Mermaid Matchracing Championships at Sea View Yacht Club
by Andy Barrett 21 Apr 2008 17:15 BST
19-20 April 2008
Racing in the Mermaid Matchrac © Andy Barrett
Teams from 6 different countries came to Seaview, Isle of Wight over the weekend of 19th and 20th April to compete in the Mermaid Matchracing Championships.
A narrow win for the Dutchman Jurjen Feitsma over Frenchman Louis Claessens resulted from a round-robin between ten teams in which each team sails each other. In third place was Christian Hamilton of Great Britain.
Competitors working their way up the World matchracing rankings run by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) come to these events to gain the points on the basis of the results.
On the first day the strong easterly winds and heavy seas made it impossible to start the competition but milder conditions on the second day enabled the race committee to gets five races running at the same time almost continuously throughout the day.
The last flight of races had to be abandoned due to grey skies, lightening and the need for competitors to catch flights home. Nonetheless a result was declared on the basis of each competitor sailing 8 races and tankards donated by Goddards, the Island brewers, were presented to the winner.
The sailing season for the Sea View Mermaids has now begun with these 26 foot racing yachts having a programme of sailing planned every day until mid-September.
Overall Results:
1st Jurjen Feitsma (NED)
2nd Louis Claessens (FRA)
3rd Christian Hamilton (GBR)
4th Matt Greenfield (GBR)
5th Robbie Allam (GBR)
6th Saviero Ramirez (ITA)
7th Seb Ripard (MLT)
8th Oren Richards (GBR)
9th Ben Pym (GBR)
10th Mary o’Loughlin (IRE)