Rutland Show Masters how Team Racing is done
by Jack Fenwick 3 Feb 2025 21:21 GMT
1 February 2025
Random Pairs Team Racing for Masters at Royal Thames © Richard Sawyer / RTYC
A cold and cloudy day saw the 2025 Team Racing Season at the Royal Thames Yacht Club kick off on Saturday 1st February with a day of Random Pairs Team Racing for teams of a minimum average age of 40.
Four teams had come together to reignite their team racing skills led by their respective skippers, Andrew Gilmour, Jon Redding, William Edwards, and Steve Tylecote.
Light but stable winds meant the cold temperatures weren't too bad and gave the teams ample opportunity to give aid to their randomly assigned buddy. Racing kicked off after a brief practice session to get used to the Sonars and a day of hard fought racing began.
Steve Tylecote and his Rutland based team showed their experience, working smart with each team they were paired with to ensure they came out on top of all the early races.
Everyone fought hard, and improved, throughout the day such that after 12 races, Tylecote and team were undefeated but with just one round left in the day, the Rutland team lost their final three races on the bounce.
With racing concluded, the teams headed ashore to pack up and compare war stories before trying to find a warm pub to watch the rugby. With the Rutland team connivingly winning the event with an 80% win ratio, it was impossible to separate the remaining three teams who all tied for second place.
Speaking after the event, Steve Tylecote said "It was great to get out on the race track with some familiar faces from my early days of team racing. We had great fun in the races which were run with great intensity, such that we even needed to ask the race committee for a brief break every now and then to have a quick snack. We are all really looking forward to next year's event already!"
With both the Carmela Cup, the UK Nationals for two boat Keelboat Team Racing, and the Lochan Cup, the Women's Keelboat Team Racing Nationals coming up in April, teams are encouraged to get some practice in the Sonars at the Hot Rum Random Pairs on the 2nd March.
Full results available on the KSail website, thanks to them for the schedules and support with the results.