Rachel Williams

OUYC’s annual varsity match against CUYC took place over 24/25th March 2018 as part of the Sunsail Racing Series Round 2 in the central Solent. Day one saw perfect conditions of 15 knots. Oxford commenced the competition with a textbook start in race 1, despite Cambridge protesting us for having our spinnaker pole out as we crossed the start line (which the RC confirmed we didn’t!). We rounded the windward mark in first place executing a perfect spinnaker hoist, and remained in first place for the rest of the race ending up with a well deserved bullet. Race 2 again was a good start however not quite as close to the pin as we hoped for, resulting in a fourth place at the windward mark. Fortunately this was converted to a third place as we crossed the finish line several marks later. After one more race, in which Oxford finished 7th, Oxford and Cambridge both headed to Cowes for the annual varsity dinner at the ‘Richard Branson Curry House’.

Day 2 saw lighter winds, however the Sunsail race committee still managed to run two excellent races despite the strong tides and rapidly decreasing winds. Race 4 resulted in an 8th (which we were happy to discard!). The final race of the 2018 varsity saw Oxford round the last windward mark in a strong third position, however with less than 100 m to go until the finish line the wind completely died and a strong easterly tide pushed Oxford over the finish line in fourth position. Giving them the varsity win having beaten Cambridge in every race over the weekend and coming fourth overall out of 19 teams.

Immediately after Varsity was the annual BUSA Yachting Championships. Day one saw the whole BUSA fleet heading out of Portsmouth and through the submarine barriers for a couple of practice starts followed by two windward/leeward races in very little breeze. Race two was raced in less than 7 knots! These did not suit us as we had trained in heavy weather all winter, resulting in a disappointing 21st and 16th place. The third race of day one was the short inshore race. The race started in a steady 10 knots from the south, we finally got back into the motions and were 8th to the windward mark. However, as we approached mark two (the main channel mark for all shipping leaving the solent) the wind completely died and a strong easterly tide pushed us back out of the solent. The wind finally filled in and the race was shortened to finish at Gilkicker point, with a disappointing 18th place.

Day two saw stronger, more stable winds. Race 3 of the championship was another windward/leeward in which we managed a much improved 5th place finish. The second race of the day was the long coastal race, which was a 21 mile tour of the central and eastern Solent, in very squally and wet conditions. At the halfway mark Oxford were in a comfortable top ten position however halfway into a 5 mile beat towards cowes our kicker strop broke, causing us to drop a few positions. A brilliantly nailed lay-line into Gurnard and some excellent spinnaker flying back towards Portsmouth ended up with Oxford finishing 10th in the double points race. With places to gain to reach the Championship fleet, we again headed out through the submarine nets into Langston Bay for three windward/leeward races on day three in shifty 10-12 knot conditions. Race 7 saw Oxford execute a textbook start reaching the windward mark in third place. Excellent spinnaker work and a beautiful bottom mark rounding ended up with Oxford rounding the last windward mark in second place. However, the only spinnaker wrap of the entire year occurred as we gybed onto the layline for the finish. Despite a rapid recovery we lost 2nd place and finished with a 13th, 9th and 14th on day 3.

Sadly, this was not quite enough for us to reach the Championship fleet, and so we went into the Trophy fleet on the last day in a strong position. The final day saw Oxford competing in windy and difficult conditions (gust of nearly 30 knots!). Race one was a coastal race which saw us reach the windward mark in 10th position, a successful spinnaker hoist and some excellent sailing along a very windy reach, saw Oxford sail through the fleet into third at the second mark. The world’s fastest spinnaker packer (León López-Brennan) packed the hefty Sunsail Spinnakers in record time enabling Oxford to re-hoist and finish the race in a comfortable third place. The final race of the competition was another coastal race. After a general recall, the race eventually got underway, and an excellent first beat with a perfect layline call saw Oxford reach the first windward mark in 1st place. We successfully hoisted and flew our spinnaker in 25-30 knots of wind, whilst our competitors struggled all the way down the run. A gybe in difficult conditions was successful executed (despite a minor broach) maintaining our lead. The last leg was a four mile fetch back to Portsmouth in gusty and difficult conditions. Despite this we held onto our lead and finished the week off with a well deserved bullet! This was enough for Oxford blue to win the Trophy Fleet.

Sean Lindsall, Captain of Yachting (2017/18)

The story of this trip to China started long before we arrived, and despite naturally haphazard and last minute organisation we were somehow just about on track. That was, until the morning of the flight, when Lucy awoke in London only to realise her British passport was on a yacht in Foye with her family. Chaos swiftly ensued as we desperately tried to rectify the situation, however, much to everyone’s disappointment, it was not possible. And so our team of five was reduced to four. Despite a minor visa saga at check-in, we made the plane and met up with our 4th member of our team, Marisha.

At the opening ceremony, it became clear to all the competitors (who had travelled from countries including Australia and Russia) that we were highly prized photo opportunities for the locals, as well as being very welcome guests of the Chinese government, who had put a phenomenal amount of money into the event and opening ceremony. Having been met with countless cameras, the ceremony kicked off with loud music, promo-videos and mesmerising dancers. If the ceremony itself wasn’t crazy enough, the entire city of buildings behind the stage had synchronised lights to create an inspiring skyline during performances. The evening concluded in a bar where we were introduced to the local beer (Tsingdao), which had the benefit of being both very palatable and having a low impact on the wallet. Meanwhile, a live band kept the teams energised for the evening while we met the many international university sailors.

Qingdao has another reputation aside from its cheap beer, and that is for its lack of wind. Despite many concerns, thankfully this failed to materialise during the event. We only saw one day of minimal wind but the race committee were very experienced in dealing with this situation and so managed to keep the racing going, on a day where it otherwise seemed bleak. The race course saw a rather stable wind direction on all days, with the largest benefits coming in the form of pressure differences. Splitting off from the pack was a risk, but one which also had the possibility of bringing boats back from the dead, even in the presence of a significant tidal gradient. This was especially true on the first two days of racing where a light breeze meant the sluggish boats responded very well to just a knot or two more over 45+ minute races.

Thankfully the new fleet of boats avoided creating more horror stories of breakages, as were rife in previous years. Unfortunately, their twin rudder and asymmetric spinnaker setup resulted in somewhat limited agility. Despite other teams’ complaints to the committee about the performance of the boats, we stayed positive, safe in the knowledge that all the teams were all in the same boat (excuse the pun). Marisha’s magic bag of medicine came into use on the penultimate day of racing in the form of sea sickness tablets due to a very large swell that had been whipped up by a modest breeze against a ripping tide.

After a tough first day racing, it was Beer Festival time! The evening began with a journey on the longest bridge in the world, before arriving, much to our delight, to free refills of beer and various performances during the evening. The hotel became a hub for post racing socialising between teams (partially due to the bar), and being close to the local metro station meant we were easily able to travel into the city during some downtime in order to make the most of the amazing opportunity to explore the area. We took a particular liking to a PG massage establishment which gave all four of us a chance to release tension in our muscles after wrestling the boat.

With Lucy stranded in the UK, the structure of the boat had to be reorganised. However, we did our best to manage the situation even though, on occasion (usually spinnaker related), that last pair of hands was sorely missed. The racing was challenging and a change from our team racing pedigree but this kept us on our toes throughout – my role as tactician saw me (James Scott) rediscovering some fleet racing. Sadly we just missed out on gold fleet though we were not too disheartened after a close fought initial two days. The final day sadly saw no racing due to a storm making the sea-state even more formidable than the previous day. This left us a respectable mid-fleet amongst 12 teams after 4 days of sailing.

Our helm’s birthday (Ali Bibby) coincided with the closing ceremony, and as we mentioned previously the hosts were incredibly generous, pushing out a final act of kindness in the form of two of the largest cakes we’d ever seen! To which Ali admitted that “even my own parents could not provide birthday love on that level.” We would like to thank the organisers of the event for their incredible hospitality and the smooth running of the event, hence making it an easy decision for Oxford to send a team in future years. The social aspect with international competitors and fun atmosphere made the event enjoyable for everyone involved (despite minor bouts of seasickness).

We are very much looking forward to returning to Qingdao with a new OUYC team this year, and hope to improve on last year’s result

James Scott