North Sails Golf Day raises £6,000 for sailing charity
More than £6,000 has been raised for the John Merricks Sailing Trust at the latest North Sails Golf Day.
The event took place at Cams Hall Estate Golf Club in Fareham with 92 golfers – professional and Olympic sailors and marine industry figures – taking part.
“What a fantastic day,” said Ian Walker, JMST Trustee. “Everything was perfect apart from my golf. It was lovely to see so many of John’s old friends and I can’t thank everybody enough for their support. It is amazing to think that this was the 21st North Sails JMST Golf Day.”
Auctioneers
Olympic Sailors, Stuart Bithell and Luke Patience were auctioneers encouraging the audience to bid on items including a photo print on canvas of the Land Rover BAR team racing in Bermuda donated by Grapefruit Graphics and signed by Ben Ainslie.
Since its inception 20 years’ ago, the Golf Day has raised almost £200,000 for the Trust.
John ‘Jonny’ Merricks worked at North Sails and the first Golf Day, organised with the help of the Seahorse Golf Society, was set up to raise money for a trust to be started in his name.
Winner
The winner of the day was Paul Hobson of North Sails on 42 Stableford points from a handicap of 28, second was Oliver Surman of Sunseeker Southampton on 41 Stableford points and third was professional sailor Brad Butterworth on 39 Stableford points.
The first lady was Ali Essex of Kayospruce and the contender for the longest drive was freelance yacht crew Carl Raynes who was presented with an Alinghi / North Sails sailing jacket donated by Brad Butterworth.
The Peters & May sponsored trophy for the golfer nearest the pin was presented to Seahorse Golf Society member David Boardman and the best team winning the Bainbridge Trophy and four Craftinsure Slam Jackets was made up of Mr Raynes, Customised Composites director Paul Roberts, KBIS insurance director Dan Parry and Mike Henning of North Sails.
The bandit trophy was awarded to Mr Hobson.
