RYA Match Racing Series at Weymouth this weekend

by RYA/Myrrh Walker on 5 Oct 2006 This weekend a battle of tactical wit and boat handling skill will ensue as some of Britain’s top-ranked match racers fight it out for the RYA National Match Racing title.

In a new four-day format, the RYA National Match Raing series will once again be held at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, from 5 - 8 October and will be contested in the fleet of RYA J80s.

The 2006 final will see an elite line-up of 11 teams with several familiar faces competing against some new names.

Mark Campbell James and his successful team are back to defend their title, hoping to win their third consecutive National Match Racing title. Team Campbell James are currently ranked second in the UK match racing rankings, just behind Ian Williams who will be absent from the event. After storming to victory in 2005, winning all their matches bar one, Team Campbell James are expected to pose a good challenge for the title.

Ranked third in the UK, Andrew Cornah with his team of Andy Bryson, Matt Findlay, Rob Miller and James Roche will aim to better their third place finish at the same event last year.

After finishing fourth at the Match Race Finals in 2005 Nick Cherry has a score to settle and will hope to wrestle away the trophy. The Southampton-based sailor has pulled together a familiar crew featuring Nick Houchin, Connor Myant, and new team-mate Matt Adams in the hope that this team will fit the bill.

The Women’s National Match Racing Champion, Katie Archer, also from Southampton will helm the only ladies boat at the event, with her crew of Victoria Rawlinson, Kate Fairclough and Hannah Kemlo expecting to follow on from their good performance at the Women’s finals.

Archer will go up against another sailor that she knows well, as her boyfriend, John Greenland, will also be competing with his team. If the two sailors go head to head in the first round robin, one of them might be walking home.

Scotland’s Roger Tait, winner of the Scottish qualifier which took place for the first time in 2006, will make the trip down from Shetland with his crew David Wallace, Robert Yeamans and Ewan Stirling to contest for the top prize.

Mark Lees and David Tabb bring some new blood to the event with each helming their own team in a challenge to some of the more familiar names on the circuit.

Three youth teams will also join the foray, to try their hand at un-seating some of the more mature teams. Andrew Shaw, Robbie Allam and Ali Hall, who finished fifth in the 2005 event, will each helm their own teams.

Racing starts on Thursday 5 October and continues through to Sunday 8 October.