During the week of the 11th-14th of April, the University of Plymouth Yacht Club, led by Dominique Garveigh, this year's Commodore, took a fantastic team to BUSA BUCS Yacht Championships 2022 and won! Read their account of the event below.
Over the whole week, we raced against the top University sailors, that came from all over the UK with a total of 15 teams. Each team had 8 crews and our team consisted of; Alaric Bates on the helm, Alex Carr in pit, Charlie Cadin on Trim 1, Dominique Garveigh on main trim, George Kennedy as our Tactician, Isabella Drewitt as our substitute pit, Leila Moore on trim 2, Peter Russel as our bowman and Sam Hopper on the mast.
The first day started later than expected due to the high wind forecast, which saw a lot of bored crew in the marina, but we finally managed to get out and do one race in the Solent landing us in a comfortable 3rd place. We made it onto the podium on the first day of racing, never having sailed together before and this really showed us how we were able to unify and continue to climb the leader board over the week.
Up nice and early on the second day of racing, we completed 2 races in the morning. With a few sticky starts, we got into a very good position over the entire fleet and came first in the first two races of the day. In the afternoon we completed the 2-hour long BUSA Coastal Race, in some very poor conditions, but we crossed the Royal Yacht Squadron line with a loud bang to confirm our first place! This led us to win our first trophy of the Series, the ‘Jim Saltonstall Teapot Trophy’. That evening all teams had been invited to Royal Ocean Racing Club for a black-tie dinner. Fun was had by all!
On the morning of the third day, there were many bleary-eyed crew as we headed out for a day of racing. The winds were light to begin with, building throughout the day, meaning we managed to get 4 races in. The first race was not what we hoped for, but luckily, we regrouped, cleared our heads, and came back with a fighting chance, slowly climbing the leader board. Having finished the first race of the day in 7th, we then came 3rd, and won the last two races! This meant we were able to use our disregard on the first race of the day, which resulted in us leading in 1st place! We came back into the marina and had our much-deserved success point as a crew.
On the last day of racing, as we peered outside, all we could see was the dreaded fog… This was bad news, as it dampened the wind and with no visibility, we weren’t allowed to go out racing. The call was finally made at 0945 that no more racing would happen, and the BUCS BUSA Yacht Championships had come to an end, meaning that we, the University of Plymouth Yacht Club, had won not one but two trophies! The Teapot Trophy and Yachting Trophy. A big congratulations to Oxford ‘Blue’ and Exeter in respectively coming second and third.
All teams thoroughly enjoyed the time we had, and as the week drew to an end, there was a hugely noticeable difference in the quality of racing! RYA coach Mason King had a huge helping hand in this, as each evening all the teams would have a general debrief from him on areas of improvement. This was massively appreciated by all.
Finally, our commodore would like to extend a huge thank you to all those involved in the running of the event, this includes the race officer Peter Saxon, the race committee, umpires, and volunteers. A big thank you also goes to Fairview Sailing for giving all 120 competitors a chance to sail and race against each other over the week.
Well done to everyone involved with the University of Plymouth Yacht Club for your fantastic achievement.
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