Chernikeeff RYA National Match Racing Finals - Day One
by Nigel Cherrie 25 Oct 2000 21:10 BST
After seven months of qualifying rounds, the search for a new British Match Racing champion got underway at a blustery Royal Victoria dock in the heart of the London Docklands today with the opening rounds of the Chernikeeff RYA National Match Racing Championship Finals.
Of the eleven non-seeded skippers who have earnt their place here through top three performances at the seven qualifying rounds, only seven crews would leave this evening with a berth on Friday against the nine seeded teams and a shot at the national title.
Despite a star studded Olympic class line up that included Europe class Gold Medallist Shirley Robertson plus Richard Sydenham, Hugh Styles and Adam May, the performances of the day came from the underdogs with Southampton University team racer Dom Johnson and youth sailor Paul Campbell-James delivering the best results.
Johnson surprised everyone with a slick display of match racing prowess and crew work to lead the results table with seven wins from nine races, only loosing to Graham Sunderland and Olympic champion Shirley Robertson. "I think a lot of it came down to crew work today as you could make a lot of gains on hoists and around the corners. The crew kept it all very slick and made it easy for me," explained Dom after racing.
"The qualifier (BUSA championship) was the first time I'd even helmed a yacht, let along match raced so my aim here was just to make a name for myself in match racing as I've been doing it for two years as a crew (for Tom Hebbert) and I now want to get my foot in the door as a helmsman".
Graham Sunderland gave Johnson the hardest time as neither were prepared to give an inch in their match. They led each other into the tight corners around the edges of the basin, leaving the umpires to adjudicate if there was enough breathing space or whether to inflict penalties, of which they received one each, neutralising each other out. Sunderland got the upperhand when it mattered most, at the finish, although he has was full of praise for Johnson "It was a great match, he's a real fighter".
Sunderland, who qualified for his slot through second place at the Rutland leg of the Chernikeeff championships, has himself only been match racing for two seasons. He admits he has been a steep learning curve by training abroad with some leading names such as Sten Mohr (Denmark) but has a pedigree in big boats having competed such events as the Admiral's Cup and the Tour de France a la Voile which undoubtedly aided his fifth place overall today.
"When you lose a match it really inspires you to dig deep and go out and win the next two or three. On the whole we're really happy how we've done and obviously relieved to have qualified. I'm looking forward to Friday and meeting the seeded guys as I think they're a league above the rest of us and we can learn a lot from them," said Sunderland.
Meanwhile, Paul Campbell-James, the youngest skipper in the fleet by a country mile and brother of current youth world match racing champion, Mark, proved he will be a formidable match racer in the future by equalling Johnson's win / loss ratio.
Paul came virtually straight to London fresh from winning his class at the Volvo RYA Youth Trials in Falmouth, Cornwall, 48 hours ago where he sealed his place in the RYA British team for the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships in Sydney, Australia later this year. "It was very shifty at the youth trials so I felt like I had quite a good grip on it today. We were also very relaxed, there's no real pressure on us to perform here although we'd like to make the quarter finals but we wont cry if we don't!" joked Paul, adding: "Match racing skills will really help at the youth worlds if a medal comes down to the final race. I'd have no problem taking someone out like Ben (Ainslie) did at the Olympics and all this helps towards your skills and confidence in that situation."
With a number of old hands coming back to terms with the First Class 8 fleet, some pre final 16 practice seemed a welcome commodity, especially for Olympic middleman Richard Sydenham who scrapped through in seventh place. "I think we need to crack the boathandling so we can get our heads out of the boat. At the moment we're all concentrating on our jobs because we're not confident with them as we haven't sailed in those positions for quite a while," explained Richard. "We got better as the days gone on but we're still not quite tactically on the case. It's pretty easy to come to this venue and lose a few matches so it's probably a bonus for us to sail today to warm up".
Meanwhile, one of the most poignant matches of the day was between future husband and wife, Jamie Goad and Shirley Robertson. Goad held the lead by five boat lengths after the first lap although Robertson won the match!
In Sydney at the Paralympic Sailing Regatta, Andy Cassell, Andrew Millband and Brian Harding have now lost touch with the leaders in the Sonar class, finishing 10th and 11th in races seven and eight of the nine race series this morning.
Racing cast off in a shifty 14 - 16 knot breeze with the British trio holding fifth for a majority of the race. Coming into the final beat, they opted for the port gate while the Israeli crew just behind them chose the Starboard gate. The Israelis went onto win the race while Cassell and crew fell down the fleet to tenth.
After the immense disappointment of the opening race, Cassell wasn't able to get in sync with the shifts and finished eleventh in race tow, reflecting afterwards that "it was a really bad day".
Results (after day 1):
Top seven progress to final 16 on Friday
1 Dom Johnson 7 wins, 2 losses
2 Paul Campbell-James 7 wins, 2 losses
3 Shirley Robertson 6 wins, 3 losses
4 John Greenland 5 wins, 4 losses
5 Graham Sunderland 5 wins, 4 losses
6 Jamie Boag 4 wins, 5 losses
7 Richard Sydenham 4 wins, 5 losses
=8 Rob Wilson 3 wins, 6 losses
=8 Lizzie Edwards 3 wins, 6 losses
=8 Nicole Johnson 3 wins, 6 losses
11 Jessie Cuthbert 1 win , 8 losses
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