Birdham Bandits win the UK Team Racing Association Nationals
by Louise Green 16 Mar 2016 17:35 GMT
12-13 March 2016
Tim Saxton and Holly Scott during the UK Team Racing Association Nationals © Nigel Vick
The UK Team Racing Association National Championships were held over the weekend of the 12th and 13th of March at Bough Beech Sailing Club. Unfortunately, with no wind on Saturday the 25 teams sat and waited, before finally being sent home with the promise of sun and 10 knot winds to look forward to on the Sunday.
Itchenor Sailing Club was well represented with two Itchenor derived teams and a number of other members taking part. Unfortunately, Wessex Exempt couldn't make it but will be attending the Wilson Trophy this May. The Itchenor team consisted of Andy Shaw and Pippa Horne, Rob Struckett and Rosie Sibthorp, and Rob Gullan and Millie Alcock. The Birdham Bandits were Tim Saxton and Holly Scott (including stand-ins as Holly fell ill), Sam Littlejohn and Toby Lewis, and George Yeoman and Sophie Ormsby. Olly Sloper was sailing for Softly Softly Catchy Monkey (SSCM), Arthur Henderson was sailing with Royal Thames Blue, Mary Henderson was sailing for Southampton Red and Fred Hayes for Southampton Black.
On Sunday everyone arrived in time for the fog to clear and reveal a building shifty, northerly force two wind and warm sunshine. The race committee set about completing a tough schedule of ranked group round robins, followed by a Gold League and then the Finals.
At first glance it looked as though the rankings had gone awry with Birdham Bandit being placed in a "group of death" which included past world champions, West Kirby Hawks and outside favourites BYOB with only the top two going through to Gold League. Itchenor also had their work cut out, being placed in a group with Royal Thames and a strong Cambridge first team who are tipped to win BUSA this Easter, as well as SSCM.
Royal Thames Blue and Southampton Black made light work of their group, with Southampton Black only losing to Thames and both qualifying for the Gold League. Mary and her Southampton Red team missed the cut by one win in a tight group to go into the Silver League. Itchenor also missed out by one win, with a final group loss to Royal Thames Red proving costly and denying them qualification to the Gold League. Birdham Bandits started their group with the toughest two matches against Hawks and BYOB, however won them both securing Gold League qualification.
After a quick lunch and refuel the teams were back on the water for the Gold, Silver and Bronze Leagues. In the Silver League SSCM made the most of the freshening conditions, only losing one race and finishing second place in the Silver League and therefore 10th overall. Itchenor had a controversial match with Southampton Red with Itchenor winning over the line, only for the umpires to decide that Andy Shaw and Pippa Horne had infringed the Southampton boat on the finish line. Therefore, they were black flagged and then disqualified, handing the match over to Southampton. This left both teams on equal points, however the win to Southampton ranked them 12th on count back and Itchenor 13th.
In the Gold League things were tight. The Birdham Bandits continued on form winning all their races to book their final spot at the top. Royal Thames Blue only dropped one race to the Bandits, sweeping aside the past world champions West Kirby Hawks as well as their sister team to claim second place in the Gold League and the other spot in the finals. This guaranteed there would be an Itchenor winner for the event. The final was run under the watchful eye of another Itchenor member Richard Thompson who umpired the event alongside Chris Atkins a previous winner who sailed with Yeoman and Henderson senior.
Royal Thames Blue continued their ascent up the league, gained an early start against the Bandits and taking a controlling 2,3,4 combo off the line and around the first mark. Down the run the race closed up and the Bandits managed to turn the race into a 2,3,5 double covering, passing the boat in fourth and dropping one to dispatch the boat in second into fourth. With the race up for grabs, the final beat split into two sides with the Bandits trying to convert a 2 on 1 on the left and the Thames doing the same on the right, it was then a race to complete the pass over first. Tim Saxton wasn't quick enough for the Royal Thames Blue, leaving Sam Littlejohn and George Yeoman to sail through to win the race from the left hand side.
Race Two saw a much more even start, with the Bandits rounding the top mark in a 1-3-5 and down the run. It looked like a gybing battle was going to be the decider until the two Thames boats received penalty turns giving the race and the event to the Birdham Bandits.
This is the second time in a row that Tim Saxton has won and the first time for an Itchenor team. The event was incredibly well organised and brilliantly executed. Thanks to Bough Beech SC and all the team involved with running the event.