Event Report:

The Lloyds TSB Championships are the pinnacle of the university calendar and only teams already qualified from regional heats were invited, with teams coming from as far a field as Strathclyde and Glasgow. Pre event favourites and defending Champions for both the mixed and ladies competition were Southampton University and they were quietly confident of defending their title, but other top seeded universities had better ideas.

Day 1:

Just over 200 sailors turned up on the first day of the Championships to the superb facilities of Chew Valley lake sailing club and were greeted by perfect conditions, blazing sunshine and a lovely 8-10 knot breeze. Southampton and Bristol University, (first and third seed), both came out of the first day unbeaten, although not racing each other or the second seeded team, London. It was the league that London was in where the upsets happened. Loughborough sailed a great race to beat London, but then subsequently lost to Southampton third team. London beat Southampton third team and all three teams were tied on points with London eventually scraping though to the super Gold league. In the Ladies league Southampton first and second team both had a good day with the racing very tight the whole way down the fleet.

Day 2:

The weather gods were once again smiling down on the event and a great 15 knot breeze built throughout the morning to settle on around 18-20 knots. This resulted in smooth change over to cut down sails making team racing still the emphasis. The main action for the day was the battle for the remaining places in the quarter-finals for the mixed leagues and the coveted semi-final places for the ladies league.

Loughborough, Southampton Second?s, and Cambridge put in strong performances in the Gold league, with Oxford and Bristol second team making it through the back door from the silver and gold league play off.

In the Super Gold league many bleary eyed sailors turned up for racing although already assured of a place in the quarter-finals. Bristol started the day very slowly, losing convincingly to London and Southampton twice in quick succession. Southampton were on dominating form and looked as if they could go unbeaten for another day until Bristol sailed a solid race to take away there unbeaten status. Final scores for the day were Southampton 1st, London 2nd and Bristol 3rd.

In the ladies league after much tight action it ended up with semi-final spots for Oxford Bristol and the two Southampton teams. Needless to say all the teams took the competitive spirit ashore with them for some tremendous dancing at the BUSA ball ably led by the outgoing BUSA Chairman George Whitefield.

Day 3:

After two days of perfect conditions it was inevitable that the weather would finally turn. The final day dawned with no wind and overcast sky. In testing conditions the race committee did a superb job of getting the racing going after only a short delay. The quarter-finals turned out as the bookies were expecting with no upsets. In the Semi-finals it was Southampton racing Loughborough and Bristol racing London. Southampton went straight to the finals with some top quality racing against a competitive Loughborough side, but it was the other semi-final that attracted all the attention. It was finally balanced when going into the final race, and it looked like Bristol were into the finals when an umpire decision on the line turned the race into London?s favour.

Ladies Semis

The final of the Mixed event was won in convincing style 2-0 and they showed why they were champions and one of the most successful teams of recent years. As Andy Cornah, Southampton captain said ?the last few years have been a great pleasure to sail with such a successful team?.

The Ladies final was an all Southampton, with their first team managing to let their superiority show over their seconds.

All in all, the event was a great success with all the teams enjoying the close racing and the fun socials. Life ashore was made easy by everyone getting put up in the same hotel and Scream Pubs providing coffee and red bull for suffering competitors! The event was also massively benefited by the title sponsorship of Lloyds TSB and Louise Williams from Lloyds kindly came down to the lake to donate the Winners prizes.

Results:

Mixed Event:
1st Southampton 1
2nd London
3rd Bristol 1
4th Loughborough
5= Southampton 2
5= Oxford
5= Cambridge
5= Bristol 2

Silver league winners: Nottingham.

Ladies Event:
1st Southampton 1
2nd Southampton 2
3rd Bristol
4th Oxford

Ed Hill

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