120-plus to compete at sunny Grafham Water

Last year’s winner of the series, Olly Turner, is competing again in his Merlin Rocket, up against other hot competitors including reigning Fireball World Champion Chips Howarth.

After weeks of snowy weather which led to large areas of the reservoir near Huntingdon to freeze over, the thaw has arrived just in time for the Grafham Grand Prix to go ahead. The weather forecast suggests it might be the first sunny day in a long time.

Competitors will race in four different divisions – Fast Asymmetrics / Fast Cats, Medium Handicap / Slow Cats, Slow Handicap and Singlehanders – with two back-to-back races, the first starting at 11 AM on Sunday morning.

The Grafham Grand Prix is the first of four events in this year’s SailJuice Global Warm-up, with competitors counting their best three results from the following events:

Grafham Grand Prix, Grafham Water Sailing Club
Sunday 2nd January 2011

Bloody Mary, Queen Mary Sailing Club
Saturday 8th January 2011

Steve Nicholson Trophy, Northampton Sailing Club
Saturday 29 January 2011

John Merricks Tiger Trophy, Rutland Sailing Club
Saturday 5th & Sunday 6th February 2011

You can enter the Series here: www.sailracer.org/globalwarmup

With the final prize-giving for the series set to take place at the RYA Volvo Dinghy Show at Alexandra Palace on the weekend of 5/6 March 2011, there some great prizes up for grabs. These include:

    •    £300 of sailing gear from Rooster Sailing
    •    £200 voucher towards a new sail from Hyde Sails
    •    £300 of vouchers for hardware and equipment from Holt
    •    £150 of RS Sailing vouchers for competitors racing in RS boats
    •    Two brand new Laser sails from Laser Performance for competitors in Standard/ Radial/4.7 rigs
    •    There are also e-subions from Yachts & Yachting and subions to SailJuice.com up for grabs.

Even if you can’t make it to Grafham this weekend, make sure you get your entry in for the Series by the entry deadline next Wednesday, 5th January. With one discard, you can still put a Series together.