Fireballers Andy Smith & Tim Needham win the Bloody Mary sailing a 505.
The 37th Bloody Mary Pursuit Race took place in freezing temperatures, snow flurries and gusting northerly 25 knot winds. Cited in Yachts and Yachting as one of the top sailing 5 events in the world. Despite the appalling conditions in the week leading up to the event and on the day itself, 61 boats entered.
In previous years, the only classes eligible to win the main Bloody Mary Pursuit Race Trophy have been those with an RYA published Portsmouth Yardstick Number. As of the 2010 Bloody Mary, all monohull dinghies, including foilers, and those keelboat classes accepted by Queen Mary Sailing Club were eligible to win the Bloody Mary Trophy.
The full range of dinghies entered from a Topper to an RS600 FF. The lead was progressively taken from the Topper by a Miracle, a Laser and a Merlin.
With 20 minutes to go a 505 sailed by Andy Smithy and Tim Needham took the lead and retained it until the end despite an RS800 snapping at their heels. Andy and Tim from Staunton Harold Sailing Club, who had only just purchased the boat, were the successful winners of this first ever fully open Bloody Mary.
Winner of the Ladies Helm was Sarah Allen from Royal Southern helming an RS200 with Mark Ampleford, the Hyde Sails Foilers Trophy was Geoff Carveth in an International Moth. The first Queen Mary Helm was James Boyce sailing with Sam Tozer in an RS200.
Class prizes were won by Jim Downer and John Price (RS400) of Royal Victoria and Andrew Hurst (Laser) from Queen Mary.
Prize winners walked away with a bag of goodies including vodka juice and tomato juice, tickets for the London Boat Show, fabulous watches from Nautica and free subscriptions to sailjuice.com.
The winners thanked the volunteers and staff of the Club who worked so hard to make this happen in such extreme weather conditions
Overall Results: (61 entries)
1st 9012, Andy "Smithy" Smith & Tim Needham, 505 (Staunton Harold SC)
2nd 978, Neil Ashby & Sam Proctor, RS 800 (Bough Beech SC)
3rd 3691, Richard Whitworth & Olly Turner, Merlin Rocket (Parkstone SC)
4th 2698, Peter Barton & Ben Paton, Cherub (Royal Lymington YC)
5th 3707, Simon Blake & Alex Jackson, Merlin Rocket (Shoreham SC)
6th 1318, Nick Craig, Phantom (Frensham Pond SC)
7th 1, Daniel Holman, Punk (Netley SC)
8th 1210, Jim Downer & Jon Price, RS 400 (Royal Victoria YC)
9th 1088, James Boyce & Sam Tozer, RS 200 (Queen Mary SC)
10th 2495, Stuart Hydon & Fiona Gray, Lark (Shustoke SC)
11th 155, David Hitchcock & Ian Nicholson, RS K6 (Queen Mary SC)
12th 951, Michael & Iszatt, RS 600 (Fishers Green SC)
13th 4016, Neal Gibson, Miracle (Redoubt SC)
14th 3095, Chris Guy & Simon Cowdell, Firefly (Castaways)
15th 3445, Geoff Carveth, International Moth (RYA)
16th 1293, Andrew Boyce & Charlie Beck, RS 200 (Papercourt SC)
17th 1000, Sam Pascoe, RS 600 FF (Castle Cove SC)
18th 7, Andrew Hurst, Laser (Queen Mary SC)
19th 7, Simon Hiscocks, RS 600 FF (Weymouth and Portland SA)
20th 189092, Gareth Edwards, Laser (Queen Mary SC)
21st 1209, Graham Newton & Simon Raglione-Hall, RS 400 (Restronguet SC)
22nd 3692, Marinus Zilvold & Julie Nuttall, Merlin Rocket (Whitstable YC)
23rd 167555, James Bayliss, Laser Radial (Queen Mary SC)
24th 471, Russ Hopkins, RS 300 (Tewkesbury SC)
25th 119, Terry Wilkinson & Sarah White, RS K6 (Queen Mary SC)
26th 1231, Sarah Allen & Mark Ampleford, RS 200 (Royal Southern YC)
27th 2997, Jon Steward & Nick Yannakoyorgos, Merlin Rocket (Wembley SC)
28th 1084, Graham Stones & Alcian Banister, RS Vision (Spinnaker Club)
29th 693, Jon Smith & Valentin Nedyalkov, RS 400 (Queen Mary SC)
