The London Duck

Both Royal Thames Red and the Blue team descended on Welsh Harp Reservoir on the 12/13 March to be greeted by near perfect conditions. With entries limited to 10 teams there was rarely a big break between races and each team got to race each other several times in the round robins before the top two teams were put head to head in a final.

Both teams got off to a strong start winning their opening races with particular reference to the races against SMVC (a team of old Southampton uni talent), who were struggling to find their form. The only sticking points for both teams were the Hilbery Highlanders.

In the second round robin Thames continued their form and RTYC Red looked like they had their second encounter against Hilbery Highlanders sewn up as they rounded the final mark in a 1, 2. Tom Hebbert of the highlanders managed to get close to Jon Pinner up the final beat where there was a windward leeward incident which was green flagged by one umpire only to be red flagged by the other umpire as the boats neared the finish line. 

Sunday's weather was nowhere near as glamorous as Saturdays with very light breeze and drizzle. Both RTYC teams adapted well with RTYC Blue having great pace off a pin biased line all day thanks to Sam Maxfield, with Stuart Adams and Matthew Podger ensuring that a 6 was never on the cards on the right of the course.  At 2.30 pm the third round robin was drawn to a close and RTYC Red were summoned to the final against the Highlanders.

First race of the final and RTYC Red got off on the back foot trying their hardest but failing to convert the race into a 2, 3, 5. Race 2 was even closer and RTYC Red were in a 2, 3, 4 combination round the final mark. The light and shifty breezes allowed 5 & 6 to break through again making for an extremely tight finish where Thames just managed to break ahead to get the 1, 3, 6. This took the final to a deciding third race.

Once again Royal Thames Red were relatively sluggish off the line and the Highlanders were able to convert into a 1, 2 on the top reach. RTYC were able to get this back on the run only to throw it away again at mark 3. By this point the race had become very tight and at mark 4 Highlanders were winning with a 1, 4, 5. The final beat turned out to be crucial with lots of action. Boyce took a shift out to the left which allowed him to go from 6^th to 2^nd but was just unable to cross Hebert in 1 who was able to dial down slightly to which the umpire gave Boyce spins putting him back to 6^th. Hebbert moved straight onto covering Jon Pinner who was covering the Highlander boat now in 5, whilst Matt Pinner was sneaking around the right hand side to eventually take the bullet. Meanwhile Jon was still engaged with the Highlander boat in 5, whilst Hebbert got across to lock Boyce out. Boyce managed to squeeze a tack in and it was a three boat scramble for the finish line. A photo finish was required and Boyce was just able to sneak into 3^rd by a matter of millimetres to give Royal Thames Red the victory in the tightest final they had sailed of the season.

Congratulations must also go to RTYC Blue who finished third overall making this the RTYC's most successful event to date, testament to the recent training and events that the new teams have been doing and standing them both in good stead for the forthcoming events.