Pym, Myant and Witty win places for the BUSA/RYA Match Racing Finals

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

Jessica Mapplebeck

Secretary to the British Universities Sailing Association

Direct Dial 023 8060 4167 Direct Fax: 023 8060 4290  jessica.mapplebeck@rya.org.uk