Royal Yacht Squadron wins the Royal Lymington Cup
by Shireen Crowe 26 Jul 2016 21:50 BST
16-17 July 2016
Andrew McIrvine presenting the Royal Lymington Cup to Adam Gosling of Yes! © RLYC
Top British yachtsman, Adam Gosling, in his brand new yacht "Yes!" (JPK 1080), stormed to victory last weekend winning 6 out of 6 races against some of the best sailors on the South coast, to win the Royal Lymington Cup with teammate, RORC Admiral Andrew McIrvine.
Gosling, who is married to double Olympic gold medallist Sarah Webb-Gosling, was racing in the first two-boat team, IRC team inter-club championship hosted by the Royal Lymington Yacht Club (RLymYC) in the open waters of Christchurch Bay.
Commenting on his dominating win Adam Gosling said: "Andrew and I were delighted to be representing the Royal Yacht Squadron in this two boat team event. Racing in Christchurch Bay gave us some wonderful 'champagne' racing in winds ranging from 8–18 knots with bright sunshine. The race management was excellent and four races on Saturday and two on Sunday left a contented and exhausted fleet. The Royal Lymington Yacht Club warmly opened its doors to us. We will be back to defend."
The RLymYC race team delivered some challenging racing to test the skills of these ten top class competitive crews. Weather conditions were good for this inter yacht club battle according to Race Officer Roger Wilson. Said Wilson: "The standard of the boat handling across the fleet was excellent. It was interesting to see how well the lowest handicap boat did on the medium wind day, which showed the effectiveness of the handicap system."
Continues Wilson: "The fleet always started right along the line with no General Recalls. In fact there was only one boat recalled in just one race. The boats were spread right across the beat on every race with no-one really sure which side paid. The triangle sausage races were interesting tactically. There was a fair amount of overtaking, especially on the first leg. The tacticians obviously had a lot of choice: they could go low or high and the gybe made a lot of difference."
Two teams defending the Cup for the Royal Lymington Yacht Club - Stuart Duffin in Grand Surprise, "Flying Boat" racing along with "Ding Dong" a Stewart 37 owned and skippered by Chris Rustom. RLymYC second team was Martyn Kemp in "JAK" (J105) and David McGough's "Just So" (J109).
Competition results:
1st Royal Squadron - Adam Gosling and Andrew McIrvine
2nd Royal Thames Yacht Club – Peter Morton and David Franks
RLymYC Commodore, Dunlop Stewart, handed over the trophy - last raced for in 1999 - to the winning team. The Commodore acknowledged the support of the event sponsor, local estate agent Denisons, and the many volunteers who worked to ensure its success.
Said Stewart: "This is the first time the Cup has ever been awarded to the winning club rather than the skipper. The Royal Yacht Squadron now sits alongside the names of some of the world's most famous sailors who have won the Cup. "
Event website: rlymyc.org.uk/RoyalLymingtonCup.aspx