Bath Robe Team Racing at Chew Valley Lake Sailing Club
by Nigel Vick 14 Mar 16:23 GMT
11-12 March 2023
2023 Bath Robe Winners © Nigel Vick
Conditions were pretty cold for the Bath Robe, and while there was wind, it was from an un-forecast direction, but it did stay and the 18 teams present had some good sailing. Despite a switch to cutdowns mid-afternoon, 90 races were sailed on Saturday.
Sunday saw an early start on Gold, Silver and Bronze Leagues, and a further 45 races were complete by lunchtime. The knockout stage started with the Silver Surfer of Cardiff v Exeter Yellow which saw Cardiff going through to make the Semi Finals Southampton Blue v BONK and Cardiff against Exeter Red.
Both Semis went 2:0 with Southampton and Exeter going through to a best of five Final. Cardiff and BONK sailed a sudden death Peti Final which saw BONK beat Cardff to finish in third place.
In the Final Southampton took first blood with 1,2,5 but Exeter came back and levelled the score with a 2,3,5. In the third race Exeter looked good off the start but lost it on the final beat giving Southampton a 2,3,5. In the fourth race Exeter rounded the last mark with a 1,2 but their 2nd placed boat got locked out. This allowed the Southampton team of Natalie Annels, Ewan McAnally, Will Hellewell, George Sellwood, James Foster & Sam Edwards to take the race and the event with a 2,3,4.