28 teams qualified to the British University Sailing finals on the 2nd of April at Grafham water. From day one anticipation was high thanks to BUSA’s livestream (revealing the first set of races), the forecast looking spicy, and a few teams coming off unprecedented success at the senior team racing nationals.
A plethora of teams found their way into the top 8 (the all important quarter finals cut off) through the first day, with moderate and shifty breeze. Surprisingly far down after day 1 was current UKTRA champions Exeter, leaving last years winners Cambridge, along with Loughborough and Southampton, battling for the top of the pile for now.
Day two brought the breeze, and some teams found their stride. Strathclyde leapt up the leaderboard until, with wind jumping up well over 25 knots, racing was postponed, and then abandoned for the day. Allowing a rest after a lot of hard hiking. Thanks to their performance Strath, taking down some top teams, sat near the top. A black horse into last years quarters they were looking good to repeat the feet again.
Day 3: With the wind moderating overnight, full sails were put up and the most important day in the university sailing calendar began. Their was much discussion about bouncing, not because of a sudden uptick in trampoline fans, instead referring to the tough nature of the Swiss league format, creating close scores so wins on the final day could make a good day a great one. So it looked to be for Exeter Red, no longer just notorious just for stapling themselves Red “hot hot” as they flew up the leaderboard to make the cut called at about 1 o’clock. Quarter finals then. Cambridge took on Imperial (recent Excalibur winners, happily controversial thanks to their “nose tape”and nothing else this year!). The second quarter was an exciting Exeter derby Red vs Blue. Loughborough got Southampton and UEA took on Strathclyde.
After taking a race from their 1sts, the Exeter red armada came to an end. As The quarters came to a close, those who lost sailed ashore, leaving the semi finals Cambridge vs Strathclyde and Exeter vs Loughborough to begin. The second being a family affair, brothers Ben and Jamie both hoping to help their team to the elusive finals. Both semi finals were won in a 2-1 score. Ultimately, it was Exeter and Cambridge that prevailed. In the finals Cambridge sailed extremely well to take the championships for the second year running. Medals were awarded, volunteers thanked, and then teams made their way into Cambridge for the BUSA awards (official and unofficial) and dinner.