Nick Craig wins in OK at Burghfield Breezer
by Andy Rice 29 Dec 2022 23:24 PST
27 December 2022
Two events in the Seldén SailJuice Winter Series on the same day, 27 December, and two quite different events at opposite ends of England. While the Brass Monkey was taking place at Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club, the Burghfield Breezer was taking place down south near Reading.
Gusty Burghfield
The wind at the Burghfield Breezer in Berkshire was blowing nicely in the low teens for the first race of the session. Multiple dinghy champion Nick Craig chose to race his OK singlehander for this event and hiked his way to victory in the handicap race.
In the afternoon Pursuit Race, the breeze started gusting up to 18 knots, and the sudden bursts of wind were catching out a number of competitors at the gybe mark, creating a flurry of capsizes. Ben Whaley & Lorna Glen won the race in their RS200, with Ben Flower runner-up in his Laser/ ILCA 7. Third place went to Luke Fisher in an RS Vareo.
'Can Do' Spirit
When the scores from the two races were added up, Craig's fourth place in the Pursuit Race combined with the earlier win was sufficient for overall victory. Flower was second overall and Fisher third.
Commodore Andy Maw, who also took photos at the event, paid tribute to the 'can do' spirit of his club members and the competitors too. "Everyone really deserves a lot of credit for how well the day went," he said. "It was great to see the National 18 flying around the course too, three people racing hard around Burghfield, it was a really impressive sight and we'd love to see them back next year."
Mike Lyons' Blaze dinghy was the fastest both on scratch and corrected at sustained 9.52 knots in the pursuit race.
Kick off your New Year with the Grafham Grand Prix
Four events completed in late 2022, and five remaining for early 2023. The first of these is this weekend, on 2 January the Grafham Grand Prix takes place not far from Huntingdon.
Almost 100 boats are already entered, including A-Class and Formula 18 catamarans and some Flying 15 keelboats, as well as the usual good spread of dinghy classes.
Online entry for all the events in the series is available at www.sailjuiceseries.com
Online Prizegiving and Update at 5pm on Friday 30 December
Series organisers Simon Lovesey and Andy Rice will be hosting a Facebook Live event at 7pm on Friday 30 December, with an online wrap-up of the Brass Monkey and Burghfield Breezer, and a look forward to the rest of this season's Seldén SailJuice Winter Series. The winner of another Seldén R60 ratchet block will also be announced, based on which sailor's photo by series photographer Tim Olin has featured prominently in social media. Join the live show this Friday...
www.facebook.com/SeldenSailJuiceWinterSeries
The Events
The following events are in the Seldén SailJuice Winter Series 2022/23:
- Fernhurst Books Draycote Dash, Draycote Water Sailing Club
20 & 21 November 2022
- Datchet Flyer, Datchet Water Sailing Club
3 & 4 December 2022
- Yorkshire Dales Brass Monkey, Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club
27 December 2022
- Burghfield Breezer, Burghfield Sailing Club
27 December 2022
- Grafham Grand Prix, Grafham Water Sailing Club
2 January 2023
- Bloody Mary, Queen Mary Sailing Club
7 January 2023
- King George Gallop, King George Sailing Club
21 January 2023
- John Merricks Tiger Trophy, Rutland Sailing Club
4 & 5 February 2023
- Oxford Blue, Oxford Sailing Club
18 February 2023
- Prizegiving at RYA Dinghy Show, Farnborough
25 February 2023
You can find out more about the series at www.SailJuiceSeries.com