RTYC Academy Open Report

As the teams made their way across to Cowes on Sunday 05 May for the newly established Academy Open, a two boat team race competition for the top UK teams, they were pleasantly surprised to find that the 25 knot, heavy rain forecast had not materialized and that actually we had a slightly gloomy 13 knot northerly to play with.

The four teams gathered at the UKSA for the briefing held my PRO Andy Cornah before heading out to the J80's and sailing them to the race area in Osborne bay. Racing kicked off slightly later than intended by the time the crews had familiarised themselves with the spinnakers and it was Royal Thames Red who opened against Spinnaker. Three of the boats started in a tight pack tightly down at the pin end of the line and it was Ben Ainsworth who was able to gap up the beat and then force a penalty on Mark Powell at the windward mark, to give Thames the 1, 2 till the end of race. The second race was Thames Red against Thames Blue and it quickly became obvious that it was going to be a close days racing as Thames Blue gave Red some of their own medicine by giving them spins at the windward and sailing to victory.

As the first round robin progressed the wind decreased considerably and the tide became a major factor as teams were having to gybe immediately at the windward mark to avoid being swept back down the Solent towards Cowes, making for very tricky racing. Fortunately one of the many looming rain clouds made its way down to the racecourse from the left hand side and after a reshuffle of the course, competitors were again graced with 10 knots of breeze.

With the tide now pushing the competitors over the start line it made for some tricky starts as individual recalls became more frequent. The racing remained tight and often the races were only being decided at mark four or even up the last beat, making for some great spectating. It was Jon Pinner on the Royal Thames Blue team who was starting to make the most of these situations, making a number of race changing moves near the finish, to edge them into the lead and go on to take the overall prize at the end of the second round robin.

The teams returned to the shore after a long day on the water and Andy Cornah wrapped up with the prize giving and some very wise words of advice on areas that the teams could improve on for next time.

Many thanks must go to all of the support crew who put on an excellent first edition of this event and have paved the way for this to become a regular occurrence on the Royal Thames calendar.

Results:

1^st Royal Thames Blue          Sam Maxfield             Jon Pinner

2^nd Spinnnaker                     Mark Powell               Sam Littlejohn

3^rd Busa Tour                       Andy Shaw                 Guy Breary

4^th Royal Thames Red          James Boyce              Ben Ainsworth