Dinghy Shack National Series at the Bloody Mary

The Dinghy Shack National Series started early in 2024 with the first event on the 6th Jan run as part of the Bloody Mary pursuit race hosted by Queen Mary SC. The conditions leading up to the event had been pretty inclement  with gales and persistent rain for weeks before. The weather gods smiled on the event however and when Saturday morning started the rain cleared and a perfect force 3 filled in with a balmy 6 degrees. The sun even made an appearance.

Sadly only three 12s entered the event. The 12s started with the Aero 7s which meant for a busy port biased start line. Graham & Blue Camm were first off the pin end and made good use of the very shifty first beat to gain some distance on George Finch & Toby Hunt who were in second. The Camms rounded the windward mark with the leading Aero 7. The Camms battled with the Aero 7 for  a lap then pulled out some distance. After the first lap George & Toby  started to get embroiled in the busier part of the race  as a large number of faster boats started just a few minutes behind the 12s and now caught up. The Camms worked hard to fend these off and were lucky to keep clear air for the whole of the second lap and maintained their position as the leading 12 to take 4th place in the pursuit race. George & Toby were second 12, achieving a respected 79th place in the 180 strong fleet. Matt & Kerry Flynn from Desborough SC were the first non-foiler in their Design 8.

Full pursuit race results https://www.queenmary.org.uk/racing/bloody-mary/gjw-direct-bloody-mary-results-2024

Tracker paths (replay the event): https://enter.sailracer.org/eventsites/live-screen-tracking-club.asp?eventid=225490&labels=S

Summary by Queen Mary & Yachts & Yatching

https://www.queenmary.org.uk/racing/bloody-mary/

https://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/270308/Sam-Pascoe-wins-the-GJW-Direct-48th-Bloody-Mary