Controversial
Merlin retirement hands title to Peake
Musto Skiff sailor Andy Peake has found
himself as the new, unexpected and somewhat reluctant
champion of the SailJuice Global Warm-Up 2011. Almost
a fortnight since the final event of the UK dinghy winter
travellers’ series concluded at a windy John Merricks
Tiger Trophy at Rutland Water, controversial debate
about the legality of their experimental sails has forced
the winners, Merlin Rocket sailors Matt Biggs and Ben
Hollis, to relinquish the title.
Biggs explained his reasons for retiring
in a message to readers of Yachtsandyachting.com, where
the debate has been running hot over the rights and
wrongs of using experimental sails in the SailJuice
series. “After much heartache, and the reading of the
comments placed on this website and the Merlin Rocket
forums, myself and Ben have decided to duly retire from
the event,” wrote Biggs. “It was never our intention
to gain any illegal advantage, we were just testing
the longevity of the newly designed sails not the performance.”
Musto Skiff sailor Andrew Peake, now elevated
from runner-up to 2011 champion, commented: "Obviously
it's always nice to win a competition, but I'd have
preferred not to have won it like this. As far as I'm
concerned, Matt and Ben won the series fair and square,
and it's a shame they've felt compelled to retire from
the SailJuice Global Warm-Up. The experimental sails
they were using were, for me, a non-issue, and had absolutely
no bearing on the outcome of the Series. But I hope
they'll come back next year and we can enjoy another
round of winter competition on the water without any
of the off-the-water politics."
Series organiser, SailJuice.com editor
Andy Rice commented: “I feel terribly sorry for Matt
and Ben about what’s happened. I’m not sufficiently
familiar with the minutiae of the Merlin Rocket class
rules to understand their error, and maybe they broke
the letter of the law, but they certainly didn’t break
the spirit. I respect their decision, but it wasn’t
necessary in my view. This doesn’t mean I condone willful
rule breaking, but what happened here was not a case
of that. I set this series up as a bit of fun, and to
get people out racing and meeting up with old mates
from other classes. Hopefully that’s what most people
have got out of it this year, and I’m looking forward
to sailors enjoying more of the same next winter.”
The prizegiving is set to take place at
the RYA Volvo Dinghy Show at Alexandra Palace at 1245pm
on Saturday, 5 March 2011.
Series sponsors of the Series: Laser Performance,
RS Sailing, the Musto Skiff class, SailRacer.co.uk,
YachtsandYachting.com and SailJuice.com.
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