Seldén Sailjuice Winter Series: Gould and Mackley's Merlin wins at Grafham
by Andy Rice 31 Dec 2024 09:29 PST
29 December 2024
Chris Gould and Sophie Mackley raced their Merlin Rocket to overall victory at last Sunday's Gill Grafham Grand Prix near Huntingdon. This was the third event to be completed of this season's Seldén Sailjuice Winter Series, and the 42nd edition of this event, sponsored by Gill, attracted 130 boats of different shapes, sizes and speeds to Grafham Water Sailing Club.
While the fleet was distributed across three race areas for Fast, Medium and Slow Handicap, Simon Lovesey of Sailracer ran the performance analysis across the three race tracks to see who would come out on top in a combined ranking. Competing in the 46-boat Medium Fleet, Gould and Mackley sailed their Merlin very consistently in the light to medium airs of a fairly mild afternoon on Grafham Water.
Winning the first two races in Medium and discarding a fourth in the last race of the session, the Merlin Rocket came out on top overall ahead of two well-sailed catamarans in Fast Handicap who were tied for points. William and Megan Smith's Formula 18 won the tiebreak to take second overall ahead of Christian Mash helming a singlehanded Spitfire.
Just a point behind the multihulls and taking fourth overall were past winners of the Seldén Sailjuice Winter Series, Tom Gillard and Rach Gray in a Scorpion. HIgher up the size range, Andrew Wilde and Jon Swain hiked their VXOne sportsboat to fifth overall ahead of top finisher from the Slow Fleet, Ewan Birkin-Walls steering a Solo.
Ten out of Ten!
The combined results from the three fleets produced incredible diversity at the top of the leaderboard, with 10 different classes - a range of multihulls, skiffs, sportsboats and conventional dinghies - occupying the top 10 places overall.
Simon Lovesey explained the methodology behind the combined ranking: "We used the GPS tracking data to produce a combined set of results across three race tracks. It's a time-on-distance calculation using performance data from each race course to derive a course handicap.
"So we factor in different course lengths and the fact that each may be faster/slower if you had boats from the same class on each, ie we effectively handicap each course based on the GPS performance data as well as each class."
Here is a more detailed report of each of the three race tracks by John Aston, principal race officer for the Gill Grafham Grand Prix.
3-Track Race Report from John Aston
Overall entry, at 130, was only slightly down on last year's figure of 136; numbers being boosted by some late entries. The entry included some 39 boats from the home club. As usual racing was split over three fleets: Fast (25), Medium (46), and Slow (59), taking full advantage of Grafham Water's 1600 acres. Format was three back-to-back handicap races.
Competitors arriving bright and early for an 1100 start were greeted by a mist covered lake and a faint zephyr breeze. However over the morning the mist lifted, the wind built to a gentle 8 to 10 knots, and the sun came out: ideal sailing conditions for this time of year.
Mash Spitfires to the top of Fast Fleet
The Fast Fleet sailed an upwind downwind course at the West end of the Lake, taking full advantage of the wide expanse of open water with beats of around 1km. The fleet contained a wide range of multi-hulls and asymmetric monohulls, including a VX One and a Norfolk Punt. Winner of the first race was Christian Mash in his single-handed Spitfire, followed by the VXOne of Andrew Wilde and Jon Swann.
Christian Mash was also the winner of the second race, followed by fellow Grafham Water entrants, brother and sister team Will and Megan Smith, in their F18. In the third race Will and Megan finally came out winners; they were the leading boat in all three races but fell back on handicap adjustment in the first two. Christian's two first places made him the overall winner, with Will and Megan in second (a one two for the home club) and Andrew and Jon third in the VX One.
Merlin Makes Hay in the Middle
The Medium Fleet sailed in the middle of the Lake offering great views to spectators watching from the top floor of the Clubhouse. Good discipline from the fleet (no general recalls and only 1 BFD all day) and slick race management ensured the schedule of three races was completed with no real delays, and all boats were finished by 1330. The fleet contained a wide range of single and double handers with a good number of "traditional" classes: 5 Fireballs, 5 Flying Fifteens and 6 Merlin Rockets.
In the first race, Chris Gould and Sophie Mackley from Shoreham in their Merlin Rocket came out winners, from Tom Gillard and Rach Gray in their Scorpion with Peter Gray and Richard Pepperdine in third place in a Fireball. The first two places were the same in Race 2, with Caroline Gould and Livvy Bell third in another Merlin Rocket. In Race 3 Tom Gillard and Rach Gray finally took a first place, followed by Roger and Iain Blake in an Osprey and Jamie Mawson third in an RS600.
Overall double handers took all of the prizes (down to 7th). Chris Gould and Sophie Mackley were the winners, followed by Tom Gillard and Rach Gray, with Roger and Iain Blake in third place.
Borrett Streaks to Slow Victory
In the Slow Fleet there was a strong contingent of ILCAs (7s and 6s) with a comprehensive mix of other classes. Toppers entered for the first time and there were 7 in total, six from the Grafham Topper Academy and one visitor. Racing was at the East end of the Lake, near the dam. Racing was close with different winners in each race. In Race 1, Ewin Birkin-Walls from Grafham Water came out the winner, followed by Sam Watson and Charlie Cotter in a GP14, with Dave Borrett from Beaver SC third in his Streaker.
Dave Borrett came out the winner in Race 2 with another GP14, sailed by Jasper and Fergus Barnham from Snettisham Beach, second and Sam and Charlie third. Race 3 was won by Oliver Davenport in his OK, with Ben Flower second in an ILCA7 and Matthew Wolstenholme and Mike Warwicker third in a Snipe. Overall, the podium read Dave Borrett first (Streaker), Sam Watson and Charlie Cotter second (GP14) and Oliver Davenport third (OK). Toby Hailey from the Graham Topper Academy was first placed Topper.
Thanks to the Race Officers Dave Williams (Medium), Eric Joyce (Fast), and Nigel Denchfield (Slow) for laying on some excellent racing, and also to the many others helping, both volunteers and staff (over 40 in total), without whom this event would not be possible.
Top 3 and other results from 42nd Gill Grafham Grand Prix:
Final Podium
1st Merlin Rocket, Chris Gould and Sophie Mackley
2nd Formula 18, William and Megan Smith
3rd Spitfire - Singlehanded, Christian Mash
Full results of combined overall rankings from Grafham here
Fastest (sustained speed over 20 seconds)
A Class Foiling Julian Bosch (15.8 kts)
Corrected Speed against handicap
John Tailby & Chloe Willars, RS400
CFbyLandL Youth Rankings £75 voucher
Freddie Sunderland ILCA 6
Zhik Old Boats
Paul Young & Oliver Mason (Enterprise built in 2000)
Fleet Results:
Simon Horsfield Coaching sponsored by GJW Direct Insurance
Three-time winner of the Seldén Sailjuice Winter Series, Simon Horsfield, was watching the action at Grafham and will be running a debrief this Thursday, 2 January, at 20:00 hours. Simon will be looking back at the winning moves from last weekend and previewing the coming weekend's action at Draycote Water.
WhatsApp Group
chat.whatsapp.com/KFlRWkTrhxpDMkqcJbanWR
GJW Direct sponsored Coaching Debrief by sailing coach and multiple champion Simon Horsfield
www.facebook.com/SeldenSailJuiceWinterSeries/videos
Zhik Old Boats
Thanks to the Zhik 'Old Boats' scheme, there's a growing number of old boats competing in this year's Series. The Robline Polar Chase saw a 30-year old Enterprise recently purchased for £1,500, finished up in 14th overall from a packed entry of 86 boats, proving you don't need a new boat to succeed. There will be prizes across each event and an overall rankings presented at the RYA Dinghy & Watersports Show. If your boat is 20 years or older you are eligible. Please email with your boat details and you can get on the list.
More than 100 for the Fernhurst Books Draycote Dash
Early into the new year and the racing continues with the rescheduled Fernhurst Books Draycote Dash this weekend, 4 & 5 January 2025, with 117 boats entered for what looks set to be the start of a big chill for the early new year. Following a week later is the GJW Direct Bloody Mary on Saturday, 11 January.
Enter at www.sailjuiceseries.com
The Events
The following events are in the Seldén SailJuice Winter Series 2024/25:
- Sailing Chandlery Datchet Flyer, Datchet Water Sailing Club - 7 & 8 December 2024
- Polar Chase, Chase Sailing Club - 14 December 2024
- Yorkshire Dales Brass Monkey, Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club - 27 December 2024
- Gill Grafham Grand Prix, Grafham Water Sailing Club - 29 December 2024
- Fernhurst Books Draycote Dash, Draycote Water Sailing Club - 4-5 January 2025 [re-scheduled from November 2024]
- GJW Direct Bloody Mary, Queen Mary Sailing Club - 11 January 2025
- King George Gallop, King George Sailing Club - 18 January 2025
- John Merricks Tiger Trophy, Rutland Sailing Club - 1 & 2 February 2025
- Zhik Oxford Blue, Oxford Sailing Club - 15 February 2025
- Prizegiving at RYA Dinghy & Watersports Show, Farnborough - 22 February 2025
You can find out more about the Series at www.sailjuiceseries.com