Mixed fortunes for the British Keelboat Academy
14th July 2011The British Keelboat Academy has had mixed fortunes over the past week with the F45 crew finishing the Royal Thames Imperial Trophy with their heads held high after finishing second in the prestigious Royal Thames Match Racing event (9-10 July), while the J80 World Championships proved a tough test out in Denmark for the J80 crew (4-8 July).
With strong winds on the Saturday morning with gusts of around sixteen knots, building to twenty at times, the race committee of the Royal Thames Imperial Trophy exercised their option to replace the intended match racing format with umpired fleet racing to prevent damage to boats, crew and equipment. The second day (Sunday 10 July) saw much lighter winds, around ten knots for most of the day, allowing a match racing programme to proceed.
Whilst only six boats competed in the event, all were in with a good chance of a result and all had victories to their names from past regattas, so there were no easy races for the twelve BKA sailors on board Farr 45 ‘Kolga’. The sailors, who form part of the RYA’s and UKSA’s joint keelboat racing initiative, were racing against crews that had been together for years with their fair share of paid professionals, so to finish second in a fleet of identical boats was by no means an easy task.
Hamish Macdonald, BKA member and Farr 45 ‘Kolga’ Mast, commented: “This weekend we were prepared a day earlier than all the other boats, were off the dock earlier, training earlier and ready to race earlier. Everyone knew their job, and everyone was able to react to the unexpected when it did occur, meaning we were as well sailed as any boat competing, better than many, and our crew-work was some of the best out there.”
“In these boats a bit more work on our fitness and strength never goes amiss, and the confidence that comes with a good result should enable us to enter a new phase of youth squad sailing, where top finishes are the rule, rather than the exception.”
Macdonald concluded: “We still have a couple of events this season, notably the Royal Southern event in two weeks’ time, and it would be great to get another good result.”
Meanwhile, the J80 World Championships proved a tough test for the four sailors representing the British Keelboat Academy as they were unable to overcome the challenges of the Baltic Sea and the fierce competition from the world’s best J80 sailors.
Over the course of the week (4-8 July) The Royal Danish Yacht Club based in the harbour of Dragor, Copenhagen was greeted with four days of glorious sunshine and light winds while the last day of racing was witness to rain and strong gusts of wind. The annual event attracted over 70 teams from 11 different nations.
With this being the crew’s first J80 Worlds they set themselves a top 50 finish as they were unsure of the level of competition, however with the world’s best sailors in attendance from across the globe, the BKA members finished just outside the target they had set themselves and finished the week in 54th place.
Jonty Cook, BKA member and J80 Bow, commented: “We are extremely disappointed not to have achieved out aim of a top 50 finish, but we are glad we managed to bring ourselves up from a terrible result on the first day.”
“Our top result was a 30th, and throughout the week our boat handling and knowledge of rig settings improved, which is something which we can take away from this event. Our main aim now is to improve and take our experience form this event into next year’s World Championships. The key areas would be to gain a greater understanding of the race course and to equip ourselves with new equipment such as sails in order to be able to race to our full potential,” concluded Cook.
John Derbyshire, RYA Racing Manager, commented: “The Farr 45 sailors had a fantastic result and I am pleased that all their hard work over the past few months has paid dividends. To finish second in such a prestigious event with such a young crew is an excellent achievement and one that will certainly bode well for their future sailing careers.”
“The J80 Worlds was a tough event for the sailors, with some highly experienced crews competing in what is one of the world’s largest keelboat classes. This regatta will have been a steep learning curve for the BKA sailors and I am sure they will have come away having learnt a huge amount which will only add to their experience when competing at future events,” concluded Derbyshire.