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  • Wet and Windy- Feb 9/10
    The Top Gun at Oxford found the wind on Saturday to be too much and abandoned around 1pm in favour of an early start on Sunday, which saw us beginning racing at 9am. As it was we managed to complete 56 races of round robin sailing and then have a best of 3 Final. 

    The final was very evenly matched between Exeter and Cambridge and at the end the Umpires were left trying to work out how Cambridge had come out on top. Going into mark 4, of the deciding race they were in a losing position, which by the finish had been transformed into a win. Great Racing! Well done to the Cambridge team of Jamie Webb, Jules Welham, Robbie King, Bethan Matthew, Alex Smallwood, and Michael Smith.

    Photos of Top Gun Can be seen if you Click Here

    Winter Match Race 3 also had to wait for the wind in Portland Harbour to abate on Saturday but they squeezed six flights in and then got another three on the Sunday. Therefore, completing enough races to get a result but a four way tie is giving problems in working out results. No doubt they will appear somewhere soon. Probably on the RYA Match Racing Facebook page?  
    There is a nice video of the Royal Thames Mumm Bucket at QM Click Here to see it

    In Scotland Dundee University were due to run the Scottish League 3 UK Team Racing Tour says the results are in and their website has been updated nut I am unable to sort out any news. Will update this page when we have some info.
    Posted Feb 12, 2019, 3:44 AM by UK Team Racing Assn - Sailboat Team Racing
  • Qualified Qualifiers
    Steve Watson reports from Derwent and the Northern Qualifiers:-

    Snow, ice and slippery roads at 290 metres made one sympathise with the Romans.

    68 races were sailed on Sat to accommodate 18 teams through the wonderful HLS scheme but devious winds on Sunday confused the cut down strategy. The fleets slowly showed Time and Wear (hoho) and several two boat races ensued as boats fatigued.
    With 17 legitimate redress claims and many humorists, we split the umpire team to shore and water and laboured on into the darkness to achieve 126 races and several re-sails for the weekend.

    We return for the Playoffs in March where we trust the abandoned finish boat will emerge from the dark.

    Nick Rushbridge tells me that Grafham and the Easterns had good sailing conditions, with all 18 teams completing 14 races.

    Chris Lindasay says they had 60 races at Spinnaker for South Central on the Saturday and found the lake frozen on Sunday but managed to get up to 100 races, so all teams got 10 races.

    Waiting for news on Scotland, but there is an interesting rules discussion on Scottish Student Sailing Facebook Page - Click Here. 
    Unofficial results are available on KSail Click Here They are subject to confirmation by BUSA.
    Posted Feb 5, 2019, 2:36 AM by UK Team Racing Assn - Sailboat Team Racing
  • BUSA Qualifiers
    The British Universities Sailing Association major qualifier weekend is this weekend. Please see the notice published this morning relating to the weather conditions. Good luck to everyone involved!

    Due to inclement weather the Westerns at  Chew Valley Sailing Club (University of Bristol Sailing Club) are POSTPONED.

    Scottish League 2 scheduled for Forfar Sailing Club (Aberdeen University Sailing Club) has been MOVED to the Royal Tay YC.

    The other events are taking place AS SCHEDULED:-
    South Central - Spinnaker Sailing Club (Solent University Sailing Club)
    Midlands - Grafham Water Sailing Club (CUCrC)
    Northern - Derwent Reservoir Sailing Club (Newcastle University Sailing And Yachting Club)
    Posted Feb 1, 2019, 7:25 AM by UK Team Racing Assn - Sailboat Team Racing
  • A Blustery Weekend
    All three events (that I knew about) this weekend Jan 26/7 were hit by Sundays strong winds. 

    The Suffolk Shiver hosted by The Royal Hospital School was sailed in the Saturday and won by Sevenoaks School. Nine teams competed with a full round robin followed by Semi's and Finals. Rugby School; RGS Guildford and Rutland Sailing Club completed the top four. For full results Click on KSail..

    I hear that the Brunel Badger decided not to go out at all on the Sunday and awarded a joint prize to the leaders of the two leagues sailed on the Saturday, leaving Reading and MCS as joint winners. 

    The Warwick Turtle curtailed racing relatively early, but as they had sailed 68 races on Saturday and were using HLS were able to rank the teams with Imperial White coming third, Imperial Blue second and Cambridge Blue being declared the winners. Full results are available on KSail

    At the Winter Warmer at Spinnaker the 108 races sailed on Saturday gave a good basis for abandoning stage two of the competition and going directly to semi finals and finals, using a single flight of boats. 
    In the first semi West Kirby Hawks beat RTYC Blue 2:0. The other semi was a more closely fought affair with The Girl Can (OCSS) needing three races to defeat Society Exodus. Despite early indications, Hawks took the first race of the final 1, 2, 3, The Girls Could and came back to even the score at 1:1 with 1, 2, 4, setting up a decider.  However, a better start by the Hawks meant that they had a 1, 2 by the first mark, a lead which they held to the finish with the final result being 1, 2, 5 and 2:1 to the Hawks team of Dom Johnson, Hollie Marston, Andy Cornah, Hamish Walker, Emma Hivey, James Rudd-Jones ( Photo)
    Full results are available at KSail  http://events.ksail.co.uk/2019/Warmer/
    Photos of the event can be seen if you Click Here 

    The Umpires at The Turtle had an interesting time, as shown by this contribution from Steve Watson:-

    At the recent Umpire CPD day, participants were asked to propose a “useful tip”. One such tip was an excuse to visit the sporting shop “Decathlon “, not that I need such an excuse as the north west Birmingham branch is very convenient and tragically close to IKEA.

    Identifying fellow umpires on the water can be tricky, especially when event resources are limited. Keen umpires sometimes have their own RIB! I tend to take along various flags to assist in the events race management, AP, X, visible battens etc. So a clever way of having an umpire boat flag and staff appealed. The tip was that the sporting goods shop had carbon, extendable, rods up to 3m. Not expensive either. Sure enough, they were to be found in the fishing section. Three tapering tubes telescoping within the outer one. Not being a fisherman I don’t what they are actually supposed to be used for. They’re not strong enough to stab the fish and there is no hook or line! £9 for three, I would launch them on the Uni world at Draycote. Flags were hastily prepared from my old spinnakers and I was ready to impress.

    Attaching them to the hoop of the Draycote Ribs (nice) they looked the part and I could see my fellow umpire team members  a long way off, distinguished from the other Ribs providing further services.

    Racing commenced and it soon became obvious that my recycled spinnakers, a red one and a black/white one were in conflict with the usual umpire flags and a certain amount of confusion ensued. Doh!

    I managed to break mine 4 times in the first hour, it rapidly getting shorter and eventually only useful to stir the tea.

    A second umpire boat valiantly continued aided with reinforcing duck tape but there will not be a second outing for the pole.

    The third one, red, survived, but will probably be remembered for the cruel umpire who inflicted so many penalties!

    Whilst we all agreed that the principal was good and helped us umpire effectively, I would recommend, as an alternative, plastic pipe and maybe a wooden dowl insert. Bill Wyatt shared his own industrial strength version with us, complete with canvas carry bag. 

    Carbon. Clearly over rated. I am going to replace my Merlin mast with a four inch plastic soil pipe.
    Posted Jan 29, 2019, 6:38 AM by UK Team Racing Assn - Sailboat Team Racing
  • Getting going
    Places are limited to 24 teams for the RYA/UKTRA National Team Racing Championships on March 16/17 at West Kirby and are filling up fast.  The entry form AND the entry fee both need to be received by 31 January.  
    Click Here for the NoR and Entry Form.

    Meanwhile, the Carmela Cup is being sailed at Queen Mary SC. This Royal Thames event is a two-boat team racing event held in their keelboats. Teams from Itchenor Sailing Club, Oxford and Cambridge Sailing Society, Royal Northern & Clyde Yacht Club, Royal Thames Yacht Club, Royal Yacht Squadron and Wessex SC are taking part. The going was pretty slow on Sunday morning but a light breeze say racing taking place.

    The final between Royal Thames and the Oxford and Cambridge Society, was won 2:0 by Royal Thames whilst the peti final also went 2:0 to Wessex Exempt who beat RTYC Red. (and I still want to know if Rachel found her keys)

    The full results can be seen if you Click Here 
    Posted Jan 20, 2019, 7:44 AM by UK Team Racing Assn - Sailboat Team Racing
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