Varsity Team Racing at the Royal Yacht Squadron
by Anthony Butler 14 Jul 2014 08:14 BST
10-11 July 2014
Main Cambridge Team at the Varsity Team Racing in Cowes © Anthony Butler
Cambridge made a great finish to an exceptional year by winning both the Mixed and Ladies team racing Varsity Matches at the Royal Yacht Squadron, Cowes on 10/11 July 2014 – in Island Sailing Club Sonars. The final tally was 4-1 in the (three-a-side-six-helm) main match and 4-0 in the (two-a-side-two-helm) ladies match. Unusually, there were no ladies in either mixed team this year.
After some practice on the Wednesday, racing opened on Thursday in fairly windy conditions under the steady direction of Peter Grimaldi and his race team, plus the watchful attendance of Richard Thompson and his umpires. Cambridge sailing superiority quickly told and they were three-up in both contests by the end of the day, with the main Cambridge team losing a race after two of their boats became so engrossed in strategy discussions that they missed the starting signals.
Friday dawned with perfect racing conditions and, although Oxford refused to give up, the mixed Cambridge team finished 1, 2, 4 to retain the Yule Oldham Cup and the ladies finished 1, 2 to secure the O&CSS 75th Anniversary Ladies Salver. So Cambridge have won all four Varsity sailing contests this year (team racing, yachting/fleet racing in Sunsail F40s, match racing, and windsurfing), as well as being the current British Universities team racing champions. However, Oxford did retrieve some honour this season by winning the Second's match racing contest, held alongside the First's event in J80s at the Royal Southern YC.
Oxford Team: Guy Stephens, Tom Steavenson, Ed Scallan (Crew)
Ben Gratton (Capt), Ben Rahemtulla, Alastair Macaulay (Crew)
Phil Derry, Jack Trigger, Matt Ely (Crew)
Oxford Ladies Team: Kathryn Twemlow (Helm & Capt), Amy Sharkey, Meli Besse
Penny Wieser (Helm), Catherine Cherry, Kate Cole
Cambridge Team: Arthur Henderson (Capt), Bryan Ormond, Tom Maxwell (Crew)
Tim Gratton, Chris Young, Hugo Sloper (Crew)
Josh Flack, Will Reid, Robbie Gilmore (Crew)
Cambridge Ladies Team: Lilly Carlisle (Helm), Francine Counsell (Capt), Sarah McCuskee
Katie de Lange (Helm), Sarah Lombard, Esther Sidebotham
Race Team: Peter Grimaldi, Tim Russell, George Curtis, George Greenwood, Nigel Reid, Penelope Curtis,
Chris Mason
Umpires: Richard Thompson, Penny Carter, Andy Cornish, Mark Struckett
A big 'thank-you' is due to everyone at the RYS for running such a successful event, and to the ISC for making its Sonar fleet available.
www.ocss.org.uk