Notthingham University Snakebite Team Racing

Nottingham University Snakebite Team Racing event held at Burton Sailing Club © Rebecca Talbot

On the 25th February, 18 teams arrived in Nottingham for a weekend of fast and furious fun both on and off the water. After a quick turn around the teams made their way to Ocean (probably the most land-locked ocean in the world) to show some moves and enjoy the local Jaeger-bombs.

The 9 o’clock start brought with it some slightly bedraggled sailors, but after a delicious bacon butty everyone was rearing to go. A perfect 13 knots of wind meant the 45 race round robin got under way and provided some closely contested races.

After about 20 races, boat breakages meant that one flight out of three was out of action until a repair could be made. These teams got a slightly longer lunch break than expected, and the boats were able to be patched up eventually enabling racing to recommence and the missed races were caught up at the end.

By mid afternoon the teams were split into Gold, Silver and Bronze fleets and 10 races of this second round robin were completed before packing up.

On Sunday, the conditions were pretty much the same again with a nice steady breeze, although the sailors were even more worse for wear after enjoying the annual buckets of snakebite. The split fleets continued and quarter finals were set up after lunchtime.

Before the semi-finals the wind had a 180 degree change in direction and the course had to be swiftly changed. It looked like it was about to drop off and all fingers were crossed that it would hold out to enable us to get a result. With the wind finally deciding on a direction it started it pick up, the rain came down and some of the previous repairs started to unravel. However with a bit of duct tape the boats were ready to go and the teams entered sudden death for the prize!

The final was Warwick 2 against Cambridge, after a dramatic capsize had struck Newcastle 1 out of the final. With some excellent mark traps and great boat speed Warwick 2 took the win 1,2,3 although Cambridge provided tough competition.

Many thanks to Sophie Smith for organizing the event, all of Nottingham University Sailing Club for their excellent help, Burton Sailing Club for letting us use the facilities, the umpires for their judgement and the caterers for the yummy food.

Thank you to all the teams who came along and made it such a successful event, especially those from as far afield as Aberdeen, Exeter and Swansea.

See you in 2012!