The University of Strathclyde Sailing Club competed with twelve teams from eleven countries in Vilamoura, Portugal last week in the first event of the 2023 Sailing Champions League (SCL).
The team, which qualified for the SCL by finishing second in last years British Keelboat League (BKL) final, completed 18 races in fantastic sailing conditions (8-16 knots) and temperatures of 23 degrees which saw the team sporting sun hats, quite a contrast to their wintery training sessions back home.
The Strathclyde team of Jake Miller, Calum Bell, Tony Fitzgerald, Laura Young and Rowan Edwards, worked hard over the four days of racing in choppy conditions. After a day of practice sailing, four J70 keelboats were used in each of the 18 races which saw all teams racing against each other in all four boats over the event.
By race 6 and with finishes in third and fourth places, it was clear to our Strathclyde team that they were up against some really strong teams, but in race 7 they took their first win and followed it up with a second win in race 8 against teams that were all ranked higher than them. Now they were getting the boat dialled in.
Competition on the water was strong, and there were very small margins between the teams in every race as they crossed the finishing line. Using a low points scoring system Strathclyde finished in tenth place overall and just missed out by a handful of points in making it through to the Sailing Champions League Final.
Next up, a team from the Royal Northern and Clyde Yacht Club are on their way to compete in the next leg of the SCL in Berlin.
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