Thames Valley Challenge Team Racing at Upper Thames Sailing Club
by Sue Markham 27 Jun 2017 12:16 BST
24 June 2017
Thames Valley Challenge Team Racing at Upper Thames SC © Sue Markham
When it's your turn to host this amazing competition there is a "rabbit in the headlights" moment when you realise how much there is to do! That's quickly followed by a sense of relief when you remember how much help and support there is around from those who have hosted the event before and your own club members... and with Keith Sammons' magic spreadsheet, how can you go wrong!
This year, twelve teams of very keen young sailors gathered at Upper Thames SC, where the race course was set right in front of the lawn – the action couldn't have been any closer for all the spectators, supporters and helpers. That's one of the great things about UTSC – there's nothing new about "stadium racing" – we've been doing it since 1884!
The competition is for three boat teams of RS Fevas and is aimed at junior sailors taking their first steps into team racing. The stage one round robin ran to 48 short, sharp races – miraculously kept to within two minutes of schedule by our on-the-water race officer. This was followed by semi-finals, 3rd/4th place play-off and the final.
After 20 races, Silverwing A, UTSC B and Maidenhead had all won all 4 of their races so were tying for the overall lead. After 40 races, Silverwing A and Maidenhead were still sharing the lead, while UTSC B had dropped to third. At this point, Goring Thames B were lying fourth and Upper Thames A fifth. By the end of the round robin, Silverwing had crept ahead of Maidenhead on average points while the two UTSC teams took third and fourth. This put one UTSC team in each semi-final and both came through to the final, with UTSC B claiming the honours at the end of the day.
We were lucky with the weather – bright but not scorching, breezy but not too much. A big thank you goes to everyone who contributed to the success of the day, and to RSSailing.com and gul.com who both supported the event.
Overall Results:
1 Upper Thames SC B
2 Upper Thames SC A
3 Silverwing SC B
4 Maidenhead SC