Congratulations to Octavia Owen, Ali Mo, Sophie Taylor and all of the skippers and sailors at the Marlow Ropes Women's Match Racing Championship.

Following a complete double round robin it went to Semis and then Finals. In the peti final,  Sophie Taylor took third place from Rhiannon Massey 2:0 while the Final turned interesting.

Octavia took the first match but evened the score with Ali Morish by gybing onto port in front of her when 50yards from the finish. In the third race Ali was leading in to the finish when Octacia got an overlap, and Ali broached out. In the fourth race Ali got a pre-start penalty but got ahead and dumped it on the second beat. She then held Octavia out past the layline for the last mark and was leading in when her spinnaker decided it would rather be a fishing net, bringing the boat to a grinding halt and giving the event to Octavia. An unfortunate end to a really close fought final. 

There's some really nice video on the RYA Match Racing Facebook page and Click here for results  Spaces are available for Qualifier 2 of the National Match Race Series being held at Queen Mary on Oct 20/21. 

Not much movement in Team Racing. The recent 2K event in Santander was won by the Royal Thames, who beat Serpentine on the tie break. To see details Click Here. The Youth Match Racing in Weymouth saw Matt Whitfield retain his title as National Youth Match Race Champion. See Facebook for photos etc. The Womens Match Racing this coming weekend (Sept 8/9) still has a couple of spaces left if you fancy giving that a go and can get a crew together - same link.

The Oxford Magnum has had a change of dates and will now be on November 3/4. Birmingham, London and Swansea have been pushing their events on Facebook - get your entries in. 

Not much is happening.

A few Universities have begun promoting their events, Brummy Bender, Oxford Magnum and London 6 Pack are a few.

Entries for the ET Team Racing at Oxford on October 14/15 are now open Click Here for details

The conference is over two days, with sessions and workshops covering new developments and best practice in Judging and Umpiring.  They hope to cover sessions for Umpires on day 1 and Judges on day 2.   All current Judges and Umpires are encouraged to attend, as well as anyone interested in learning more about becoming a Race Official. For those who are already qualified, this conference will meet the 'conference attendance' requirement for Judges and Umpires renewal applications.

If this is of interest to you, please email charlie.mackean@rya.org.uk and save the date!

Sunday saw the start of the British Schools Dinghy Racing Association Finals at Rutland Sailing Club and they also had a cracking day on the Sunday. However, the British weather took its toll over the next two days with strong winds preventing further progress (I believe they had a couple of races but there was no effective progress)

The evnt was decided on the basis of the races sailed using the HLS System. Sevenoaks School took the Firefly Class winning the Rondar Shield and Whitstable Trophy while MCS were second. Norwich School won the Fevas while RGS Guildford were the most improved school.

For all the results Click Here

David Peerless reports on The Army Inter Corps Lagos Trophy held at Thorney Island on Tuesday and Wednesday last week (19/ 20 June) and umpired by David and Tricia Neri. 

Due to operational committees there were only 5 teams and some consisted of novice sailors who had never raced before.  Winds of 8 to 10 knots were ideal and the Tuesday was spent with little team racing while the crews found their feet.  

After a debrief on Tuesday evening the Wednesday racing was much more agressive with some good moves and it was good to see that the experienced helms were very sporting to the novices. 

After two round robins, semis and finals the positions were:  First - Royal Engineers, Second - Royal Artillery, Third - REME

A number of Team Racers were at Torquay for the British Keelboat League Event at the weekend, including a BUSA Team. The Winners were West Hoe SC, Jack Fenwick of Horizons Childrens SC was seconf and BUSA Third. Full results at KSail Photos Videos and details on Facebook For photos Click Here