This week saw fifteen university yachting crews come down to Solent in order to crown the 2022 BUCS champions. Each team included eight crew members, including two females and two males – a rule making sure that the championships would be as inclusive as possible. With eight windward/leeward races and two coastal races across the four-day event, there would be plenty of racing to enjoy.
Scoring and Regulations
Yachts are made for both cruising and racing. Despite being more comfortable than smaller racing boats, they still allow for skilful and fast-paced racing. All crews were using Fairview 37 yachts, making the racing as fair as possible. The Fairviews have three cabins, a kitchen and a living space, which gives a sense of how large these yachts are.
Scoring in sailing works in the opposite way to many other sports. Low scores are the way to win. First place won a single point, with the rest of the points corresponding to final position in that race. The few with the fewest points at the end of the races, therefore, would emerge victorious.
The Yachting Championships Results
The proceedings were delayed by forecasts of strong winds. Checks took place throughout the day, but ultimately the first day was written off by the strong winds. It was certainly a shame to miss out on a day of racing, but the crews were rearing to go when the action finally kicked off.
This reduced the number of races to eight, which still allowed for a great amount of yacht racing throughout the four days.
The first race had all the crews absolutely itching to get going. In a very tense affair to open the racing, it was Southampton who took an early lead with minimum points. They were followed by Oxford Blue and Plymouth who took two and three points respectively.
There was still a lot of racing to go, however. Despite their strong start, Southampton only had one other podium race finish, meaning that they were left floundering in eighth place.
It was Carte Blanche from Plymouth, skippered by Dominique Garveigh that pulled away from the rest to take the title. Winning five of the remaining seven races, they finished with just 18.5 points over the seven races.
Following Carte Blanche was C’est si Bon, the yachting crew from Oxford Blue. Skippered by Rory Fleminger, they were perhaps the most consistent crew over the races, but just fell short of the strong Plymouth side. Finishing on 27.5 points, it was still a very strong performance from the Oxford yacht crew.
Capping off the podium places was Vis a Vis from Exeter. Skippered by Mille Jinks, they had a very poor start to the competition with a ninth place finish. They seemed to mature throughout the competition, though, fending off a strong Solent side looking to make the podium on home waters.
Overall, there were great performances from all the crews throughout the weekend. All eyes are now on Chew Valley Lake Sailing Club, where the BUCS team racing finals have just got underway.
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