Robbie Allam seals RYA National Match Racing win

by Karenza Morton on 29 Apr 2008 Young Brit Robbie Allam with his four-man team of Adam Richards, Tom Odell and Pete Allam trounced the rest of the nine-strong field in the round robin series. Winning each and every one of their eight races as he swept to 2008 RYA National Match Racing Championships Qualifier One victory at Queen Mary Sailing Club this weekend.

But with Saturday’s perfect 10-15 knot conditions replaced with no wind and thunderstorms on Sunday morning, the semi-finals and fifth/sixth play-off had to be shelved, resulting in a three-flight final and petit final being scheduled for when the wind returned in the afternoon.

Volvo RYA Keelboat Programme man Dave Newey, skippering Luke McCarthy, James Boadle and Skandia Team GBR 49er sailor Simon Wheeler, booked his place opposite Allam in the final courtesy of their five round robin race wins.

And after both Allam and Newey, helming his first ever match racing event, had notched one win apiece in the final it was Allam’s experience that told as he clinched the third and final race to take overall victory.

Newey, 24, was delighted with his team’s debut. He said: 'As a team event goal we set ourselves the target of reaching the semi finals, giving us a good platform to work from for the rest of the summer. The races of the final best of three were great. Robbie was a hard competitor and pushed our boat handling and boat speed. I think he will agree it was good to have some close sailing.

'As a team we exceeded our overall goal for the event and this has given us a great boost. Hopefully on the back of coming second at our first event together and with the support of the RYA Volvo Keelboat Programme we can get some good entries at a number of European Events this summer to rack up some ISAF ranking points and experience.'

Another Programme member, Sam Goodchild, led his team to Qualifier One third, seeing off the challenge of Dutchman Jurjen Feitsma in the Petit Final.

The RYA National Match Racing Series pitches identical J80 boats against one another with the winners of each of the six 2008 qualifiers going through to the three-day Series finale at Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy on 10-12 October.

RYA National Match Racing Championships Qualifier One results:

1) Robbie Allam, Adam Richards, Tom Odell, Pete Allam
2) Dave Newey, Luke McCarthy, James Boadle, Simon Wheeler
3) Sam Goodchild, Tom Altmann, Nick Wilkinson, Rory Spriggs, Guy Stevens
4) Jurjen Feitsma, Koen van Esch, Tom ven der Vecht, Gilbert Figaroa
5) Niall Myant, Ben McVeigh, Louie McVeigh, Mike King, Olivier Pendleton
6) Ben Pym, Jim Moore, Luke Waterfield, Henry Boyle
7) Andrew Shaw, Mark Stockbridge, Tom Hodkinson, Rachael Williamson, Sam Brearey
8) Seb Ripard, Jack Hunter, Phil Spicer, Chris Redburn
9) Mark Tighe, Edwin O’Conner, Fred Kemp, Shayne Young

2008 RYA National Match Racing Series events:

1) Qualifier 2 – 19-20 July (Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy)
2) Youth Championships – 23-25 August (WPNSA)
3) Women’s Championships - 30-31 August (WPNSA)
4) Qualifier 3 – 6-7 September (WPNSA)
5) Qualifier 4 – 4-5 October (WPNSA)
6) Grand Finals – 10-12 October (WPNSA)