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Selden 2020 - LEADERBOARD

Setley Cup 2024

by Jamie McEwen 27 Dec 2024 20:41 GMT 26 December 2024

The Setley Cup is an annual competition for children sailing model boats (mostly home-made), held on Boxing Day at Setley Pond near Lymington.

The 2024 edition was another great success, despite the near-absent wind, masterminded once again by Luke and Emma McEwen (Luke was one of the founding competitors in the first Setley Cup back in the 1980s). 45 entrants did battle for the coveted trophies - 26 monohulls and 19 multihulls - and as ever the craft displayed a wide range of design ideas from impressively sleek-looking machines through to ingenious reuses of Christmas drinks containers. Special mention goes to the model lifeboat that covered about a metre of the first race before sinking!

Each fleet (mono- and multihulls) was divided into two flights, who raced two heats each followed by a final. Some boats showed great speed, others an ability to sail towards the finish line, and some even managed both - to be rewarded with a place in the final.

In the monohull fleet there were several strong contenders. William and Sylvia McEwen, each of whose boats had benefited from their uncle Luke's design influence, were (literally) hard to separate in flight B, closely followed by Jonny Rogers sailing the ever-dangerous "Bear". Meanwhile Lara McCarthy and Miley Hayman showed ominous form to qualify top of flight A. The final itself was a nail-biting affair: William started strongly but had an unfortunate encounter with a smaller competitor and could only finish 4th, behind Lara/Miley, Jonny and a rapidly improving Billy Bubb, who took line honours. That meant Lara and Miley won the Setley Cup, with William second, Jonny third, Billy fourth and Sylvia 5th.

The multihulls, competing for the Seahorse Trophy, also saw some very close racing and a similarly tense final. The wind got particularly tricky towards the end as boats got agonisingly close to the finish line. In the end it was Sebastian Styles sailing "Bonnie Shaker" who won both the final race and the heats to take home the trophy. Second was Fred Parker sailing "Kingfisher", a newcomer to the event and a committed convert! The podium was completed by Harriet Brown with "Penguin", an impressively speedy pair of 2-litre bottles.

Huge thanks go to Luke and Emma for their fantastic organisation, as well as a substantial army of other volunteers, particularly the busy rescue crew of Tom Wharmby and Abby Hire. Sincere thanks also to Sanders Sails for providing sail cloth for many of the competitors, and to Royal Lymington Yacht Club for their logistical support (particularly with Forestry England).

Monohull Results:

Boat nameSailorHeats positionFinal positionTotal pointsPlace overall
SamanthaLara McCarthy & Miley Hayman1341
Sea BiscuitWill McEwen1452
BearJonny Rogers3253
Hit n HopeBilly Bubb6174
Silver BulletSylvia McEwen2685
Green DragonFinley Roche-Gordon4596
RainbowArianna Stock212147
DaveMo Knapp312158
Emma IIEmma Cherry412169
Fruit SaladRory Stock-Carniel4121610
Swift like the BadgerGilliatt van Harris5121711
TottieOttilie6121812

Multihull Results:

Boat nameSailorHeats positionFinal positionTotal pointsPlace overall
Bonnie ShakerSebastien Styles1121
KingfisherFred Parker2242
PenguinHarriet Brown4373
Unicorn Wind BlowerAlice Cherry3474
Danger CatDirk Rogers2575
DaisyOliver Thomas1786
Bert AmiBertie Thomas46107
Tiger SharkAlfie Ellis48128
BananaFlorence Mason410149
Joe 90Joe Clifford3121510
Ineos BritanniaArchie Bayliss691510
Chutney 2Caitlin McKenzie6121812