Twisted Tube

Post date: Oct 11, 2010 6:41:21 PM

The Twisted Tube Random Pairs team racing championship was sailed at Spinnaker on Saturday, 9^th October. There were 45 races in the day and Rob & Mel Sherrington, strong supporters of the event, retaining their title with 13 wins out of 15.

Random pairs Team Racing is the most democratic form of team racing. In three boat team racing, you can be the best sailor and the best team racer in a race but the better all round team generally wins. Random pairs allows total novices to race with and against World Championship sailors in two boat team racing.

Your team mate and opposition are randomly chosen. You have to work with a team mate you may never have met before to try to win a race. It is also fantastic in introducing all members of the fleet to each other; you need to speak to your team mate before, during and, hopefully, after a race. The other great aspect of the event is that the best team racers adjust the level of their sailing to the quality of the opposition; if you are given a really hard time, consider it a compliment.

At Spinnaker Lake on 9 October there was a good, if shifty, breeze from the East to North East and 12 crews competed for the Twisted Tube. Defending Champions Rob & Mel Sherrington were faced with fellow Spinnaker Team Racers Roger Morris & Jo Findlay and John Greenland who had finished just behind Rob & Mel at the Firefly Nationals. There were also four Southampton Uni Crews.

Fully umpired racing took place in a variable breeze from 2-4 with the wind flicking between NE and E. These conditions gave plenty of hope for competitors who were behind to hope for a change of fortune all the way to the line. In random pairs there is always an element of luck or bad luck in who you are paired with and the regular Firefly sailors benefited from better sails and lighter boats than the Uni sailors. In a competitive, occasionally noisy, but always good natured day of team racing, Rob & Mel Sherrington retained their title with 13 wins out of 15 from Roger Morris and Jo Findlay with 11 wins and John Greenland with 9 wins.

Top six

Rob & Mel Sherrington 13 wins

Roger Morris and Jo Findlay 11 wins

John Greenland 9 wins

Stephen Tiernan 9 wins

Steven Greaves 8 wins

Josh Rumbol 7 wins

Pictures from Tiggy Ansell.