The Carmela Cup 2025
by Jack Fenwick 8 Apr 22:43 NZST
5-6 April 2025
Carmela Cup 2025 © RTYC
After two days of intense racing, the Elmside Neighbours have defended their title of RYA National Two Boat Keelboat Team Racing Champions.
Queen Mary Reservoir laid on two days of perfect conditions with sunshine and 10-20 knots of wind all weekend giving the teams plenty of quick fire racing.
Elmside kicked off the first race against Munster RFC, getting in some Sonar practice before the Worlds later this year, with Elmside taking their first win. The Royal Northern & Clyde YC then took the second race win ahead of the Cambermet Cardinals. Race three saw the West Kirby Hawks marking their return to the Carmela Cup (also getting some practice in for the upcoming Worlds) with a race against the Neighbours which didn't go their way but a quick recovery to take the win in their second race against Imperial Alumni.
As the racing cracked on throughout the day, results became less predictable and the boats were pushed harder and harder, the strong breeze in the afternoon putting a premium on boathandling to make or break the overlaps needed by mark 3.
After 36 races on day one, Elmside Neighbours were still undefeated as were the team from Oxford & Cambridge Sailing Society. As luck would have it, they would race each other in a hotly contested race in the last flight of the day with Elmside taking the win and a clear overnight lead in the competition.
Sunday would see the conclusion of the first round robin and the sailors had clearly been debriefing the previous days racing as almost every race was contested, or even overturned, all the way to the finish line.
Elmside Neighbours continued to show their dominance, maintaining their undefeated status including some hard fought wins over the Cambermet Cardinals, RN&CYC and Cindies. West Kirby Hawks had clearly found their stride on day two and also went undefeated including a revenge win over Munster RFC but despite an uncharacteristic loss for OCSS against Serpentine, this peak in performance was not enough to get them in to the finals.
With the stage set for the final between the Elmside Neighbours and OCSS it was sure to be a thrilling battle. Race 1 saw Fiona Hampshire over early at the start but co-skipper Arthur Henderson
did a great job of compressing the race to keep it close the whole way and hold the lead all the way to the finish until a penalty on the line gave the win to the Neighbours. Race 2 was close the whole way around with boats being push back the whole way, as they approached the finish it was Murray Hampshire who fell foul of the umpires at the finish line with OCSS taking the second race. The deciding race saw Arthur Henderson jumping the start line early and with both Elmside boats in a strong position from the start they were able to lead in first and second around the course. Despite not having her team mate in the race until the very end, Fiona nearly clawed it back with some good shifts on the final beat but the Elmside Neighbours did just enough to hold and take the win, and with it retain the Carmela Cup for the third year in a row.
Scott Wallis and Murray Hampshire, skippers of the Elmside Neighbours said after the racing, "We tried to keep it fairly simple this weekend, just getting back up to speed in the Sonars. Some
challenging starts in our early races meant we had to team race hard to get the early wins. It definitely helps that we have solid crews that we have sailed with consistently for a few years on our boats. They got us out of trouble a lot, being able to hoist quickly and mark 2 and the kite just popping instantly would always get us back in the game."
"I had a great time" commented Wallis, "I find it very stressful. But with such great boats and the forecast that we had it was always going to be a great weekend of racing against some great friends. It's the highlight of our calendar."
Congratulations to all of the teams who took part, we look forward to seeing you again next year!
Full results available on the KSail website, thanks to them for the schedules and support with the results.