Imperial Icicle 2018 University Team Racing
by Aidan Bell Gutierrez 26 Feb 2018 05:20 GMT
17-18 February 2018
On the 17th-18th of February, Imperial College Sailing Club hosted the Imperial Icicle. Spread across two days and hosted at Wembley Sailing Club on Welsh Harp Reservoir, the event boasted 135 races completed by 18 teams from the UK and abroad.
On Saturday morning after the briefing delivered by our Race Officer Joe Burgin, the teams sat down for what they thought was going to be long wait for the wind to fill in. However, barely an hour afterwards, Joe decided it was time to launch and that the wind was coming in. Despite accusations that he was being a fool by the rest of the race committee, we went ahead as planned. Sure enough, as the first boat launched off the pontoon, a fair breeze was beginning to make its way across the reservoir.
Once the teams were on the water, the start boat jumped straight into sequence with almost continuous rolling starts. No mercy was given to any team that had fallen asleep and did not turn up to their boats, a move jokingly commented on by Bruce, one of our umpires, as "brutal". Mercy was not shown by the umpires either who doled out spins to anyone breaking rule 42 in the light winds. Unfortunately, the day was not without its challenges, with the wind coming and going and regular 90° shifts. Overall, after a long day of racing, an astounding 60 races were completed with Edinburgh Blue and Oxford Blue coming out on top but with many races left to sail.
On Sunday, after only a short postponement, the wind filled in and racing commenced. The wind, although more consistent than on Saturday, still proved shifty as expected on the Harp. This did not stop the race committee squeezing in another 30 races, giving every team 10 races each before moving into leagues. The teams were split into Gold, Silver and Bronze based on their round robin performance. This saw some excellent team racing with some very evenly matched teams fighting it out. Our race officer made the call to power through all 45 races before the end of the day. Sadly, due to lack of time, we were not able to go into finals. Fortunately, there was still a clear winner at the end of the day. with N.W.A. (New Wessex Alumni) going undefeated in Gold league.
The day came to an end with the winning teams and umpires being rewarded with a healthy quantity of alcohol and N.W.A., the winners, a "beautiful" laser cut trophy crafted in the Imperial workshops. After a long weekend, everyone went home with smiles on their faces for a well-deserved night's sleep.
Overall, the event ran smoothly with N.W.A coming in first place in Gold, Edinburgh Blue in second and Oxford Blue in third and a total of 135 races sailed, in very challenging conditions. Special thanks must be given to all the umpires (Ed Fryer, Bruce Hebbert, Ruth Owen, Bill Wyatt, Paul Robson, Andrew Wishart, Tim Palmer, Enrica Mameli) who gave up their weekend for the event. Thanks also to all of the team at Imperial, especially Joe Burgin (Race Officer), Krystal Law (Event Organiser) and James McLeod (Bosun) who helped ensure the weekend went off without a hitch. Thank you Helly Hansen and Rooster Sailing for being our kit suppliers.
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Overall Results:
| Pos | Team | Rs Sailed | RWins |
|---|
| Gold League |
|---|
| 1 | N.W.A | 5 | 5 |
| 2 | Edinburgh Blue | 5 | 3 |
| 3 | Oxford Blue | 5 | 3 |
| 4 | Edinburgh Green | 5 | 3 |
| 5 | OTRA | 5 | 1 |
| 6 | Exeter Black | 5 | 0 |
| Silver League |
|---|
| 1 | Plymouth Blue | 5 | 4 |
| 2 | Plain Sailing | 5 | 3 |
| 3 | London White | 5 | 3 |
| 4 | Oxford Black | 5 | 2 |
| 5 | London Purple | 5 | 2 |
| 6 | Bournemouth Black | 5 | 1 |
| Bronze League |
|---|
| 1 | Exeter Red | 5 | 5 |
| 2 | Oxford White | 5 | 3 |
| 3 | Reading Knights Red | 5 | 3 |
| 4 | Surrey Pink | 5 | 2 |
| 5 | Cambridge Beige | 5 | 2 |
| 6 | Reading Knights Black | 5 | 0 |