Please select your home edition
Edition

Rutland team win first RYA Winter Match Racing qualifier of 2023

by Paula Irish 16 Jan 07:38 PST
RYA Winter Match Racing Series Qualifier 1 at Queen Mary SC © RYA

Practice makes perfect for club with RS21s thanks to John Merricks Sailing Trust

The first qualifier of the 2023 RYA Winter Match Racing Series was claimed by a team from Rutland Sailing Club skippered by Ben Tylecote.

Tylecote along with brother Jamie, Freya Pembery and Terry Hacker, were crowned RYA Harken Youth Match Racing Champions and claimed the Under-19s trophy last September.

With a bit of help from dad Steve Tylecote on main, and Dylan Beatty standing in for Terry, the same young sailors from Rutland SC have now won their first-ever national match racing series qualifier over a breezy weekend at London’s Queen Mary SC, 14-15 January 2023.

The sell-out event saw nine teams competing in RS21s, with a delay on day one until the wind eased sufficiently to allow racing. An action-packed day with six flights was then completed, with the breezy conditions testing boat handling skills for an exciting round robin series.

This included an encounter between Tylecote and Ted Blowers, which resulted in a black flag for the Rutland team. Blowers claimed a straight eight wins to top the leaderboard at the conclusion of the round robin series with close rival Tylecote in second after losing only to Blowers.

Teams competing in the #rockupandrace event included a mix of established regulars from the match racing circuit such as Blowers and also newer teams, including from Ireland, who benefited from coaching support provided by experienced match racer Sophie Otter.

Day two started on time and with the conditions having moderated it was possible to complete the full published schedule of racing. In the semi-finals, Patrick Croghan's team claimed their spot in the final with a 2:1 win over Blowers, while Tylecote took a 2:0 win over Tom Williams.

In the Petit Final, Blowers - sailing with Owen Bowerman, Amy Sparks and Fraser Woodley - took 2:0 for third overall against Williams and his team of Emily Wiltshire, Matt Venables and Ed Jones.

Tylecote's team meanwhile continued their form in the final, claiming overall victory after winning 2:0 from Croghan and co, Hebe Hemming, Tom Goodbourn, Hannah Croghan and James Witts.

Find the full breakdown of results here.

Winning ways

Winning skipper Ben Tylecote said: "We had a whole range of wind, mainly on the strong end of things, but in the finals we definitely had some light stuff. It was such a great experience. There were a lot of teams we haven't actually sailed against before and learning from them and the people who've done a bit of international match racing was amazing.

"This was our first match racing qualifier, so we're amazed to come away winning it really. We're definitely still learning so we're just taking confidence from this and hopefully doing more match racing in the future."

Ben added that the team had benefited from being able to get on the water together thanks to funding from the John Merricks Sailing Trust, which enabled their home club Rutland SC to acquire two RS21 keelboats: "We've been out quite a few times now and getting the whole gang at Rutland into them is awesome and it allows us to do a lot more practise which has definitely helped us."

For race officer David Campbell-James, the first qualifier of the year at Queen Mary SC was an enjoyable return to the club where he introduced winter match racing some years ago.

He recalled: "We did a lot of arranging of bringing the teams in and a lot of top teams came, and we had a women's weekend when I think eight of the top 10 came, so it was great for our sailors and helped them improve their rankings which meant they could go to events abroad, and it was great for our officials as well, so it's great to come back here after all this time!"

Next up in the 2023 #rockupandrace series is the Women's Winter Match Racing event in Elliott 6Ms at WPNSA, 4-5 February, followed a week later at the same venue by the rescheduled 2022 RYA Marlow Ropes Women's Match Racing Championships, 11-12 February.

Further information and entry for all upcoming events is available at www.ryamatchracing.co.uk

Related Articles

2023 Italian J/80 Match Race Series concludes
The racing was extremely tight in Genoa Once again, the 2023 Italian J/80 Match-racing season includes a busy calendar of regattas across Italy. This year, the format has expanded and will include four Match Race events. Posted on 28 Mar
RYA Winter Match Racing at Burnham
Victory for Team Absolute The third qualifier of the RYA Winter Match Racing Series saw skipper Ted Blowers and Team Absolute mastering a weekend of challenging conditions at Burnham-on-Crouch to take the win. Posted on 23 Mar
Breault wins J/22 California Dreamin Match Race II
History repeated itself in the San Francisco edition this past weekend The 2023 California Dreamin Match Race Series takes place throughout three events. The first two are run in San Diego, CA, then in San Francisco, CA. Posted on 12 Mar
WMRT announces 2023 championship season
2023 will mark the 23rd consecutive season of the World Match Racing Tour The World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) today announced its 2023 world championship season with a fifteen-event schedule across ten countries, including the return of founding Tour events - the Congressional Cup/USA, Match Cup Sweden and Bermuda Gold Cup. Posted on 22 Feb
RYA Marlow Ropes Women's Match Racing Championship
Scottish showdown at the WPNSA The finale of the sell-out RYA Marlow Ropes Women's Match Racing Championship saw two Scottish skippers battling for the title with Alison Morrish's team taking the crown. Posted on 14 Feb
2023 Hardy Cup Match Racing in Sydney overall
Will Sargent's Cruising Yacht Club of Australia team wins After a week of intense racing on Sydney Harbour, Will Sargent and his team from the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia have prevailed with the winning title of the Hardy Cup Sydney International Match-Racing Regatta 2023. Posted on 10 Feb
RYA Women's Winter Match Racing qualifier 2
Weymouth win for Ali Morrish's team The second qualifier of the 2023 RYA Winter Match Racing Series was claimed by Alison Morrish and her team at Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy. Posted on 9 Feb
Balboa YC begins RFI for 56th Governor's Cup
Taking place in Newport Beach, CA July 24-29, 2023 Balboa Yacht Club has posted all the information necessary for requesting an invitation (“RFI”) to the 56th Governor's Cup International Youth Match Racing Championship, July 24-29, 2023. Posted on 8 Feb
2023 Hardy Cup Match Racing in Sydney day 1
Sailors representing six different clubs across three nations battling it out On February 6, the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron welcomed ten teams to Raceday One of the annual Hardy Cup Sydney International Match Racing Regatta. Posted on 7 Feb
Bembridge Illusion Team and Match Racing
A tall order to compress four days racing into two When the annual team racing weekend was cancelled in early January, the decision was made to try to organise a combined team and match racing weekend in early February when the normal two day match racing was programmed. Posted on 6 Feb