Mettam’s Fireball leads Series with Steve Nic Trophy next

Nine different classes feature in the top 10, and with three events to go the series is wide open. Next up is the Steve Nicholson Trophy at Northampton Sailing Club, although organisers have warned not to turn up on the day unless you’ve already had your online entry confirmed. From the moment entry went live, the limit of 150 boats was filled within days.

On the restricted waters of Pitsford Reservoir, different divisions take it in turns to share the race course. First start at 11.00am is for the non-asymmetric boats, which then head for shore and some lunch while the foilers and asymmetrics head out for their first start at 1230pm.

The foilers dominated a moderate-air Bloody Mary earlier in the month, with four International Moths taking the top four places in a total entry of 302 boats, the pursuit race’s biggest entry since 2004. All events in the SailJuice Global Warm-Up use handicap numbers based on those put together by the Great Lakes Group. Chairman of the Great Lakes and co-organiser of the Bloody Mary, Andrew Craig, says the International Moth PY number for the Bloody Mary has been moved by 27 minutes over the past five years. This year, the leading Moths of Mike Lennon and Jason Belben moved into the lead with 20 minutes still to run, so it’s likely the Moth number will be moved further still. Still, no one doubts the skill of Belben, Lennon or any of the other top Moth sailors, who between them have won numerous national and world titles in a range of classes.

Former 420 World Champion and 470 Olympian, Belben from Stokes Bay was leading the Moths in the early stages until Lennon told him he’d missed a mark of the course. Belben returned to unwind his error, allowing Lennon to sweep into the lead. However, as the 2.30pm finish time approached, Lennon missed the moving finishing line, sailing beyond it while Belben pounced on Lennon’s error and regained the lead and crossed first. It was a dramatic finish, and the first time a foiling Moth has become the official winner of the Bloody Mary.

The next event in the SailJuice Series takes place on Saturday, 28 January 2012, with the Steve Nicholson Trophy at Northampton Sailing Club.
Enter the Series here: www.sailracer.org/globalwarmup

N.B. Please check your race scores on the provisional overall results here: http://www.sailracer.us/eventsites/content.asp?eventid=51516&id=9648

Consolidating results from different events with different scoring systems is not straightforward, so if you think you’ve spotted an error, please let us know as soon as possible. Contact us here:
http://www.sailracer.us/eventsites/content.asp?id=9648&eventid=51516

N.B. to qualify for the prizes in the Series, you need to have entered at least one of the events via the SailRacer entry system. The Steve Nicholson Trophy entry system is NOT part of the SailRacer system, so make sure you enter online to either of both of the two remaining events in this year’s series, the John Merricks Tiger Trophy at Rutland, and the Draycote Dash at Draycote Water Sailing Club.

Enter the events via the Series website here: www.sailracer.org/globalwarmup