British Universities and Colleges Sport Yachting Championship 2014
by Tony Mapplebeck 24 Apr 2014 08:30 BST
13-17 April 2014
British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS), in conjunction with the British Universities Sailing Associations' (BUSA), held the University Yachting Championship 2014 at Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth last week.
Over 180 student sailors, in 23 teams, from 15 British Universities - Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Durham, Exeter, Glasgow, Imperial, Loughborough, Newcastle, Oxford, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Southampton, Southampton Solent and Strathclyde – boarded Sunsail F40s at Port Solent on Sunday evening. For most of them, these became their homes for the week.
Racing started with several practice starts and a practice race on Monday, but then moved directly into the competition. For some teams this will have been one of the first times they had sailed together, while others had been training through the winter; experience in the F40s was variable. All teams required at least two crew members with keelboat experience, while some teams had very experienced keelboat and dinghy sailors.
BUSA provides senior coaches on the water throughout the racing, who give guidance to crews toward the back of the fleet and detailed, video feedback at the evening debrief.
The 2014 Championship saw a range of conditions, wind and visibility over the course of the week, providing a good test of skill.
Olympic Finn sailor and double Etchells World Champion, Stuart Childerley, the new PRO of the RORC Easter Challenge, was the BUCS-BUSA Championship Race Officer for the first time. He reflected on the week's racing as the Sunsail fleet returned to Port Solent.
"On day one, we managed two good windward-leeward races, after which the wind died and we waited for the sea breeze to kick in to enable a third race. This was followed by two really good days' racing". On Day 2, two windward-leeward races were followed by the inshore coastal race 'round the cans'.
On Wednesday, the first, windward-leeward race, included an incident in which a Mayday had to be initiated and a helicopter rescue effected for a sailor who had sustained a bang on the head from a dropped spinnaker pole. The casualty was later discharged from hospital and was back sailing the following day. The cool, professional handling of the situation by the crew was recognised, and their experience shared with the other teams that evening. The long (five hour) coastal race included rounding the NAB Tower, "probably a first for many of the teams".
The final day saw the teams split into Gold and Silver fleets, facilitating some focussed competition for both groups. After a short delay, the breeze set in, enabling two further races. In the second, a general recall for the Silver Fleet and the tide beginning to ebb, resulted in the fleets becoming separated, and the PRO shortened the Silver race.
Stuart Childerley commented on the level of sailing, with "noticeable development, improvement and increased awareness" during the week.
Nigel Buckley, a former World Champion in the 470 and Flying Fifteen and a racing coach to experienced yacht racers, was coaching at the event for the first time. He mentioned the challenge of coaching an entire fleet. He said: "It was good to see the improvements in sailing during the week. This was a great regatta. It is a rare opportunity to sail in a one-design keelboat class, when so much keelboat racing is on handicap. This is not about the technology (as in the America's Cup, perhaps), but down to racing skills and tactical ability".
In the middle of the week, Nigel Buckley had observed that, whilst everyone was keen, there was "a spread of ability, experience and learning across the fleet. The guys at the front had better boat handling, freeing them up to think and focus more on the tactical elements of sailing, whilst those at the back were more preoccupied with boat handling".
Reflecting on the last day, he said, for the coach, "it is hard to know what the sailors want. Several boats needed help with boat handling, but there is scope for looking at out-of-the-boat strategy and tactics too. It might be worth exploring ways of involving team captains in identifying their needs in advance of next year's Championship".
His colleague, Mason King, who has worked with the Championship previously, said: "During the week, the coaches jumped on board some of the boats at the back of the fleet, and the improvement in performance was evident from then on. The discipline shown by all the racers was excellent, with great sporting spirit in evidence throughout the racing and the evening coaching debriefs, with learning throughout the regatta."
Nick Wilkinson, retiring BUSA Men's Captain, who won the Silver Fleet with Bristol Red, spoke of "great racing; courses pretty good, practice starts really good. Enough races in a day in good conditions; perhaps could manage three on last day".
Alice Courage, last year's leading female helm, returned this year with Southampton Solent Black to increase their overall position from twelfth to third, taking more bullets than any other team (3). She commented, "it is great to be one-design racing. The Solent team was good; we loved it... and improved on last year!" We wait to see if she will be back next year!
Craig Dibb, helming Plymouth Pink into second overall, using his match racing skills in the final race, spoke of "a lovely day. Especial thanks to our sponsors. It was a well run event. We are happy with our result and respect the fleet, which was pretty quick".
James Wilkie, Champion helm of Southampton Red said it was a "really great, even a fantastic week of racing. I have done the event for three years, and this was the best. Competition was high; I'm proud of team....I could be back."
Another BUSA Yachting veteran, Theo Hoole of Strathclyde Blue was happily reflective. "It's always great to come down to Port Solent. I always enjoy the regatta and the close racing, especially with Glasgow. Personally it is a big achievement to qualify for the Student Worlds for a third time. We have quite a young team this year, for most their first BUSA, so no doubt they will be back for many years to come!"
Two inshore coastal races took place during the week, the longer one taking some five hours on Wednesday. The winner of this long inshore race was Southampton Solent Black, helmed by Alice Courage. The team won the Jim Saltonstall Teapot Trophy. Jim was, for many years, President of BUSA.
The top eight teams went home with an added bonus, particularly welcome to their Athletics/Sports Unions, of the following "BUCS points":
- Southampton Red, 50pts
- Plymouth Pink, 35pts
- Southampton Solent Black, 24pts
- Cambridge Red, 16pts
- Southampton Blue, 14pts
- Portsmouth Black, 12pts
- Strathclyde Blue, 10pts
- Cambridge Blue, 8pts
Always good, BUCS points mean more funding!
On the second day of the regatta, Sean Clarkson, BUSA Vice President elect and Nigel King, RYA Racing Keelboat Manager, took a party of VIPs in a Sunsail F40 to watch the racing. Kate Homer of Deloitte UK, who handles their graduate recruitment marketing, Serena Sharman, Commercial Partnerships Manager at BUCS, John Derbyshire, RYA Performance Director, were joined by BUSA Chair, Phil Derry and Tom Churchill, BUSA Vice-President (and official photographer of the day).
BUCS entered into a partnership with Deloitte, one of the UK's largest graduate recruiters, toward the end of last year. The deal is offering leadership training and mentoring to university students across the UK. The launch of the partnership follows research released by BUCS earlier last year, which revealed the positive effects that university sport has on employability. For example, the average salary of graduates who played sport at university is £32,552, compared to £26,728 for those who did not. The positive effects of sports participation at university go beyond earning potential, with 94% of graduate employers agreeing these students also demonstrated good employability skills.
Kate Homer said after Tuesday's racing: "It was fantastic to spend the day watching some great sailing on the Solent (and back in my own university town of Portsmouth). The strategies of the helms and tacticians were impressive and seeing the team work between the eight-sailor crews highlighted the importance of working well together to achieve a common goal. Deloitte is a firm that champions the values and contribution that sport makes to the individual and to society. We've seen this at close hand through our long term support for disability sport and the British Paralympic Association, through the Deloitte Ride Across Britain cycle event, in our role supporting the London 2012 Games, and in our firm's flexible employment approach for elite athletes".
The top teams from each of the countries, England, Scotland and Wales – Southampton Red, Strathclyde Blue and Cardiff Black – automatically receive invitations to represent their respective countries at the Student Yachting World Cup at La Rochelle from 15th to 22nd October, 2014.
The 2015 Yachting Championship will be held from 29th March – 2nd April, 2015.
The Yachting Championship brings to a conclusion the four principal national events – in Fleet, Match, Team and Yacht Racing - in the BUCS-BUSA sailing calendar for another academic year. Many of our sailors are already competing in the season of ISAF Olympic Class and other major sailing and yachting events, and most student sailors will have a busy summer's competition and leisure sailing schedule ahead of them.
Three BUSA teams will represent the U.K. at the FISU 7th World University Match Racing Championship on the Lago di Ledro in Italy from June 29th to July 5th 2014, to be led by Nick Wilkinson (Bristol), Annabel Vose (Southampton) and Connor Miller (Loughborough) respectively.
Meanwhile, the BUSA Calendar for 2014–15 is filling up with events hosted by University Sailing Clubs for the next academic year.
Overall Results:
Gold Fleet
- Southampton Red (29 points): James Wilkie, Annabel Vose, Dan Flanigan, Conrad Manning, Jonty Cook, Kate Devereux, George Johnson, Richard Burrows
- Plymouth Pink (40 pts): Craig Dibb, Rob Thomas, Chris Taylor, Rebecca Kelsall (Mon-Tues) / Eleni Morus (Wed- Thurs), William Broughton, Evie Clemance, Alexander Alcock. Edward Roberts
- Southampton Solent Black (42 pts): Alice Courage, Adam Munday, Adam Walker, Thomas Hemingway, Dillon Hayes-Plantinga, Rosalind Dunlop, Micheal Johnston, Ruairi Grimes
- Cambridge Red (51 pts): Arthur Roman, Tim Gratton, Paul Wedrich, Matthias Schnellmann, Senem Cilingiroglu, Kate Prescott, Dan Murray, Damien Arnol
- Southampton Blue (54 pts): Tom Harrison, Matt Foskett, Jamie Diamond, Emily Nagel, Hannah Tilley, Matthew Burleigh, George Finch, Kat Burleigh
- Portsmouth Black (55 pts): Tim Carter, Joan Furness, Fergus Barnham, Christopher Rust, John Whelton, Olivia Quesnsel, George Anderson, Harry Houlding
- Strathclyde Blue (65 pts): Peter Cameron, Fiona Rae, Theo Hoole, Ruaridh Wright, Ross Stanley-Whyte, Eilidh Bruce, Angus Gray-Stephens, Alastair Kent
- Cambridge Blue (67 pts): Matthew Deacon-Smith, Jacob Brubert, Eddie Romano, Jack Davies, Imogen Whittam, Barbara Muehlemann, Harry Jones, Nicolas d'Estais
- Exeter Green (70 pts): Tarra Gill-Taylor, Cameron Ho, Alex Hawkes, Charlie Gilbert-Wood, Ellie Gadd, Olivia James, Harry Aitchison, Anna Farrington
- Loughborough White (76 pts):: Connor Miller, Abby Doherty, Emily Kelvey, Michael Matthews, Jack Scullion, Michael Marshall, John Jane, Tom Neilson
- Cardiff Black (77 pts):: Thomas Firth, Matthew Wallis, Freddie Purcell, Emily Wiltshire, Sophie Kirk, Steffan Seal, George Jackson, Sam Muskett
- Plymouth White (86 pts):: Joe Cross, Kat Colvin, Callum McCullough, Ollie Mellor, Beth Wyatt, Emily Mulligan, William Waddington, James Parker-Mowbray
Silver Fleet:
- Bristol Red (88 pts): Nicholas Wilkinson, James Grant, Robbie Hooper, David Battersby, Frances Anderson, Lizzie Farrington, Oliver James, Fred Brown
- Portsmouth Purple (95 pts): George Hand, Abi Hewitt, Nick Sutton, Oliver Clark, James Jopling, Zoe Whittaker, James Hall, Euan Welsh
- Glasgow Black (104 pts): Andy McKeown, Kenneth Laing, Johnny Coyle, Alex Erjavec, Gregor Southall, Liane Cameron, Louis Sisk, Scott Johnston
- Oxford Blue (104 pts): Bramwell Blower, Eric Topman, Glen-Oliver Gowers, Oliver Glanville / Bryn Phillips (Tues), Tom Joy, Elizabeth Dykstra-McCarthy, Charles Orwell, Elizabeth Culwick
- Cardiff Red (111 pts): David Vail, Jamie Bodnar-Horvath, Andrew Smith, Harry Derbyshire, Rebecca Stafford-Jones, Rebecca Diamond, Rory Jones, Jack Muldoon
- Southampton White (121 pts): Alice Kent, Fred Hayes, George Jorgenson, Christopher Lawson-Johns, Titus Treneman, Imogen Dinham-Price, Jack Beckett, Richard Jones
- Durham Blue (124pts): James Cunnison, Katie Bailey, Pelham Etherington, Edward Locke, Elizabeth Ellison, Sophie Andrews, Adam MacNeil, Matthew Goodbourn
- Newcastle Red (135 pts): Tom Altmann, Nicholas Smith, James Morson, Harry Frith, Thomas Goodey, Mollie Cameron, Victoria Haworth, Robert Davey
- Imperial Blue (161 pts): Robert Page, Chantal Whitfield, Ruben Menke, Thibault Flinois, Christopher Pellew, Maciej Adler, Zoe Hudson, Joshua Simcock
- Plymouth Red (164 pts): Constantionos Jensen, Sophie Higgs, George Saunders, Hazel Rowland, Alex McMahon, Connor Brain, Matt Thomas, Will Frisk
- Plymouth Blue (178 pts): Neil Marshall, Bradley Quint, Sarah Reed, Bryn Jones, Bethany Hayward, Katherine Moore, Nick Hughes, Hannah Hayward
Full results can be found at
www.busa.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2014/04/14bucs-busaYachtingChamps_FinRes.pdf