2025/26 University Sailing League Round 2 at Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, Burnham-on-Crouch
by Nick Milton 18 Dec 01:29 PST
13-14 December 2025
This weekend saw the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club hosting the second round of the 2025/26 University Sailing League, run to the short-course fleet racing format in the club's fleet of 707s and which has proven to be popular for events such as the British Keelboat League.
Back after a year's absence due to strong winds in 2024, the nine teams from Exeter, Southampton, Plymouth, including the USL's first all women's team, Portsmouth, and Bournemouth universities, along with the local team from the Burnham Sailing Club, were greeted by a sunny, but windless Saturday morning. But with the wind forecast to fill in from the south-west the teams went afloat in readiness and were rewarded with a gentle but steady breeze to get the event under way.
The teams were again resplendent in colourful team woolly hats - courtesy of Tim and Sarah Matthews of TMA Chartered Surveyors - which made finding sailors much easier and also presented opportunities for some very fetching hat and sail combinations.
Thanks must also go to Allen Brothers and Robline whose support of the 707s by refitting and re-roping the boats enabled such close racing by giving teams the confidence to push the boats hard and enjoy the racing to the max.
Despite the gentle breeze the racing was tight, although racing at low water made finding space at the start line challenging with some teams pushing their luck and finding the mud instead. While there is always a premium on a good start in this type of racing, it was impressive to see some teams making strong gains through the fleet and making up places both up and downwind, and this was reflected in the results with two of the teams being separated by only 0.17 points on average at one point !
Another 'first' for Exeter Two team was the use of conventional spinnakers, with a crash course courtesy of YouTube being the closest they had come to rigging and using one, and they played it safe in their first couple of races before handing over the boat to one of the teams from Plymouth who discovered the kite had been rigged upside down on their first downwind leg. Undeterred they stuck with it for the remainder of the race ! To their credit, Exeter Two got to grips with the spinnaker and were going progressively quicker as the day went on.
The tight racing meant that mark roundings were pretty much always done in the company of other boats, with slick boat handling being seen throughout the fleet, with the occasional stuck spinnaker halyard or recalcitrant spinnaker pole needing to be subdued ! The close racing also kept our umpires Ian Gray and Nigel Cole on their toes, but with only the occasional penalty needing to be handed out.
After a slightly inauspicious start having been aground at the start, team Exeter One, skippered by Will Fletcher, really hit their stride and were nip and tuck with Burnham Sailing Club (Matt Taylor), with Southampton University (Marc Leyk), and Portsmouth (Kate Robertson) trying hard to close the gap.
After 11 races the wind cried enough, and most of the fleet quietly (or not so quietly !) cheered as the temperature had dropped as well, with crews heading ashore for a much appreciated curry and partying to the Caribbean disco!
Sunday dawned sunny buy windless again, but with the breeze due to increase over the day things got under way on time in (slightly over-chilled to my taste) champagne sailing conditions.
Burnham SC and Exeter One picked up where they left off, while the other teams were all visibly better coordinated and quicker around the course. The leading teams set the bar high with a series of wins in the early races and then continued a strong performance over the whole event, either winning or being in the top 3, regardless of which 707 they were sailing. It was only the occasional lower score from the chasing pack that dropped their average points and allowed a gap to open.
Possibly the most costly of those dropped scores was Southampton's trip to the muddy banks of the Crouch as a result of a jammed spinnaker halyard - there's going aground, and then there's going aground... Two RIBs later, and some assistance to recover the spinnaker streaming from the mast, and they were back up and running (once they had finished posting about the incident on social media !).
With a lost spinnaker halyard on one of the boats, the decision was made by the Race officer to carry on without spinnakers in the increasingly gusty conditions which actually made for closer racing with a number of boats overlapped as they crossed the finish line, emphasising the tightness of the racing and the competitiveness of the teams. The day ended with testing conditions for some of the lighter teams, or those less familiar with keelboat racing, while at the front the racing was as keen as ever.
After a sunny but chilly day with the breeze increasing to a solid 15-20 knots, and with another 14 races completed, Race Officer Edwin Buckley called time and teams headed back for a well-earned warm-up and the prize-giving.
The winning team from the Burnham Sailing Club (Matt Taylor, Niamh Davies, Ellen Morley, Ben Hutton-Penman, and Jason Clarke) were presented with the Wilson trophy, initially raced for in the 70's and 80's by two university teams, the London Pirates and the Castaways, and the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club and was kindly donated to the USL event by the remaining members of those teams to maintain the tradition of university sailing events at the club. We look forward to welcoming the teams back next year.
Overall Results:
1st - Burnham Sailing Club - 4.5pts - Matt Taylor, Niamh Davies, Ellen Morley, Ben Hutton-Penman, and Jason Clarke
2nd - Exeter One - 4.25pts - Will Fletcher, Finian Morris, Sam Osbourne, Charlotte, Millie Deaken
3rd - Southampton - 3.07pts - Marc Leyk, Holly Mitchell, Tyler Horton, George Gillespie, Martin De Kerever
Full results can be found here.