U19 Women’s Team Racing National Championships
Sailing team captain, Nicole S, gave a report in Monday’s assembly on her team's recent success in the U19 Women’s Team Racing National Championships.
Report by Nicole S
Six female sailors from RHS travelled to Rutland Sailing Club at the beginning of January for the Women’s Team Racing National Championships to compete in two days racing. The team consisted of Sophia D, Grace C R-B, Georgie S, Audrey F, Millie L, and me.
Racing conditions on Saturday morning were challenging with high winds of 20-30 knots. RHS started strong, winning our first race against the Warwick Mermaids, a team from the University of Warwick. Unfortunately, in the qualifying round robin, we went up against some tough competition from teams from the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, West Kirby Sailing Club, Rutland Sailing Club, Scotland and Ireland.
Although we lost these races, it was all very tough and close competition. Our team held victories against teams from the University of Manchester, University of East Anglia, and University of Bath. At the end of the round robin, RHS achieved a success rate of 40%.
These results gained us a place in the silver league, in which our team won five out of five races, with a success rate of 100%.
At the end of this series, we were given a choice to participate in one playoff race for a place in the semi-finals of the whole competition or compete for the U19 trophy in a best of three races. There wasn’t time to complete both, so we chose the latter, due to calculated probability and the hopes of bringing home a trophy.
For the title of U19 Women’s National Champions, RHS raced Rutland Hydra, and won 2-0, earning the trophy and ending the weekend with a perfect second day – 7 wins out of 7 races.
On behalf of my team, I would like to thank the school for giving us this opportunity to represent RHS and Mr Sibson for organising our participation and supporting us throughout the event.
Find out more about our Sailing Academy here: RHS Sailing