Cam Cup Team Racing at Grafham Water Sailing Club
by Anthony Butler 29 Feb 2016 21:59 GMT
27-28 February 2016
Honours even at the start of the second race of the Cam Cup final (West Kirby in blue stripes) © Anthony Butler
A strong West Kirby team proved victorious in the Cam Cup sailed at Grafham Water SC on 27/28 February 2016, defeating Royal Thames 2-0 in the knock-out final. Conditions were excellent for the event on both days and two complete round robins were sailed, giving all 17 entrants a superb weekend of team racing. Five non-university teams entered, and Royal Hospitals School (Ipswich) made a strong showing – beating six university teams teams to finish 5th in the Silver League. Full results will be found on the kSail website. (http://events.ksail.co.uk/2016/camcup/OverallResult.html).
The final set of league round robins produced two very clear leaders in the Gold Fleet, West Kirby and Royal Thames, so these two teams contested the best-of-three final. In the first race West Kirby established a winning combination on the first beat and a Royal Thames spin on the subsequent reach set West Kirby up for a comfortable 1, 3, 4 win. The second race was a very closely fought affair right to the finish, where a Royal Thames misunderstanding handed West Kirby a somewhat flattering 1, 3, 4 win again. So West Kirby finished worthy winners of the Cam Cup, which they last won in 2010. Home team Cambridge were 3rd and Oxford 4th.
The Cam Cup black tie dinner on the Saturday night was excellent and followed by various diversions. A big 'thank-you' to all who contributed to the success of the weekend, especially race officers Jo Lucas and Keith Sammons, umpires, and Royal Hospital School for lending their Firefly flight for the event.
West Kirby: Mat Shepherd and Emma Lombard, Owain Matthews and Sophie Shepherd, Cam Douglas and Kate Robinson.