NSSA Match Racing Championships at Oxford Sailing Club
by Nigel Vick 9 Mar 2015 09:42 GMT
7-8 March 2015
Claires Court Team with the NSSA Match Racing Trophy © Nigel Vick
Claires Court Champs lived up to their name by retaining the NSSA Match Racing Championships this weekend in a competition hosted by ODSSA and Oxford Sailing Club on Farmoor 1 Reservoir.
The competition was sailed in SB20's and sailed over two days. Some strong winds on Saturday saw a couple of teams losing part of their damage deposits but racing on Sunday in gentler breezes was much more pleasant and competitive.
At the end of a complete round robin, involving tie breaks, the semi finalists were Claires Court Champs against Abingdon Aces and OTRA All Sorts against OTRA Renegades. Both matches were decided in two races with Claires Court Champs and OTRA All Sorts going on to the Final.
The All Sorts, members of the Oxford Team Racing Academy, Lucy Mellers, Harry Barker, Isobel Clark & Annie Cummings came from a variety of schools hence the All Sorts. Lucy and Annie representing The James Allen's Girls School, London. Despite this they gave a good account of themselves and fought hard, perhaps a little too hard, as they were penalised in the first race and could not catch up. Unfortunately, whilst they led off the start line in the second race of the final, they were unable to match the boatspeed of the Claires Court team of Sammy Issacs Jonhson, Will Davies, Matthew (Dave) Davies & Peter Bradley who toop them on the first beat and never looked back. Clares Court Champs, therefore won the final 2:0 to retain the trophy which they won in 2013.
This event was officially the 2014 Event, prizes were supplied by Rooster. The 2015 event is due to be hosted by the RYA at Weymouth on November 7th and 8th.
The NSSA is a UK membership organisation for anyone involved with sailing in an educational environment. For more details go to www.NSSA.org.uk