West Kirby claim RYA Team Racing crown

by RYA on 17 Mar 2009
West Kirby Hawks are the newly-crowned 2009 RYA National Team Racing Champions after a fascinating showdown at Bough Beech SC this weekend (14-15 March).

The Hawks team went into the Championships desperate to make amends for the disappointment of their runners-up finish last year, when they missed out on the top spot courtesy of a rules infringement in one of the Finals races.

But the Hawks sextet of Andy Cornah, Hamish Walker, Dom Johnson, Deb Steele, Ben Field and Tom Foster made no mistake this time around as they saw off the challenge of 23 of the country’s best team racing outfits, all racing in two-person Firefly dinghies, to land the Prince Philip Trophy.

With perfect conditions enabling some intriguing racing in Kent on Saturday, the eventual winners didn’t have everything their own way in the opening round robin stage.

The full house of 24 teams, equalling some 144 sailors, were split into three leagues of eight, with the top two teams in each league progressing into the what ultimately proved to be the defining Super Gold League.

In League A, Hawks suffered a defeat at the hands of Bristol but won their other six races to make it through to stage two along with their West Country rivals, who had romped to an opening phase clean sweep.

Like Bristol, The Lions, comprising many of the sailors who represented RYA Team GBR alongside the Hawks at the recent ISAF Team Racing World Championships in Australia, also boasted a 100 per cent win record from the first phase with Royal St George joining them from progressing through from League B.

Meanwhile, Royal Thames and West Kirby co-topped League C amassing six wins apiece, to complete the Super Gold League line up.

In round two, The Lions, whose ranks included two-time Endeavour Trophy winner Toby Lewis and Skandia Team GBR 49er helm Paul Campbell-James, inflicted the only Super Gold League defeat on The Hawks.

But as the wind died into Sunday it was a result that was to prove decisive as the proposed knock-out phase of the Championships was abandoned and the final results were determined by the results of the Super Gold League.

The Hawks clinched the Championship title having finished top of the Super Gold League pile with four wins out of five (80 per cent) while, despite beating The Hawks in their head-to-head, The Lions lost twice to finish second with a 60 percent ratio. Royal St George, including skippers Andrew Fowler, Ger Owens and Nick Smyth, took third spot also with a 60 per cent return.

The next big Team Racing event on the RYA calendar is the Twiname/RYA Junior and Youth Team Racing Championships on 17-18 October. Last year’s event attracted no fewer than 300 youngsters to Farmoor, Oxford where West Kirby Youth (Youth) and the North/South Union team from Wales (Junior) sailed out victors.

2009 RYA National Team Racing Championships final results (top six):

1) West Kirby Hawks

2) The Lions

3) Royal St George

4) West Kirby

5) Bristol

6) Royal Thames