Tight at the top

Racing was cancelled on Sunday at the RYA National Match Racing Qualifier

The final 2005 RYA National Match Racing qualifying event got underway on 24 - 25 September at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy (WPNSA). After close racing Rob Greig-Gran won the event and a slot in the upcoming RYA National Match Racing Final.

With 8-14 knots of wind on the course, sailors took to the water in the RYA J80’s to start the first round robin. On Sunday the wind built from 14 knots to a blustery 23 knots forcing the race committee to call off the final racing series.

The qualifying event proved to be the closest event yet, with three competitors - Myant, Davis, Macgregor - finishing with equal points after an extremely close round robin. The last match of the last flight saw Lucy Macgregor and Connor Myant square up against each other. Macgregor went into the match in first place overall knowing that if she and her crew won they would secure a spot in the upcoming RYA National Match Racing Finals. Macgregor however was out manouvered by Myant and his team and lost the match, dropping her out of the lead and into fourth place overall. By taking the win Myant moved into second overall and secured a spot in the Match Racing Play Offs on 1-2 October.

With the round robin completed there was a clear winner. Rob Greig-Gran took the top position with eight points overall and will join 11 other teams at the RYA National Match Racing Final held at WPNSA 7-9 October 2005.

Results:

1-Rob Greig-Gran, Dave Royse, Eddy Walker, Simon Lambert
2-Connor Myant, Ben Bainbridge, Tom Odell, Jermey Fowke
3-Des Davis, Katherine Sampson, Roz Brawn, Alison Dart, Tom Heywood
4-Lucy Macgregor, Nicky Macgregor, Bethan Carden, Georgie Blaverman, Rachel Wigmore
5-David Tabb, Ben Scroggie, S. Blake, A Jackson
6-Ben Ainsworth, Hannah Mills, Matt Burge, James Royston, Will Morgan
7-Alex Cherry, Sam Richmond, Matt Adams, Magnus Leask
8-Philip White, Jamie Tonkin, Peter Cowell, Tom Alderton, Alex Ekstrom
9-Dan Vickers, Andrew Clewer, Alistair Kemp, Chris Doe, Jeremy Nicholls
10-Malov Shroff, Michael Jones, Marcus Spillane, Christian Hamilton
11-Henry Ayres, Tom Trueman, Ginny Liggitt, Stephanie Dawson