Simon Hawkes captured the John Merricks Tiger Trophy after a consistent performance in his singlehanded K1 keelboat.
Sam Pascoe opened the Tiger Trophy weekend with back to back wins in his Musto Skiff, before Hawkes, who had taken second behind him in the first two races, raised the bar with a win in race 3.
Pascoe could not maintain his earlier pace in the dying breeze, finishing 11th and leaving him it with all to do in the non-discardable Pursuit Race on the Sunday.
And just as the wind waxed and waned, the leadership of the 120-minute Tiger Trophy shifted from fast to slow.
A good breeze got the pursuit race going nicely, with the Topper of 14-year-old Nathan Clarke holding the lead for the first hour.
But the dying breeze did not bode well for the later starters, and the Graduate of Isaac Marsh and Alex Gibbons took the win ahead of the Solos of Matt Frary and Chris Bunn.
The first Fast finisher was the RS400 of Ollie Groves and Martin Penty.
Overnight leader Pascoe in his Musto Skiff could only manage a 63rd place finish . . . while Hawkes brought his K1 home in 9th to claim a two point overall Tiger Trophy victory.
Second overall was Alastair Brown’s Laser and third Ben Whaley and Lorna Glen in their RS200.
Sam Pascoe, unable to discard his pursuit race finish dropped to 22nd overall.
The Tiger was the eighth and penultimate event of the Seldén SailJuice Winter Series which is led by Ben Flower in a Laser (ILCA 7) with second the Osprey of Peter Gray and Geoff Edwards and third the RS400 Ollie Groves and Martin Penty.
Final series event is the Oxford Blue at Oxford Sailing Club on 18 February, with the Series Prizegiving at the RYA Dinghy Show, Farnborough, 25 February 2023.
2023 Tiger Trophy – Final Leaders after 4 races (97 entries)
1st Slow K1 HAWKES, Simon -2 2 1 9 – – 12 pts
2nd Slow Laser (ILCA 7) BROWN, Alastair 6 -27 3 5 – – 14 pts
3rd Slow RS200 WHALEY, Ben and Lorna Glen -9 8 2 8 – – 18 pts
4th Fast RS400 GROVES, Ollie and Martin Penty 7 -21 10 4 – – 21 pts
5th Fast 505 GILBERT, Roger and Ben McGrane -32 5 6 12 – – 23 pts
6th Fast Osprey BURGE, Matt and Vyv Townend 4 4 -20 17 – – 25 pts
7th Slow Graduate MARSH, Isaac and Alex Gibbons -33 26 4 1 – – 31 pts
8th Fast Thames A Rater STEWART Jamie, Mark State & Peter Barton -13 12 9 11 – – 32 pts
9th Fast 505 HOLMAN, Arran and Alex Hyghs -31 3 5 26 – – 34 pts
10th Fast Osprey GRAY, Peter and Geoff Edwards 10 -11 9 24 – – 43 pts
11th Slow RS Aero 7 SCURRAH, Joe 5 -28 19 20 – – 44 pts
12th Slow 2000 LEWIS, Jack and Morgan Smith 17 -37 19 10 – – 46 pts
13th Slow Laser (ILCA 7) BAKER, Edward 16 -32 24 7 – – 47 pts
14th Slow RS Aero 7 AHLHEID, Tristan 8 7 -27 33 – – 48 pts
15th Slow Phantom COOK, Rob -21 16 7 27 – – 50 pts
16th Slow Solo SMITH, Andy 27 -29 22 6 – – 55 pts
17th Slow Solo FRARY, Matthew 24 -38 32 2 – – 58 pts
18th Fast Osprey BLAKE, Roger and Iain Blake -23 19 15 25 – – 59 pts
19th Slow RS Aero 7 AHLHEID, Tom -37 7 15 38 – – 60 pts
20th Slow Laser (ILCA 7) COLQUITT, George 19 13 -26 31 – – 63 pts
21st Slow RS Vareo FISHER, Luke Emberton Park SC 15 15 (30) 34 – – 64 pts
22nd Fast Musto Skiff PASCOE, Sam Castle Cove 1 1 (11) 63 – – 65 pts
