The BUSA Ladies trip over to the Royal St George Yacht Club near Dublin took place over the weekend of 14th and 15th October. 11 teams from the UK and Ireland were competing in the Irish Invitational team racing event. The Ladies Team, representing five different British universities, flew over to Ireland to the warmest of welcomes.
Saturday brought sunshine and a reasonable but very shifty breeze and after a delay due to the ferry breaking down in Dun Laoghaire harbour, sailing commenced. At 5 o’clock the BUSA girls came off the water happy with just the one loss.
Saturday night was a traditional RStGYC evening with a delicious dinner in the beautiful 19th Century building which is the George. The three course meal was followed by a boat race in which I am pleased to say, with a particularly sterling effort from Jo and the assistance of an enthusiastic Irishman, the BUSA girls came out victorious!
Sunday morning the full round robin was completed before the teams were divided into Gold and Silver Leagues. At the end of the Gold League, we had won 4 and lost 2 races. This left West Kirby Sailing Club as the clear winners of the event with the BUSA Ladies in 2nd place and University College Cork in 3rd.
On behalf of the Team, I would like to thank the Royal St George Yacht Club and all those involved in running the event, in particular the chief organiser, Emma Lovegrove, for a fantastic weekend.
Representing BUSA Ladies:
Jo Brigg (Southampton) and Nicky Macgregor (Bournemouth)
Claire Paramore (London) and Katie Lowndes-Toole (Oxford)
Ellen Milner (Oxford) and Bethan Carden (Cambridge)