With the Sydney-Hobart line honours decided, attention switches to the Bloody Mary Race at Queen Mary SC on Saturday 8 January 2022.
This ‘iconic’ opener of the British sailing year first hit the water in 1974, and barring a couple of cancellations and one abandonment, has continued to attract hundreds of competitors to the Queen Mary Reservoir just west of London near Heathrow Airport.
Traditionally the Bloody Mary took place on the first Saturday of the London Boat Show – the day that it has stuck to ever since – although it has now out-lived that show!
The winners roll-call is a record of the great and good of British dinghy sailing, starting with Chris Eyre in 1974 in a ‘lowrider’ International Moth.
After back to back wins for the now ‘foiler’ type International Moth in 2012/13, foiling dinghies are now banned from the race.
The winners list includes Olympians, National and World Champions and features most of the popular British dinghy classes.
The International 14 class tops the board with eight wins followed by the Moth with five. While at the other end of the range the 420 and Mirror dinghy each have four wins and the mighty Thames A Rater has ghosted to two victories – in 1994 and 2006.
The 2022 GJW Direct Bloody Mary pursuit race is Leg 4 of the Seldén SailJuice 2021/22 Winter Series.
And after cancellation of the 2021 event due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, QMSC will be hoping that Boris keeps his finger off the lockdown button, long enough for the 49th Bloody Mary to take place on Saturday 8 January 2022.
Entries for the Bloody Mary are normally in the 250+ range, with a 350 limit. This year entries to date are at 57, if I was looking at the correct entry list . . .
To shortcut to the Sailracer Bloody Mary on-line entry page click here . . . and choose your class to get the entry started.
The QMSC page for the Bloody Mary is available here . . .
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