Loughborough Lemming 2024 Team Racing hosted by Loughborough Students Sailing and Windsurfing Club

Loughborough Lemming 2024: Jostling for position - a couple of close encounters in the semi-finals © Enya Gibbs

A record-breaking end to the year for Loughborough Sailing saw 24 teams and almost 200 sailors descend upon Burton Sailing Club for the annual Lemming! This event marks the end of team racing for the 2024 calendar year as the university sailors get set for the winter break. The weekend aimed to see out the year in style with teams travelling from far and wide to compete at one of the most highly anticipated events on the BUSA calendar.

This was the biggest Lemming that had ever been hosted at Foremark Reservoir, and there was a buzz of anticipation on the Saturday morning as the organising committee rang the clubhouse bell to provide the first briefing of the weekend. Race officer Ben Dearden provided an overview of the local rules for the weekend as well as a clarification regarding the wetsuit regulations after some antics at the Howler two weeks prior. This was before handing the floor over to the event's experienced chief umpire, David Battye, who was more than happy to share some of his own wisdom to the competitors.

After the briefings, and as the clock ticked closer to the first scheduled warning signal at 09:27, the race committee made the decision to postpone the first start as not a single firefly was actually on the water yet. However, when racing did finally get under way (approximately 45 minutes later) the conditions were perfect! A consistent 10 knot SSW breeze with the occasional gusts of around 15 knots facilitated some excellent close quarters racing which emphasised a requirement to utilise smart team racing tactics rather than simply fast sailing. The sun also made an extended appearance across the morning and afternoon, providing temperatures of up to 13 degrees! These were conditions more akin to a mellow spring day rather than perhaps the grim expectations which have come to fruition in Lemmings gone-by.

Loughborough Lemming 2024: Searching for the winning combination as the sun comes out - photo © Enya Gibbs

The racing itself was a bit stop-start to begin with, as the Loughborough helpers, many of whom had never attended a team racing event before, got acclimatised to their roles for the weekend. However, after a few early changes to the course layout, the racing began to settle into a flowing rhythm which enabled the usage of rolling starts. As each race number was ticked off, the race committee suddenly realised the time was 14:30 and a decision would have to soon be reached for when to can racing for the day. With some low cloud beginning to roll in, an assessment of the light conditions and a quick google search of the expected time of sunset led to the decision that race 69 would be the final race of the day. This would ensure that sufficient sunlight remained to de-rig all of the fireflies and ribs before it got dark. Most teams reached 7 races sailed for the day and Saturday's results left Rambone (pronounced "Rambooooooooneeee"), the Scottish alumni team, as the only remaining team on a 100% win rate going into Sunday's action.

Waking up Sunday morning saw much greyer skies with spots of rain in the air, and the day's forecast provided a very foreboding warning that there could be showers sticking around until after lunchtime. Expecting the worst, everybody wrapped up in ample layers and the racing was under way once again. However by 11:30, the rain had abated and the sunshine began to peek through the clouds. The race committee had originally aimed to end the round robin at race 96, getting each team up to 8 races sailed, however the pure efficiency of all the start boat and course management crews as well as the expert team organisation of Tobias Hancox saw an extension to race 120, enabling each team to reach up to 10 races sailed. A singular redress race between Birmingham Red and UEA Green was the last race before lunch, where all the sailors and umpires were welcomed back up to the clubhouse to enjoy a barbecue prepared by the Burton club members.

Loughborough Lemming 2024: Leading the freshers to victory! Zoe Sanderson leads the charge for the Loughborough Freshers team - photo © Bethany Chalk

During this time, a frantic analysis of the round robin results ensued for the race committee. With the top 4 round robin teams progressing to knockouts, 7 teams were tied on an equal number of wins for fourth place, with UEA Yellow ultimately progressing having averaged the lowest point totals in each of their races. The rest of the seedings were extremely tight as well; Rambone and Nottingham Green both finished on 9 wins, with Rambone edging out the first seed by an average point score just 0.1 points better than that of Nottingham Green. This meant Rambone and UEA Yellow would face off in the first semi-final with Nottingham Green racing against third seed Sheffield Gold in the other. Full results from the round robin can be found appended at the end of this report.

With the competitors and umpires informed of the standings, the prevailing teams once again got suited and booted for the best of three race semi-finals and finals. The semi-finals themselves provided some of the most exciting racing of the whole weekend, with constant lead changes and a plethora of red protest flags being waved. A controversial protest, led to a defining penalty spin for Sheffield Gold in their deciding race. This was the nail in the coffin which allowed Nottingham Green to win their semi-final 2 races to 1. In the other semi-final, fourth seed UEA Yellow pulled off a brilliant comeback to beat Rambone 2 races to 1, toppling the Scottish veterans who had been near-flawless all weekend.

Loughborough Lemming 2024: Eyeing up the committee end - Loughborough Freshers take on eventual overall winners Nottingham Green - photo © Bethany Chalk

The sheer excitement of the semi-finals had left many onlookers with baited breath as they awaited the drama that might unfold in the petit and grand finals which soon followed. It was therefore perhaps a disappointment for those spectators that the finals were largely dominated by 1-2 and 1-3 combinations which didn't create any tight finishes. When all was said and done, Rambone beat Sheffield Gold to claim third place overall. In the grand final, the win went to Nottingham Green, who were therefore crowned overall winners of the 2024 Loughborough Lemming. A huge congratulations must go to them and their captain Henry Hawkes, for an excellent display of team racing over the course of the whole weekend!

The final item on the agenda for the Lemming was the prize-giving ceremony, where all four finalist teams were awarded prizes for their successes over the weekend. Additionally, the Derbyshire Youth Sailing Team were gifted books donated by the event sponsor, Fernhurst Books, who had provided the organisers with editions of some of Jon Emmett's books. Jon is a sailing coach, writer and ex Loughborough alumni who organised the first Lemming. It thus seemed fitting that as the first under 18 team to compete at a Lemming, the DYS team were given a collection of his books so that they can keep improving as they gain more racing experience against university teams.

Many thanks must be given to Burton Sailing Club and all of its members for helping out over the whole weekend, particularly adapting to having so many competitors attend. Additionally, thanks must be given to all of the umpires for their continual hard work over the course of the weekend.

That's a wrap for the 2024 Lemming, we hope all the attending teams really enjoyed themselves and we can't wait to see you all again next year!

Round Robin Results: (10 races sailed each)

* Newcastle Brown 6th due to higher average percentage of wins of beaten opponents (44% v 26%)