RYA Team Racing Nationals at Spinnaker Club
by Jo Lucas 26 Mar 2014 08:59 GMT
22-23 March 2014
The Wilson Trophy Champions added further silverware to their growing collection after winning the RYA Team Racing Nationals hosted at the home of team racing on the South Coast; Spinnaker Club. Despite a tough challenge from many of the best team racers in the country, Wessex Exempt finished the event with a perfect performance in the knockout stages to claim the Prince Phillip Trophy for the first time, after being denied on so many previous occasions.
The two day event held over the weekend of the 22nd-23rd March, involved 144 sailors in 24 teams from across the United Kingdom; stretching from the Forth Estuary in the North East to Plymouth in the South West. The sailors were treated to almost perfect conditions, albeit a few hail storms on Sunday. The force three to four breeze provided excellent sailing, although the west to south-west direction resulted in some very shifty conditions, which could catch out even the best teams who failed to properly manage their opponents. This often resulted in some fantastic team racing, for competitors and spectators alike, when an all-but-over race on the bottom reach, suddenly evolved into an intense and open team race on the final beat; to win at Spinnaker you must be clinical at all times!
The Chief Race Officer, Jo Lucas, & her scheduler, Keith Sammons, had planned a fully packed format and the favourable conditions allowed racing to be underway, as planned, at 1000 on Saturday. The tight schedule kept the start boat team, lead by Mike Robinson, busy with over 175 races planned for the weekend. The 24 Teams were divided into four matched leagues of six and each team was scheduled to sail every other team in their league. The top two teams from each league would progress into the Gold league; the next two into the Silver league and the final two into a Bronze League.
In league A, Spinnaker Auspicious sailed a flawless stage winning all five of their races closely followed by Cambridge Blue on four wins. In league B it was Royal Forth Hoosiers topping the league with five wins out of five and Itchenor Team Sonicboom joined them in the Gold league on four wins. In leagues C and D two teams (Spinnaker Club and Bristol University) were penalised one race win for breaking the sailing instruction requiring teams to wear wet suits or dry suits but both promptly went on to win every race in their respective leagues, with Spinnaker Club beating eventual winners Wessex Exempt with a 1,3,4. The Gold league was completed with Wessex Exempt and West Kirby Wild Cats on four wins each.
In the second stage, Spinnaker Auspicious continued to dominate, and looked to be doing everything right to defend their 2013 title. The team, sailing on home waters, was displaying excellent boat speed and handling, which resulted in them winning the Gold league races with seven race wins out of seven. They were closely followed by Wessex Exempt and Royal Forth Hoosiers on five wins each. These three teams qualified directly for semi finals with a repecharge between the fourth placed gold league team and the top placed silver league team, used to determine the fourth semi-finalist.
Competition for the repecharge was closely fought in both the gold and silver leagues. Cambridge University repulsed strong challenges from Spinnaker Club and Itchenor to emerge as the fourth placed gold league team and book themselves into the repecharge. Meanwhile the battle for supremacy in the silver league, saw four teams: Royal Thames Yacht Club (RTYC) Red & Blue, BUSA Alumni Team and Castle Cove Sailing Club, all in contention for the top spot. In the end it came down to the final race of league; with RTYC Red beating BUSA Alumni 1,2,5 to take top place in the Silver League having won 6 of their 7 races.
In the repecharge, Cambridge started confidently and won the first race with a solid 1,2,6 but RTYC Red were not about to stop their remarkable rise up the leader board and despite being out-started in each race, they displayed some excellent upwind team racing skills, in tricky conditions, to secure a 1,2 combination in the next two races, and win the repecharge. Commenting of the racing Cambridge Helm Josh Flack said "we were happy to make the repecharge and felt we sailed well all weekend, it was disappointing not to have made the finals, but on the day Thames just had an edge" he added that the championship was "a great preparation for the University Championship" which is to be hosted by Scottish Student Sailing at Strathclyde in just under two weeks.
Despite the race committee wishing to get the semi-finals started as soon as possible, the wind was causing considerable problems, after several changes in direction, the race committee decided to relay the entire course to avoid the infamous Dragon Island. An ironic twist, given that the standard S-shaped team racing course, was reportedly developed to accommodate this island! Nevertheless, the efficient race management team, bolstered by members of the acclaimed Solent Xtra race management team, got racing back underway with minimal delay. Special thanks must go to course manager, Alan Guy, who had spent all weekend dealing with shifty wind and staying out during the occasional hail storm. His excellent skills kept the racing fair and open.
In the first semi-final RTYC Red caused a shock as they won their first race against Spinnaker Auspicious. This was the first race Spinnaker had lost all event and especially commendable given the majority of the RTYC team only left school last year and were sailing against one of the most experienced teams on the circuit. However, Spinnaker ensured order was restored winning the next two semi final races with a comfortable 1,2,4 and 1,2,5. In the second semi-final it took only two races for Wessex Exempt to reach the final, beating the Royal Forth Hooisers 2-0. It seemed that Wessex Exempt had found their groove and were gearing up for a serious challenge on the title. It seemed that Wessex Exempt had found their grove and were gearing up for a serious challenge on the title. The losing semi-finalists now had to regroup for the petit-final, in which the Royal Forth Yacht Club overcame the determined Royal Thames Yacht Club to win 2-1, and finish in third place.
As the final began, the wind continued to be steady in strength, but less than steady in direction. The first attempt at a start resulted in two of the Wessex Exempt team being OCS, but another big wind shift before the start meant the teams were able to fetch the windward mark and the race was abandoned. After another delay to move the course again, Wessex was determined not to make the same mistake. In the end Wessex Exempt sealed the deal in three straight wins, with score lines of 1,2,5 1,2,3 and 1,2,5. Despite this none of the races were decided until close to the finish, giving Tiggy Ansell and her team on the finish boat plenty to think about! Spinnaker did not give up their championship title without a fight, but Wessex Exempt showed why they are the current Wilson Trophy holders!
Overall Results: (top four)
1st Wessex Exempt
2nd Spinnaker Auspicious
3rd Royal Forth Hoosiers
4th Royal Thames YC Red