RYA National Match Racing Series 2025 - Qualifier 2
by British Keelboat Sailing 20 Feb 03:39 NZDT
15-16 February 2025
The second qualifier of the RYA National Match Racing Series 2025 saw two days of close racing hosted by the Royal Thames Yacht Club in London.
Five teams competed in the club's Sonar keelboats at Queen Mary Reservoir over the weekend (15-16 February) with a range of conditions to test tactics and boat handling.
While some sailors were old hands at match racing, there were also new faces giving it a go, with light winds on the Saturday enabling everyone to get up to speed in the Sonars.
It allowed for some tight racing, with plenty of penalties and place-changes along the way, and a full day saw the teams content to return to shore at the end of flight 12 after 11 races each.
Debrief
Event director Jack Fenwick said: "We had a really good debrief for the sailors after the racing on Saturday going through the different 'what ifs' from the day, covering all the rules that had been in play and how to better understand and use them in the future.
"Sunday again saw the racing start bang on time and we had more breeze, up to 11-12 knots at times, so it was a bit more challenging for the sailors, and we had even tighter racing. Teams were pushing hard around the racetrack to make sure they were in the lead or get rid of penalties they'd taken, with places changing in some races right at the finish line.
"It was great to see both experienced match racers, and those who are new to it, making the most of weekend. The whole event had a really positive vibe."
Teamwork
A total of five round robins were raced and Julian Fung sailing with Matt Wright, Dom Williams and Alice Smith - who are all friends from team racing together throughout their university years at Imperial College in London - claimed victory winning 15 races out of 20.
Commenting on their weekend, team skipper Julian said: "The weekend was fantastic with champagne conditions and lots of racing, with my personal favourite moment of the weekend being our bowman falling in backwards during a hoist, though he probably disagrees.
"What we felt worked well for us was clear communication during manoeuvres especially in the pre-start to gain an advantage off the line, then managing risk on the beat to consolidate our position especially in the shifty conditions we had at Queen Mary."
Top three:
1st Julian Fung, Matt Wright, Dom Williams, Alice Smith
2nd Christian Huelss, Rosie Povall, Felix Trattner
3rd Ollie Leeson, Thalya Ambroziak, Jonathan Redfern, Ollie Payne
The season now continues with the BUCS/BUSA University Match Racing Championships at Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy (WPNSA), 28-30 March 2025 (entry through BUCS).
Entry is also open for the RYA Harken Youth Match Racing Championship (28 - 29 June) and RYA Marlow Ropes Women's Match Racing Championship (13-14 September), both at WPNSA.
For teams wanting to learn or refresh their match racing and keelboat skills, RYA Match Racing Clinics at the same venue will be taking place 15-16 March & 26-27 April 2025.
Find out more about RYA Match Racing or sign up asap to secure a place for your team at an RYA Match Racing Clinic.