BSDRA Schools Keelboat Championship at Queen Mary Sailing Club

 Fifteen teams battled for honours over a competitive weekend of close racing at the British Schools Keelboat Championship at London's Queen Mary Sailing Club. Then event was run by the BSDRA (British Schools Dinghy Racing Association) who aim to promote the sport of sailing in British schools.

Using a British Keelboat League format of short course fleet racing, the teams completed a full schedule of 30 races sailing RS21s as the event made a welcome return over the weekend of 6-7 November 2021 for its third edition after missing a year due to the Covid pandemic.

For many of the competitors it was their first experience of racing keelboats and with 12-14 knot winds and gusts in the high 20s across both days, the breezy conditions provided boat handling challenges, adrenalin-fuelled downwinds and big smiles.

Two competitors accidentally went swimming and decisions about when and where to fly a spinnaker - or leave it in the boat - were a factor in teams going from zero to hero and vice versa, depending on their ability to manage the teamwork and sheet loads involved.

With seven teams on the start line at a time and races lasting around 11 minutes, each team completed 14 races and consistency across the series was to prove key in the overall results.

"We could definitely see the improvement in boat handling over the weekend. With spinnakers up on day one there was lots of broaching but then on day two we would see 6 out of 7 boats with kites up and all were under control. We could see their confidence growing and there were lots of smiles as they went over the finish line."

BSDRA also thanked Queen Mary SC for hosting the event, JDX Consulting for the prizes and Keith Sammons and KSail for supporting the administration.

Overall Results:

Pos Team Total Points Average Points

1 Royal Hospital School Pink (P) 81 5.79

2 Royal Hospital School Blue (H) 74 5.29

3 Reading Sailing Club (E) 73 5.21

4 Clifton College (F) 66 4.71

5 Ryde School (Y) 65 4.64

6 Derbyshire Youth Sailing (D) 65 4.64

7 Claires Court (C) 63 4.5

8 Sevenoaks Red (S) 62 4.43

9 Kimbolton School (K) 48 3.43

10 Radley Rascals (Z) 48 3.43

11 OSST Abingdon (A) 45 3.21

12 RGS Guildford (G) 41 2.93

13 OSST Cokethorpe (O) 37 2.64

14 Sevenoaks Blue (B) 34 2.43

15 Radley Raiders (R) 32 2.29