Skipper Ben Tylecote and his team claimed the first event of the RYA Match Racing Series 2024 at London's Queen Mary Sailing Club.
A sell-out Qualifier 1 saw nine teams #rockupandrace in RS21s across a range of conditions ahead of the arrival of Storm Isha (20-21 January).
Saturday started lighter with the breeze building through the day, enabling the race team to start on time and complete the round robin series by around 4pm.
Ollie Meadowcroft was beaten by Matt Greenfield in his first match but from then on won all seven his remaining races in the round robin to top the leaderboard overnight.
Greenfield, Tylecote and Patrick Croghan meanwhile each claimed six race wins in the round robin to result in a three-way tie for second.
Exeter University's Heather Quinn, the only female skipper, finished last in the round robin but won the 8th/9th and 7th/8th matches to advance to 7th overall.
Event Director David Campbell-James said: "We were worried the whole week about Storm Isha so went ahead on the basis that Saturday would be a good day and Sunday we'd get maybe half a day. We had five more experienced teams and four less experienced teams, so some of the races on the Saturday were quite close and some were less so, but everyone was having fun.
"The racing was then really good on the Sunday but we did have to stop around 12.30 and it turned into a bit of a frantic day. But overall everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, with good-spirited racing from all of the teams."
The prize-giving included thanks to the club for hosting and all of the volunteers who supported the event, including Robert Owens, completing his first weekend as a match racing umpire.
RYA Match Racing offers a warm welcome for both new and experienced teams with support on hand at events for those wanting to give it a go for the first time.
Next up in the series this Spring is the RYA/BUSA Women's Winter Match Racing Championships at Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy, 17-18 February.
RYA National Match Racing Qualifier 2 is then at Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, Burnham-on-crouch, 9-10 March, with Qualifier 3 at WPNSA, 20-21 April 2024.
Find all the information and entry for upcoming events at :-
www.ryamatchracing.co.uk
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