Chernikeeff RYA National Match Racing Championships Preview
by Mark Bullingham 20 Oct 2000 12:12 BST
Olympic Sailors take part in final major event
Olympic Gold medallist Shirley Robertson will be taking to the water in one final major event this year as she seeks victory in the Chernikeeff RYA National Match Racing Championship Finals which will be held in the Victoria Docks, London, from 25th-29th October.
Top seed for the title is reigning National Champion and fellow Team GBR member Andy Beadsworth, ranked 11th in the ISAF world match racing rankings. He will be meeting one of his crew from Sydney as Richard Sydenham, former double youth world match racing champion, will be challenging for the title of Chernikeeff RYA National Match Racing Champion. Hugh Styles and Adam May, who represented Great Britain in Sydney in the Tornado class, will be key members of Richard's crew and have both
also held the title as crew members in 1996
Shirley and Andy will face still opposition. The event, which is sailed in First Class Eights, small keelboats with 4 crew, or 5 in the all female boats, is different from the majority of other sailing events. As opposed to a large fleet race, each team races against all the others individually in a round robin, with the teams with the most wins progressing to the quarter finals. The other entrants for the finals of this prestigious championships are the winners from a number of qualifying events which have taken place during the year.
Andy Beadsworth is confident that he will put in a good performance. He commented: "We think our chances are good, and we hope to win although Richard, Shirley and Ian Williams will provide tough competition and there may be a few surprises amongst the qualifiers. We're coming in slightly cold, as with the other Olympic crews, and the gap with the world stage that has always been evident in the past is diminishing. There are plenty of crews who have been aiming to peak for this event.
"It will be a very difficult venue, bearing in mind it's landlocked position and the fact that it's surrounded by the city. There are similar risks attached that were associated with Sydney, with the unpredictable conditions. It'll be difficult to predict the shifts, and it will probably be gusty."
Bill Edgerton the RYA national Coach and Event Director added, "It is exciting to bring an event like this to Docklands, an event normally associated with 'blue-water ' sailing, but we are certain that this will produce a worthy winner and has the added benefit of showing off our sport to the public at large."
More Information: