Cambridge Blue attended Southampton’s event, the Wessex Winter Warmer at the end of January 2023. After the cancellation of sailing on Saturday due to a lack of wind, were eventually able to hit the water on Sunday morning. Mixed results ensued, with victories against the Bristol and Oxford first teams setting the day up well. These races were built on strong starting and upwind speed from Ewan Gribbin & Rosie Jones, taking 1 in both races, backed up by the rest of the team.
Three successive defeats – a humiliating 4,5,6 after another poor start against Rutland Raiders, an admirably close 2,4,5 against eventual finalists Paddington Bears, and then another 4,5,6 against event-winners RTYC White – saw the mood somewhat dampened.
But the team recovered well with successive wins. Juliette Kennedy & Mattis Prince secured 1 with Ewan & Rosie in second in a 1,2,6 win against ex-Cambridge sailors and former Oxford Magnum champions, Cindies Sailing Club, in a win nearly undermined as Adam Rathmell & Charlotte McConnell almost ran out of time to recross the start line after being OCS. A more complete team performance gave us a 1,2,3 against Spinnaker Sailing Club, before another 1,2 for Juliette & Mattis and Ewan & Rosie saw us defeat the Exeter second team in a 1,2,5 and finish with a 100% record against other universities.
Our final races were against Cambridge alumni heavy teams: OCSS and the Cumberland Sausages. Unfortunately we could not end on a high, with both races narrow defeats: 2,3,6 and 3,5,6 respectively. This left Cambridge Blue 11th out of 20 teams, a 5/10 record respectable in a more challenging field than the Bristol Brew, with a tricky draw that saw us sail (and lose to) 5 of the top 6 teams at the event.
Full results: http://events.ksail.co.uk/2023/Warmer/
