British Universities' Yachting Championship 2015 - Day 1

Event Briefing at the BUCS-BUSA Yachting Championships © Tony Mapplebeck

Southampton, Solent, Warwick and Cambridge lead

The 2015 British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) Yachting Championship is underway in the Solent. British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS), in conjunction with the British Universities Sailing Associations' (BUSA), are holding the University Yachting Championship 2015 at Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth this week. 176 students in 22 teams from 18 universities set sail from Port Solent in Sunsail F40s yesterday morning.

Subject always to the conditions, the provisional schedule of racing for the week started with several practice starts, followed by three windward/leeward races on Monday. The heavy winds overnight forecasted to continue with gusts of 35 to 40 kn through the day (including late afternoon forecasts at Lands End suggesting little let-up coming through from the South West), racing on Tuesday was abandoned at 11.00. Tuesday's planned two further windward/leeward races and an in shore coastal race will not now proceed. On Wednesday, following another windward/leeward race, there will be a long inshore race of some 4 – 5 hours. The final day's racing plan includes two windward/leeward races in Gold and Silver Fleets.

The sailing conditions over the previous weekend had been challenging, Traditionally the Oxford vs Cambridge 'varsity' match is held prior to the BUCS-BUSA Championship. Cambridge's correspondent on board had written on Saturday: "The wind howled, waves exploded and the boat turned out to be less watertight than expected, but we battled through to victory. After a stunning start, we led the race - battling with Oxford for first place. By the last run we'd pulled comfortably ahead, crossing the finishing line with a good lead. Our decision to play it safe with two reefs and no kite definitely paid off, with the competition struggling in the breeze. As gusts of up to 38kn tore down the race course the committee called it a day after just the one race, and we headed back to Port Solent for repairs, food and a drink". And then on Sunday, with winds of 30-40kn tearing across the Solent, the race committee cancelled all racing, leaving Cambridge the victors of their Varsity 2015. The weekend conditions gave a warning to those arriving to collect their boats on Sunday night.

Against this backcloth the 22-boat BUCS-BUSA Fleet gathered to collect their Sunsail 40s. At the initial briefing at Port Solent on Sunday night several Skippers shared their experiences and expectations in entering the Championship.

A veteran helm and skipper at the event is Amber Brown of Warwick. "For many, university provides an opportunity for students to get into yacht racing, whether as a bridge from dinghy sailing, or, for some who have hardly even sailed before, an introduction to yachting. In my first year (2012), we had two teams, one more experienced and one with many new to yachting. We had some meetings with my team and a lot of reading, but it was basically teaching the team how to sail a keelboat on the job. This year, we have done some training. It is good to bring together different people to work as a team. I hope that we have left some legacy for Warwick Sailing to carry on into future years".

James Neilson, Captain, and Laurence Gibbons, Commodore of Bath, spoke about how pleased they were to be back at the event after a couple of years gap: "We are a small club and don't have a big base in yachting; it is difficult to clock up the miles. But, with fresher Tom Williams at the helm and with some real enthusiasm in the club this year, we have a good mixture of years in the team, which will, hopefully, sustain us into future years. We have had a couple of Wednesday outings in preparation for this event, one with a coach. And we are sailing in the Match Racing too. Bath is entering all four BUCS-BUSA Championships this year!"

Ashley Greenall, Commodore of Portsmouth University Sailing Club, speaking before the event, emphasised its importance in bringing together sailors from all parts of the country, living, racing and socialising together for a week. He came into university sailing "from Toppers and 29ers, and it brings together people I have sailed and raced with the past. We have some lovely socials". Well, he would say that! Portsmouth are the hosts for the event and are running the social programme alongside the racing.

The 2014 BUCS-BUSA Champions were Solent Red, and they went on to win the Student World Cup. Last year, helm at the BUSA Championship, James Wilkie, a veteran of three BUCS Championships, said "....I could be back". Well he is. "I'm really pleased to be back for my fourth year at the BUSA Yachting Nationals. As reigning National and World champions there is a big expectation on us to perform, and I'm sure the other teams will be gunning for us. But this team is fully motivated and ready for the challenge. It looks like we will be seeing a variety of conditions on the Solent this week and as usual the complex local tidal conditions will have their part to play. So we are going to need all of our experience to make the best of it."

Peter Cameron, the University of Strathclyde's Yachting Captain explained: "As team captain, I am looking on building on our successes from last year. We have a pretty similar team from SYWoC (the Student World Yachting Championship) and have been training every weekend we could. This year we were able to send two teams to BUSA, which is a huge achievement for our Club, making the future bright for Strathclyde Yachting. Having just won the Scottish Student Sailing Yachting Championships last weekend we are all going into this event with confidence to better our last year's result and qualify for SYWoC for the third year running."

The Fleet, snugly sheltered in Port Solent overnight on Sunday, set off through the lock and out to the Solent on Monday morning. Notwithstanding the early glorious sunshine, the PRO Mike Dawe had determined to sail in Stokes Bay, with forecast building wind in mind.

Subsequently, he reported on the first day's racing, with "three races completed, no general recalls and all starts within 1.5 minutes of the target time, before or after. With the wind starting out at 20kn, dropping to 10-12 knots and then rising to 25 knots, the wind backed by 90* in the course of the day. The first two races each had three laps, with the second having two, following a necessary move due to the proximity of the shipping lane. The sail plan was left to skippers' discretion, with some choosing full rig and some, white sails. There were few spinnaker problems, especially in the last race". There was some impressive helming at the front, with the 40 foot yachts not light to handle in the conditions.

One of the BUSA coaches, Nigel Buckley summed up the day: "Jolly cold. It was quite a good breeze, consequently quite a few having handling issues. A few problems with gear and breakages will have been disappointing for some teams, particularly a spinnaker shroud tangling a prop. It was noticeable that some crews were a bit optimistic in their tactics, given that they were sailing 40 foot yachts rather than fireflies. But there were three good races, with tight, close racing".

Durham Purple skipper, Ko Chuan Yang spoke of the team's sailing as "good upwind, in the top six or so of the fleet at the windward mark, but we were inexperienced with kyte drops and downwind". Another Championship veteran and skipper of Southampton Solent Red, Alice Courage, while congratulating her sister, Libby, helming Solent's sister ship, Solent White on their ranking on the day (a win in race 2), spoke of Red's day: "We were pretty happy with the first race (well, with a 1st, maybe she should be), but we had a rubbish start in the 2nd, so did well to get back to the top ten". With a 2nd in the last race, Solent Red stands alongside Southampton Red, which leads the fleet on countback after a first day's racing.

Speaking before the provisional results were updated [it was a long, very long night in the Jury's Tiger Tiger "shack" (so long that several members of the Jury were mistaken for the evening partygoers and offered free-drink wristbands – which, of course, they felt duty bound to refuse)] – James Wilkie, skipper of Solent Red said: "It was certainly an exciting day on the Solent. It was a day of learning for everyone, with plenty of unforced errors, protests, and even collisions. We certainly made our fair share of errors. But what's great about this team is that they learned from the mistakes and picked themselves up from a poor second race to put in a race winning performance in the final race of the day. We were just glad to make it to the start of the first race on time, having spent the morning with two of our team up the mast fixing the forestay. After such a tough day, it is pleasing to only be two points off the lead" (well, actually, they are in the lead).

Cambridge Blue, with two 3rds and a 6th, finished the day in 4th, just behind Warwick White. Skipper, Laurence Orchard, with recent experience of the conditions for the Varsity match over the weekend, where they had sailed well upwind and played cautious with the sails, believed they had had a good preparation. Seeing the forecast today, "we came confident with the boat in wind, when to handle, when to reef. The pin end worked for us, and we were in third up the beat in a packed fleet. Almost second on the last rounding, but a bit slow with the spinnaker. We had a horrible second start, but were lucky with a header shift and some good tacks bringing us to 4th or 5th. Looking at the tide and going left was favourable, and we took another 3rd. In the last race, going in second, we messed a gybe, broached, losing maybe five places, so we must have had good damage limitation (to finish 6th). Overall, it was a very good day"

For some teams this is one of the first times they had all sailed together, while others have been training through the winter; experience in the F40s is variable, although many have sailed in this event in previous years. All teams require at least two crew members with keelboat experience, while some teams have very experienced keelboat and dinghy sailors in their teams.

BUSA provides senior coaches on the water throughout the racing, who give guidance to crews and detailed, video feedback at the evening debrief. Nigel Buckley and Mason King held a first, very well-attended debrief last night, which continued for some time with individual teams after the main session. This morning, the coaches visited several teams on the Quay, and then, following the decision to abandon for the day, a further debrief was held, again with many attending.

Event Director and BUSA Vice President, Sean Clarkson summed up the first day, "a good day's racing, making for a great start to the event. It was a very long evening in the Jury room with just so many protests, though!"

Tomorrow, the plan is to have a further windward/leeward race, followed by a long coastal race of some 4 to 5 hours duration.

Results after Day 1:

The event is being followed on the BUSA Yachting Championships 2015 Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/events/664601126996567

Live Results at busa.scl10.com/yachting/BUCSYachting2015ProvisionalResults.htm

Live tracking at www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-1.169763/centery:50.77723/zoom:8/mmsi:235083843/shipid:197227