Seldén Sailjuice Winter Series - Teenagers shunt vintage Punt to Gallop victory
by Andy Rice 21 Jan 08:14 NZDT
18 January 2025
Two 18-year-olds, Edward Clifford and Alex Standley, sailed their 66-year-old Norfolk Punt to victory at a very light-airs Magic Marine King George Gallop last Saturday. This is one of the youngest teams combined with the oldest boat ever to win an event in the 16-year history of the Seldén Sailjuice Winter Series.
It's a particularly fitting moment in the season when the Zhik 'Old Boats' challenge has been introduced to encourage sailors to compete in boats that might be past their best, yet are still perfectly good for racing.
The minimum age to qualify a boat for the Zhik 'Old Boats' is 20 years, so the 1958-vintage Norfolk Punt surpassed that criterion by 46 years. Clifford and Standley have been competing at many Seldén Sailjuice Winter Series events over the past couple of seasons and to win at King George Sailing Club they had to beat some big names in UK dinghy sailing.
Slo-mo Gallop
After his stint as principal race officer at the GJW Direct Bloody Mary a week earlier on the other side of the London, Dan Fox was well prepared for another light-airs drifter at King George. With barely a breath of wind across the reservoir, this was far from a Gallop, more a slow trot or at times a complete drifter.
On lap one of the first race, the Norfolk Punt was fast out of the gate, soon taking a three-minute lead ahead of Roger and Iain Blake's Osprey. Sailing in clear wind, the young guns in the old Punt really hit their stride and managed to knock off nearly half a minute of their lap lap time according to the SailRacer GPS trackers.
With the wind dying and at times down to zero, the PRO decided to shorten the race after 39 minutes, giving the Punt line honours. It then took the chasing pack over 20 minutes to cross the finish line, with some more than 40 minutes behind. This meant that everyone other than the Punt timed out, so the PRO decided to use Lap One times to allocate scores to the rest of the fleet.
With no more wind there was no more racing for the day, a continuation of an incredibly light-airs season so far, with the exception of those dastardly storms of late 2024. Finishing behind the Norfolk Punt was Ben Flower in his RS Aero 9, (only 1 second behind on corrected time behind the winners), and Nick Craig was third in his Finn, having only just landed from Sydney a few days earlier after finishing runner-up at the B14 World Championship downunder.
Finishing in fourth place was local hero Vince Horey in his Solo and ILCA 7 teenager Max Guiget-Belcher came in fifth ahead of the Blakes' Osprey in sixth.
Simon Horsfield Coaching sponsored by GJW Direct Insurance
Three-time winner of the Seldén Sailjuice Winter Series, Simon Horsfield is running a debrief of the Gallop on Tuesday, 21 January, at 20:00 hours. Simon will be looking back at the winning moves and analysing other stand-out performances from the handicap fleet.
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Zhik Old Boats
Thanks to the Zhik 'Old Boats' scheme, there's a growing number of old boats competing in this year's Series, and the victory of the 66-year-old Norfolk Punt offers the biggest encouragement yet for others to get an old boat out of the boat park and start racing it again. Zhik's Laurence Mead was competing in his Solo (finishing 10th at the Gallop) and presented prizes at King George.
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.
Ben Flower's videos
Aside from finishing runner-up at the Gallop, Aero/ ILCA sailor Ben Flower was busy chatting to other competitors around the boat park at King George SC. See below or at www.facebook.com/magicmarineuk/videos/610630504951158
Podium and other prizes from Magic Marine King George Gallop
1st Norfolk Punt, Edward Clifford & Alex Standley, Norfolk Broads Yacht Club
2nd RS Aero 9, Ben Flower, Paington SC
3rd Finn, Nick Craig, Burghfield SC
Fastest (sustained speed over 20 seconds) - 29er, Alex Saunders & Harry Whelan, 4.2 knots
Corrected Speed against handicap - Supernova, Serena Stewardson
CFbyLandL Youth Rankings £75 voucher - Max Guiguet-Belcher, Greig City Academy
Zhik Old Boats - Norfolk Punt, Edward Clifford & Alex Standley
Full Results from Magic Marine King George Gallop: enter.sailracer.org/eventsites/content.asp?id=50629&eventid=226008
Enter the Tiger
Next event in the Series is just under two weeks away, the John Merricks Tiger Trophy at Rutland Sailing Club, taking place on 1 & 2 February 2025. Enter at www.sailjuiceseries.com