Racing Reports
Carmela Cup 2011
The RYA Open Championship of two-boat team racing in keelboats.
Once again the Royal Thames Carmela Cup drew the hottest keelboat team racers in the country.
RTYC retain the Carmela Cup 2011
A blustery Saturday morning saw eight teams of eight sailors arrive at Queen Mary for the annually run RYA Open Two Boat Keelboat Team Racing Trophy for the Royal Thames Carmela Cup.
The eight teams taking part:-
BUSA helms Mark Powell and Rob Friend
Sea View YC helms Richard Hill and William Edwards
Royal Northern &Clyde YC helms Grigoir White and Alan Manuel
Royal Thames YC helms Ali Hall and Mark Lees
Royal Yacht Squadron helms Ed Peel and Bruce Grant
Southampton Male Voice Choir helms Guy Breary and Ian Dobson
Team Aalsmeer helms Marc de Haas and Jan Bakker
Wellington College helms Charlie Esse and Rob Gosling
With winds gusting up to 25 knots on Saturday morning racing looked unlikely but the decision was taken to reef the main and to commence with the 2011 Carmela Cup. The Race Officials led by PRO David Arnold successfully managed to get 15 races in despite the inclement weather, leaving 13 races to complete the round robin the following day.
Sunday presented similar conditions - the wind had abated a bit but had been replaced with a colder breeze and some rain - but by now four races were being accomplished an hour which enabled the round robin to reach its conclusion with RTYC undefeated in the round robin and Southampton Male Voice Choir beating BUSA into second.
The Carmela Cup Final climaxed in a closely contested first- to- win -two final between RTYC and Southampton Male Voice Choir. The first race was very close and no quarter was given between the two teams with RTYC taking the first race. The second race was even closer with numerous pass- backs and penalties - it was anyone's call as to who would win. Going round the final mark RTYC had a losing combination as they held last place and going up the beat it looked like Southampton were controlling both pairs on the race course - however, RTYC boat 1 slowed and engaged Southampton boat 2 in an attempt to free RTYC 2nd boat. All four boats engaged in very close action - in very breezy conditions - until, eventually RTYC came out with a 1st and 2nd place. RTYC thus emerged victorious to retain the Carmela Cup 2:0 in the final and undefeated in the regatta.
Royal Thames YC would like to thank all the teams for taking part in the 2011 Carmela Cup. RTYC would also like to thank the race officers and umpires for their efforts - an outstanding job given the conditions. Finally, we would like to thank, once again, Queen Mary Sailing Club for all their help and support.
Final Results
1st RTYC
2nd Southampton Male Voice Choir
3rd BUSA
4th Sea View Yacht Club
5th Royal Northern & Clyde Yacht Club
6th Royal Yacht Squadron
7th Wellington College
8th Team Aalsmeer
Click HERE for final results and match scores.
Lee Trophy 9th -10th October 2010
The 2010 Lee Trophy, hosted by Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club, was held over the weekend of 9 - 10 October in Oyster Bay, NY. The event, now in its 8th year, has firmly established itself at the forefront of the US keelboat team racing calendar.
The Royal Thames team, skippered by James Boyce, Ian Dobson and Ben Ainsworth, travelled to New York on Thursday night to give the newly formed team some time to acclimatise to the boats and the venue.
Saturday morning dawned with very little breeze but very bright and warm sunshine. The lack of breeze was not welcomed by the Thames team since the Americans traditionally hold a speed advantage over us Brits in the lighter winds. Racing commenced in two flights of Sonars, allowing four of the seven teams to race at any one time. Following the popular decision for competitor umpires 2 years ago, once again the non-sailing teams were put to work by policing the racing from 6 provided umpire boats. A skipper from one team would be matched with a crew from another team to ensure a balanced umpiring boat.
The Thames team got off to a difficult start suffering from a lack of boat speed and handling in the extremely light winds. The Americans capitalised on this despite the Thames having consistently strong starts and often winning combinations around the windward mark before losing it on the runs. There was a brief break in the middle of the afternoon whilst the wind died completely and then filled in stronger then before and from a new direction. This put the Thames back in contention with the team's first win in the first race of the second round robin against Southern Yacht Club and a very narrow defeat against New York 2. The final race of the day produced the most drama as a well executed mark trap by the Thames boat in 1 led to boats 2 and 3 becoming intertwined by the spinnaker halyard whilst the fourth placed Thames boat was forced between the two interlocked boats producing a cheese wire effect. The dubious umpire call was that Royal Thames had been in the wrong and so the winning 1, 2, 4 combination was lost to give Eastern the victory
One and a half round robins complete, the competitors headed back for a cocktail party hosted by event sponsors, Mr and Mrs Bruce Lee. With lighter winds forecast for the Sunday the Thames team set about finding out from their competitors exactly how to make the Sonars go in the light.
Contrary to the forecasts, Sunday produced a gusty 10 - 16 knots much to the delight of the Thames team. A complete second round robin and maybe a third would be sailed in favour of sailing a knockout series. Thames had stiff competition in the first races of the day against Seawanhaka and New York 1. A mornings umpiring had allowed the teams to get a good grip of the wind on the race course. A great Thames pre-start allowed James to lead two of the Seawanhaka boats over to the right hand side of the course (less favoured), whilst Ben and Ian took advantage of the pressure on the left hand side of the course to obtain a solid 1, 2 which they held to the finish. If we could take nothing else away from the weekend, the moral victory over the Seawanhaka BA cup team for our fellow team mates back in Britain was enough. Unfortunately we were unable to repeat this performance against New York who only dropped one race in the weekend and ultimately went on to win the regatta.
Congratulations go to NYYC 1 who again sailed an excellent regatta, winning the Lee Trophy.
Thanks must go to Seawanhaka CYC for inviting the Thames back to this excellent event for the fourth consecutive year. We look forward to returning in 2011.
Millennium Bowl 4-5th September 2010
The Millennium Bowl takes place every two years and is raced between a triumvirate of clubs namely, RTYC, Royal St George and Royal Northern & Clyde. The make up of each boat is a unique formula with four people on each boat, one must be a female and the combined age of each boat must be in excess of one hundred and sixty years.
It was the turn of the RN&C YC to act as host club this year so the twelve members of the RTYC team and Rear Commodore George Ehlers, who was umpiring, headed to Rhu on various flights on Friday night. Unfortunately, Royal St. George could not muster a team and there absence on and off the water was greatly missed.
So to the racing. The Millennium Bowl this year was a three on three team racing event sailed in Sonars. The wind was from the east 8-12 knots, the sky was blue and those who started the day in oil skins (expecting the worst of the weather) were soon removing them after the first race. The course was two laps of a starboard square.
To win the Millennium Bowl it was the first to 5 wins from the nine races scheduled. RTYC had some very good starts and had winning combinations going around the first and second marks on several occasions. However, better boat handling – marginally quicker hoists and jibes by RN&C – on the runs was crucial and overturned these positions to win the Millennium Bowl comfortably.
On Saturday evening an excellent dinner was held in the RN&C clubhouse – followed by some entertainment in the bar between the teams afterwards.
Upon conclusion of the Millennium Bowl a ‘beer fleet race’ was organised with RTYC winning some pride back and James Boyce’s team taking the honours.
Thanks go to RN&C for making RTYC most welcome and organising two days of excellent racing and we look forward to seeing them at the prize winners’ dinner to collect the Millennium Bowl in November.
RTYC team.
Simon Wheeler – helm
Thomas Brennan
Michelle Brennan
Michael Varvill
James Boyce – helm
William Edwards
Ali Stow
Chris Griffiths
Paul Weeden - helm
Richard Hill – helm
Claudia Hill
Simon Broxham
Thomas Brennan
Captain of Racing – 6th September 2010
Royal Thames at the Southern Nichols (New Orleans) 6-7th March 2010)
I write this in the departure lounge at Louis Armstrong International waiting to board the plane for London, via Atlanta, and I begin to recount the most enjoyable days past that I and the team of the Royal Thames have enjoyed.
The team was made up of:-
Peter Bainbridge (helm)
William Edwards
Chris Griffiths
Richard Hill (helm)
Jilly Allenby-Ryan
John Dallimore
Margo Taylor (helm)
Thomas Brennan
Michael Varvill
Most of the team had arrived by Thursday evening to enjoy an informal dinner with our friends at Southern Yacht Club in their new clubhouse.
On Friday we had a practise in the morning to attempt to familiarise ourselves with the Flying Scots (or flying boardwalks as they are affectionately known as). John Dallimore was substituted by Mrs Brennan as JD awaited his luggage which was still in transit.
Following lunch in clubhouse we contested the fifth running of the Borgne Cup. This was a close competition and could have gone either way but Southern prevailed to narrow the gap to 3:2 overall. At the prize giving Southern Yacht Club kindly presented RTYC with a pictured depicting the battle at Lake Borgne after which the trophy is named.
So to the main event of the Southern Nichols. For information the Southern Nichols was presented to SYC by New York Yacht Club after Hurricane Katrina had destroyed the SYC clubhouse and all of their trophies.
The other teams taking part in this event were:-
Southern YC 1
Southern YC 2
NYYC
RTYC
Buccaner YC
Bay Waveland YC
New Orleans YC
Boston YC
The racing was close in many races but our day of practise was not enough to get us up to speed with the Flying Scots and results did not go RTYC’s way. The competition included many national champions in the Flying Scots. The Flying Scot is the boat of choice and sailed by sixteen yacht clubs in the Gulf region. The wind was also very light - 5 knots on Saturday and a little more on Sunday – and boat speed in these conditions is crucial, something the other teams were better at.
On Saturday evening we attended the Commodores Ball – where flags are exchanged between the incumbent and new Commodore, Dwight LeBlanc. This was not a ball as we would expect in the UK but more of a buffet albeit a five star buffet one. The free bar was also welcome.
The three teams to stand out were Buccaneer, Bay Waveland and Southern YC1. After two days of racing these teams were tied with 9 wins each, The Southern Nichols therefore had to be broken via the rule 4.2(b) with Southern taking the honours.
The entire RTYC team were kindly hosted by SYC members and on Sunday evening, we invited our hosts out to dinner at Galatoires and we all had a fine meal to conclude our trip to New Orleans.
We look forward to seeing our friends from SYC at the Cumberland Cup in May and returning to New Orleans in the near future.
Click here for an interview with Jilly Allenby-Ryan http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/coverage/view_video/236425-southern-nichols-cup-team-race/314060-royal-thames-jilly-allenby-ryan-back-in-the-states
Click here for racing photos http://picasaweb.google.com/java46mail/Nichols10#
Click here for prize giving team pictures (the prizes were embroidered bathrobes!) http://picasaweb.google.com/java46mail/Trophy#
Click here for video of the racing http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/coverage/view/236425-southern-nichols-cup-team-race
Thomas Brennan
Captain of Racing.
Norfolk Punts
RTYC V’s NPC – Three Boat Team Racing 19th September 2009
The chance to go and race against the Norfolk Punt Club (NPC) in the classic ‘White Boats’ was an opportunity not be missed.
The majority of the team attended a dinner held on Friday at the Bure River Restaurant – RTYC members joining on the Saturday were a little envious listening to the stories of the evening.
The Saturday was a warm September one with not very much wind (gusting force two). RTYC mustered and headed out on Barton Broad to join the NPC on their pontoon in the middle of the Broad.
The event would take place over five races with a points system that meant that the event would be kept alive until the end with points worth more for the latter races.
Racing in all five races was very close however RTYC ensured that we had winning combinations come the finish line in all five races – which was not always the case at the final mark.
An excellent dinner was held at the nearby Wayford Bridge Hotel on Saturday evening and on Sunday, RTYC members enjoyed a day cruising on Broads which finished off a most enjoyable weekend.
Finally, thank you to the NPC for inviting us to race and to Peter Bainbridge for organising the RTYC team.
The RTYC team was:
Peter Schroder HELM
Helen Schroder
Thomas Brennan
Peter Tracey HELM
Keith Gwynne-Jones
Michelle Joseph-Brennan
Ben Field HELM
Roderick Walker
Caroline Robertson
Thomas Brennan
Captain of Racing
12th October 2009
2009 Carmela Cup
Team Captain Andy Cornah reports from Queen Mary Sailing Club. Click here to read
Southern Nichols
Captain of Racing Thomas Brennan reports from New Orleans. Click here to read
BA Cup
Team Captain Leo Dixon reports from the BA Cup. Click here to read
Jackson Cup
Read team manager Thomas Brennan's entertaining report here
Farr 45s David Diehl Regatta 1
Read the report, see the results, view the video by going here