Warwick Turtle a huge success
by Becca Davidson on 30 Jan 2014
Saturday racing on Draycote Water © Tom Needham - Warwick Turtle 2014 Tom Needham
After the very unfortunate cancellation of our much loved Warwick Turtle last year, the University of Warwick Sailing Club was very much looking forward to presenting the event again this year. All 21 places were filled very quickly, which gave us all much confidence that the event would be successful.
Starting on Friday 24th January 2014, Warwick Sailing gathered in the Robbins Well to greet the teams before heading out for an excellent night out in Loosebox. The majority of the teams arrived on time and ready to go and, therefore, the night was a great success.
Saturday morning came, and with the wind looking reasonable, all the teams gathered eagerly at Draycote Water for the first day of sailing. Edinburgh 1 vs. Edinburgh 2 was the first race out on the water, with Edinburgh 1 getting a 123 to start off the racing. Exeter 1 beat Exeter 2 with a 125 in the second flight of boats out on the water, and MCS beat London in the third flight with a 136. The morning went on very successfully with all the teams, including those who were less experienced, displaying some fantastic team racing manoeuvres.
After about Race 25 the wind began to pick up, and so the decision was made to switch to cut downs. Everyone pulled together to make this change as quick and simple as possible. With the boats back out on the water with cut down sails, the racing continued as before. We got as far as Race 40 and made the decision to call racing off for the time being. The wind was really picking up. The boats were hard to sail upwind and so we sent out the most competent sailors to do this; we thank everyone who helped out. Racing was totally cancelled for the day by 3:00pm. Bringing the boats in happened in the middle of a storm where the whole of Warwick Sailing and a couple of other universities too pulled together in the hail to secure everyone’s boats.
With sailing finished for Saturday, it was time to head home for a brief period of time before heading back out to curry, where the sailors of Leamington took over three curry houses at the bottom of the Parade to start the second night’s antics. Curry was enjoyed in true sailing fashion, which led to a fantastic night in Altoria.
Sunday morning arrived, bringing with it the second day of sailing. Having been previously worried by a forecast of heavy winds, we were fortunate to find sailable conditions down at Draycote. The boats all survived the night and so all was looking good. We continued with cut downs, with the first race being the unsailed Race 41 of the previous day between Oxford 2 and Bristol 2. Sailing continued for a good while, with the Warwick sailors on the start and finish boats, and the Umpires too, getting very cold, but enjoying themselves all the same.
Eventually after a close fought two days the final eight were chosen: Bristol 2, TWAT, Oxford 1, Cambridge, Southampton, Bristol 1, Edinburgh 1 and MCS. After a short delay deciding how the finals were going to work, we got all these teams sailing. In the end, the final two teams were selected: Oxford 1 and Southampton. The final was to be best of three, and also required a 90 degree course change, which was carried out successfully. After a bit of confusion because the teams in the final had got in the wrong boats, in the first race Southampton won. The second race of the final started off with an Oxford 1 boat capsizing, but brilliant sailing saw it recover to fourth so that Oxford could win this race. It all depended on the final race, which was closely fought, but eventually resulted in a Southampton win. Therefore, Southampton took victory in the Warwick Turtle 2014. This meant they won our incredible 71 inch ride-on turtle as a prize!!
The Turtle was a great a success. We must thank certain people for enabling this to happen. After much meticulous planning and organisation, much appreciation and praise are given to the President of Warwick Sailing, Millie Craker-Horton and our Social Secretary, Tom Needham, for managing to pull of such a successful and fun event for all involved. As well we thank everyone in the University of Warwick Sailing Club for their efforts in the run up, throughout the weekend and during the socials, as well as to those of them who hosted teams. Thanks go to everyone at Draycote Water and to our Umpires.....and certainly to everyone who came to the event and sailed. We hope you all had a great time!
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