Family Rankings at Seldén SailJuice Winter Series events. Nigel and Andy Bird (Enterprise) continue to top the CraftInsure Family Rankings, with father and daughter team, Chris and Abigail Larr (RS400 - Dratycote SC), moving up to second place after a great result at the Tiger Trophy. Roger and James Blake (Osprey), complete the podium.
Great British Sailing Challenge extracted rankings
Based on the extracted results for each category across every race, with a discard for every three races.
Top Lady
Ellie Craig (RS Aero 7 - Starcross), has competed in all events and heads the leaderboard for Top Lady rankings, from Serena Stewardson (Supernova - Emberton Park SC), with defending champion, Val Millward (Challenger - Rutland SC), in third.
Youth
Maddie Childs (Laser Radial ILCA 6 - King George SC) holds onto the top youth spot, but with defending champion Harry George and Ralph Cawthorne (Lymington Town SC) closing the gap.
Other rankings
There's still time to enter the Oxford Blue this Saturday via www.sailjuiceseries.com
The Events
The following events are in the Seldén SailJuice Winter Series 2021/22:
- Fernhurst Books Draycote Dash, Draycote Water SC
20 & 21 November 2021
- Datchet Flyer, Datchet Water Sailing Club
11 & 12 December 2021
- CANCELLED - Yorkshire Dales Brass Monkey, Yorkshire Dales SC
27 December 2021
- Burghfield Breezer, Burghfield Sailing Club
27 December 2021
- CANCELLED - Grafham Grand Prix, Grafham Water Sailing Club
2 January 2022
- CANCELLED - GJW Direct Bloody Mary, Queen Mary Sailing Club
8 January 2022
- King George Gallop, King George Sailing Club
22 January 2022
- John Merricks Tiger Trophy, Rutland Sailing Club
5 & 6 February 2022
- Oxford Blue, Oxford Sailing Club
19 February 2022
You can find out more about the Series at www.SailJuiceSeries.com