This weekend saw the second of three qualifying weekends for the BUSA/RYA Match Racing Championship, and the first of the two southern qualifiers. On Saturday morning eleven University teams arrived at Queen Mary Sailing Club and were greeted by icy cold temperatures and patchy winds. The round robin was split into two smaller leagues, based on event seeding, giving the Race Committee the option of completing the full round robin on Sunday, weather permitting. Once the starting teams had de-iced their decks and rigged the boats racing was under way in a light five knots of breeze.
By the end of Saturday nine flights and both mini-round robins had been completed. Group A was led Warwick, helmed by James Goss, and Exeter 1, with Tim Saxton at the helm, with one loss a piece. Group B finished with a three way tie for 1st place between Solent 1, 2 and Imperial. There was a lot of nervous teams heading home hoping that the forecasted storm would pass in time for Sunday racing and give them the chance of reaching an overall top three finish.
When the teams arrived for 8.30 morning briefing on Sunday the wind was blowing well over twenty-five knots. Racing was postponed until 9.15 at which time the Race Committee would re-consider. The wind quickly began to drop off and by the time the first race started there was a steady ten knots. During the afternoon the wind conditions resembled the previous day with races being won and lost on who found the pressure first. By 4pm the wind had faded and racing was ended with one flight not completed. Final results were based on percentage wins and overnight group B leaders held their nerve to finish on top. Solent 1 (Ben Pym), Imperial (Connor Myant), and Solent 2 (Chris Witty) qualify for the finals to be held on the 4-5 April.
Qualifier 3 takes place on the 21-22 March at Queen Mary Sailing Club, where the final twelve teams will battle it out for the remaining Championship Final places.
Full Results:
|
Posn. |
Skipper |
|
1 |
Solent 1 : Ben Pym, Steve Botes, Guy Jackson, Peter Cowell |
|
2 |
Imperial : Connor Myant, Ed Moore, Rolf Lechner, Robbie Claridge, Joanna Li |
|
3 |
Solent 2 : Chris Witty, Lars Hutsdat, james Moore, Nick Blevins |
|
4 |
Warwick 1 : James Goss, Phil White, Will Rishden, Mike Whitby, Sam Sturrick |
|
5 |
Exeter 1 : Tim Saxton, Alice Currey, Kate Allam, Kate Prestwich, James Kitt |
|
6 |
London : Ben McVeigh-Whittaker, Johnny Frazer, Chloe Martin, Ollie Dewhurst, Tom Barnes |
|
7 |
Cardiff 1 : Maia Walsh, Oliver Burdall, Chris Sanders, Oliver Bennett, Elenor Assinder |
|
8 |
Brunel 2 : Emanuel Koechert, Piers Arnold, Thomas Clapton, Ben Backhouse, Richard Parry |
|
9 |
Plymouth 1 : Owain Hughes, Tom Philipps, Kelvin Matthews, Lucy Hoyte, Chris Bailey |
|
10 |
Brunel 1 : James Thomas, Roman Luyken, Joel Kemp, Simon Menamee, Cat Macneil |
|
11 |
Cardiff 2 : Dominic Breen-Turner, Mike Corney, Harri Lawrence, Lara White, George Talbots |
This weekend saw the second of three qualifying weekends for the BUSA/RYA Match Racing Championship, and the first of the two southern qualifiers. On Saturday morning eleven University teams arrived at Queen Mary Sailing Club and were greeted by icy cold temperatures and patchy winds. The round robin was split into two smaller leagues, based on event seeding, giving the Race Committee the option of completing the full round robin on Sunday, weather permitting. Once the starting teams had de-iced their decks and rigged the boats racing was under way in a light five knots of breeze.
This weekend saw the second of three qualifying weekends for the BUSA/RYA Match Racing Championship, and the first of the two southern qualifiers. On Saturday morning eleven University teams arrived at Queen Mary Sailing Club and were greeted by icy cold temperatures and patchy winds. The round robin was split into two smaller leagues, based on event seeding, giving the Race Committee the option of completing the full round robin on Sunday, weather permitting. Once the starting teams had de-iced their decks and rigged the boats racing was under way in a light five knots of breeze.
Stormy weather hampers build up to the BUSA/RYA Match Racing Qualifier Two
Eleven University teams are heading to Queen Mary Sailing Club this weekend (24-25 January) for the second of three qualifying weekends for the BUSA/RYA Match Racing Championship finals in April.
The event looked uncertain to go ahead on Thursday after stormy weather had damaged all six RYA J80s overnight. After a huge effort from the RYA bosuns the J80s have been repaired just in time for racing to begin tomorrow.
Leading the challenge for one of the three places going through to the finals will be London Universities Ben McVeigh-Whittaker, who performed well in the RYA National Match Racing Series 2008, narrowly missing out on a place to the finals.
Imperials team skippered by Connor Myant will also be looking for one of the top spots after coming fourth in qualifier 3 in 2008.
Full results will be posted on the BUSA website on Monday.