Sunsail are pleased to announce Exeter University Sailing Club as the winner of the Sunsail University Club Championship 2017, securing the grand prize of a choice of Sunsail sailing holiday to either Turkey or the British Virgin Islands.
The closely fought contest was decided on aggregate by results at last month’s BUCS University Sailing Championships- with Exeter coming out on top in both the Team Racing and Match Racing competitions and fourth in the Yachting Championships for a total of 288 points.
Southampton University were a close second with 276.5 points, while Strathclyde were third with a total of 213.5 points at the end of all three events.
The first event was the Team Racing Championships, hosted by the University of Manchester at West Kirby Sailing Club in the Wirral. 28 teams gathered from across the country having qualified through regional qualifiers or playoffs from 96 teams in total. Cambridge Blue dominated the preliminary stages of the event, but were convincingly beaten in the final by Exeter Black in the Final 3-1. Cambridge Purple and Black finished third and fourth respectively.
The following week saw the Yachting Championships take place on Sunsail’s match racing fleet of Beneteau F40s at Port Solent and Gunwharf Quays. After 3 days of racing in a qualifying series, the top three teams all had a chance to win the top prize. After the final 2 races in windy conditions, Durham came out on top, closely followed by Southampton Blue, Strathclyde Blue and Exeter.
The final event was the Match Racing Championships in Weymouth, hosted at RYA Portland House. Over three days of close racing, Exeter rose through the repechage, after a disappointing round robin, before finding form and sealing the deal, in the quarters, semi’s and finals. In second place were Bath, followed by Cardiff and Warwick.
The winners have been contacted by Sunsail, who are looking forward to helping them plan their well-deserved prize.
Sunsail would like to thank all of the competitors and their respective universities, BUSA, BUCS and the RYA for accommodating Sunsail in administering our sponsorship of the series and supporting the next generation of UK sailing talent.
| EXETER TEAMS | |
| Team Racing | Tarra Gill-Taylor, Charlotte Hooper, Scott Wallis, Lewis Lane, Laurence Carter, Jessica Hammett |
| Yachting | Oliver Grogono, Oscar Baker, Frederick Liardet, Laura Gilmore, Ellie Gadd, Charlotte Hooper, Edward Cummings, Annabel Bates |
| Match Racing | Tarra Gill-Taylor, Ollie Grogono, Laura Gilmore |