Sailing Update

Sailing Update

 

Report given by Georgie S, Sailing Captain at the end of term assembly  

The term started with RHS hosting the Suffolk Shiver at Alton Water. Six teams from four schools joined three RHS teams for a cold day of racing. 47 races were sailed in near perfect conditions with an all RHS final to decide the winners. The Blue Team emerged victorious over Grey Team 2 – 1. 

Next in the calendar was the double header weekend of the Schools Keelboat League for the sixth formers, and the National Schools Double Handed Team Racing Championship for the other year groups.  

At the Keelboat League, a record 18 teams entered, making it the biggest keelboat league event the UK has ever seen. 42 races were sailed over the weekend, with the three RHS teams finishing in fourth, fifth and sixth places. Not quite good enough for a medal but Grey Team took the bragging rights on this occasion.  

At the team racing, the RHS teams sailed excellently all weekend, taking the titles in both divisions. The Feva team of Sonny S, Beth M, Kyan J and Benjamin W won 12 of their 14 races to take the under 16 title, with the other RHS team in 3rd. The Firefly team of Toby S, Devon L, Ciara M and Pauline B won the 17 races they participated in but, unfortunately, missed one of their races and the  100% record. They comfortably won the under 19 title, with the other RHS team in 6th. This is the first time the same school has one both Feva and Firefly divisions at a school team racing championship. 

Last weekend RHS sent two teams to the Women’s Team Racing National Championship. This included racing teams from Cambridge, Oxford and Southampton universities, along with a number of club teams. The RHS Grey Team had an exceptional first day, winning 9 of their 10 races and topping the overnight rankings. The Blue Team won 7 of their 10 races to be placed 5th overnight. This performance qualified both teams for the gold fleet.  

The Blue Team won 5 of their 6 races to be ranked 2nd at the end of the league. The Grey Team won 2 out of 6 to finish 5th and sadly missed out on the semi-finals. The Blue Team were firing on all cylinders and comfortably defeated Southampton University in the semi-final, 2 - 0. This setup a final against the top team of the competition - Girls Afloat, hailing predominantly from Rutland Sailing Club.  

Girls Afloat had only lost one race all weekend - to the RHS Grey team - an outstanding 17 wins so far, including 2 against RHS Blue. The final was the best of 5 races so consistency was key. Girls Afloat won the first two races, both very close affairs and this put them within one race win of the title.  

The Blue Team showed remarkable levels of resilience, determination and camaraderie to start the fight back. They won the third race, again it was incredibly tight and went down to the last moments of the race. But it showed that Girls Afloat could be beaten, and maybe, just maybe, put a crack in their confidence. Race 4 started, must-win for the Blue Team and they had a great start. Displaying very high levels of teamwork and communication, they consolidated and retained their positions to finish 2 – 2. There was to be a nail-biting deciding race to decide the title.  

The start of the final race was again tight, with some excellent boat handling and seamanship on display from the Blue Team. They reached a winning position by the end of the first leg of the course and worked together extremely well to keep their opponents at bay. The last part of the race was extremely close and could have gone either way. However, the team held their nerve and secured a winning position to become UK Women's National Champions for team racing. The team comprised Georgie S, Izzy B, Charlotte A, Scarlett M, Sarah D and Poppy L.  

During the end of term assembly Mr Lockyer, Headmaster, presented the medals, trophies and glassware to the winning teams from the National Schools Double Handed Team Racing and the Women’s Team Racing National Championship.