RYA National Match Racing Championship Grand Finals

 

Team Absolute retain national match racing championship title

A full-on weekend at London's Queen Mary Sailing Club saw skipper Ted Blowers and Team Absolute winning the RYA National Match Racing Championship Grand Finals for the second year running.

Ten teams competed in RS21 keelboats over the three-day event (18-20 October 2024) with racing getting under way in 10 knots and sunshine after a slightly delayed start waiting for breeze.

With Storm Ashley looming for Sunday, the race team made a determined effort to power through the round robin and a repechage, with a busy Friday and a 9am start on the Saturday.

Sailing through to the semi-finals were Patrick Croghan and Matt Greenfield, each winning seven of their nine races in the round robin, and Ben Tylecote's team with six wins.

But for Blowers it turned into a long day. With his team of Rhos Hawes, Anna Watkins and Zak Bermon, Blowers finished fourth overall in the round robin and had to race for the rest of the Saturday as one of seven teams fighting it out in a repechage.

Blowers took it in his stride and won every race to claim fourth overall again, at the top of the repechage table, to proceed to the semi-finals stage.

Although the Sunday forecast had been for strong winds in London on the skirts of Storm Ashley, with 30 knot gusts on the course, it was possible to complete the schedule with reefs and spinnakers.

In Semi Final 1, Blowers won 2:0 against Croghan, while Semi Final 2 saw Tylecote and Greenfield claiming a race each before Tylecote finished the job by winning the third race, with an unfortunate boat breakage for Greenfield's team contributing to them missing out on a place in the final.

In the petit final, although Croghan had shown promise earlier in the regatta, it wasn't to be his day in the heavier breeze, with Greenfield winning 2-0 to claim third overall on the podium.

Overall Results: (top three)

1st Team Absolute: Ted Blowers, Rhos Hawes, Anna Watkins, Zak Bermon

2nd Ben Tylecote, Matt Wright, David Bromilow, Terry Hacker, Alice Lucy

3rd Matt Greenfield, Peter Bentley, Oliver Bennett, Maria Stanley

Next up in the RYA match racing calendar is an exciting new series of six training weekends for sailors who are keen to give it a go for the first time or sharpen their skills ready for next season!

The joint initiative with the Royal Thames Yacht Club will be led by top coach Niall Myant-Best with the first Match Racing Clinic taking place at Queen Mary SC, 1-2 November 2024, and subsequent weekends taking place either at QMSC or Weymouth & Portland Sailing Academy.