After a fantastic weekend of racing, perfect conditions greeted the students at Queen Mary Sailing Club for the first university championships of the season.
Sailors from Exeter University dominated the BUCS Fleet Racing Championship at the weekend beating Brunel and Bristol into second and third place for the BUSA (British Universities Sailing Association) Team Trophy.
After 6 races over the weekend, racing was especially tight in the Handicap fleet where the top three RS200s were only separated by 4 points. University of Bath’s Sam Littlejohn and Emma Hayward managed to hold off Southampton’s Andy Shaw and Holly Scott, and Bristol’s James Goss and Ian Robertson by sailing consistently scoring in the top 3 in all but one race (which they discarded). Shaw and Scott started Sunday’s racing with an OCS in Race 4, which handed the title to the Bath sailors.
Exeter’s Tom Mallindine and Suzy Russell won four out of the six races, in a Laser 2 fleet filled with Brunel University sailors, who finished second (Roman Luyken/Joel Kemp), fourth (Piers Arnold/Ben Blackhouse) and sixth (Joe Snowdon/Sam Parkinson) to take second in the Team prize. Surrey University’s Sam Nichols and Neil Bishop came third narrowly missing out on second place by two points.
With a large Laser Standard, fleet Robert Godwin from Nottingham University scored consistent 1,2,3 to win the trophy, beating Edinburgh University’s Mark Powell, who also raced well winning two races and coming fourth in the remaining. Max Holloway from Portsmouth University came third, narrowly beating Stuart Godwin in the last race giving him the BUCS Medal and points.
Newcastle’s only Firefly in the Championships sailed by George Yeoman and Georgie Akin Smith beat off stiff competition from Exeter’s Tim Saxton/Nicola Groves and Plymouth’s Pete Johnson/Sophie Morton, after scoring three firsts and two seconds. After Yeoman has won the fourth and fifth race Saxton retired from race 6, knowing that even a win wouldn’t give him the Championship title.
Thanks goes to all the volunteers at QMSC .
Full results are available here.
Photos from the event can be found at www.dephoto.co.uk./bucs and would make great Christmas gifts for your parents!
Monday 9th November: All Results on the Downloads page. Photos are ar http://www.dephoto.co.uk
BLOG:
Sunday 8th November 13.15
Internet problems here have delayed the blog. Overnight provisonal results after 3 races yesterday are:
Laser – Robert Godwin (Nott) 1st, Mark Powell (Edin) 2nd, Stuart Godwin (Bris) 3rd.
Firefly – Tim Saxton/Nicola Grove (Exeter) 1st, George Yeoman/Georgie Akin Smith (Newcastle) 2nd, Pete Johnson/Sophie Morton (Plymouth) 3rd.
Laser 2 – Tom Mallindine/Suzy Russell (Exeter) 1st, Roman Luyken/Joel Kemp (Brunel) 2nd, Sam Nicholls/Neil Bishop (Surrey) 3rd.
Handicap – Sam Littlejohn/Emma Hayward (Bath) 1st, Andrew Shaw/Holly Scott (Southampton) 2nd, James Ellie/Alan Roberts (Southampton Solent) 3rd.
Full report adn results to follow either later today or tomorrow morning.
Saturday 7th November 13:15
All sailors are now afloat, just starting their 2nd race of the day. Beautiful sunshine and a perfect force 3. Results to follow shortly, when they come ashore.
Two hundred and fifty student sailors will be making the trip to Queen Mary Sailing Club, Staines, for the inaugural British Universities & Colleges Sport Fleet Racing Championship this weekend (7-9 November) for the first National Sailing Championships of the University year.
The BUCS Fleet Racing Championships will give students the opportunity to race against each other individually in Lasers, Laser 2’s, Fireflies and a Handicap Class, as well as competing for the overall British Universities Sailing Associations’ Team Trophy.
With many defending championships including the BUCS Laser 2 Champions for 2007 and 2008, Piers Arnold of Brunel University will be taking to the water racing against countless National and European champions. 2008 Handicap Fleet Champion Toby Ayres of Bath University in his Laser Radial will be challenging the large handicap fleet to defend his title, which he won at the BUSA Inlands earlier this year after racing was abandoned at the BUCS Fleet Racing Championships last November.
BUCS Match Racing Champion of 2009, Andy Shaw of Southampton University, will be looking to add to his BUCS medal haul sailing an RS200 with Holly Scott. James Goss and Ian Robertson will be teaming up at Bristol University in an RS 200, both of whom were members of the winning team at the 2007 U21 ISAF Team Racing World Championships.
With a packed schedule of six races planned, the organisers are hoping for another exciting weekend of exhilarating racing and hopefully not gale force winds!
The latest news, information, blog and the all-important results will be posted on the BUCS website (www.bucs.org.uk) and the BUSA Sailing website (www.busa.co.uk).