The newly formed Cambridge Purple (2nd) and Pink (3rd) teams arrived at a very wet Bartley Sailing Club on the morning of 4th November for the 2023 Brummy Boom. This was their maiden event of the 2023 sailing calendar. The forecast day of torrential rain didn’t faze them, as they were excited to make their mark on the other university teams. Both teams quickly went to work on the opposition, with purple taking six wins from six and pink three from four by the time the wind died mid afternoon, ending that days racing.
Back to their accommodation they went, ready for a rapid turnaround before the boom social – a staple of the social calendar. The social theme was “things you want to be when you grow up” and Cambridge had been assigned Chefs. Some creative last minute crafting produced impressive outfits, particularly considering the main construction materials present were paper and electrical tape.
The following morning the teams were remarkably bright eyed and ready to continue some fast sailing. Good wind enabled yet more quick racing from both teams, and while Purple failed to maintain a 100% win ratio they did succeed in winning the most important races (against Pink and the Oxford 2nds), and still ranking second by the end of the round robin, pitting them up against Newcastle for a high stakes best-of-three final. The round robin hadn’t produced a clear favourite: although Newcastle ranked higher than Purple with only one loss, that loss was to Purple themselves. It was all to play for.
Race one of the final started and intense team racing followed, with big conversions made by both sides at marks 2 and 3. Then carnage ensued. A poorly placed umpire boat managed to collide with Ellen and Sam, capsizing them. Protests from Cambridge meant the race was black flagged to be reviewed afterwards. After a mental reset, Cambridge returned with force winning the starts of the following two races. This led to dominant 1,2 victories in both races and so Cambridge Purple were the overall winners of the 2023 Brummy Boom.
Overall an excellent weekend was had by both teams, with Purple winning and Pink ranking joint fifth. We thank Birmingham for hosting an as-always fun competition, and are excited to defend our title next year.
The teams (helm first, then crew)
Cambridge Purple
Magnus Handley (Capt); Lisanne Blok
Ellen Morley; Sam Dernie
Charlie Merryweather; Jenny Jiang
Cambridge Pink
Blake Tudor; Claudia Bazyk (Capt)
Jesse Kibble; Joe Ayers
Max Vella; Mia Becker
