On 23rd March, teams Blue (1sts) and Purple (2nds) headed to Spinnaker Sailing Club for UKTRA 2024 – the UK team racing national championships. Uncharacteristically, there was wind, with increasingly gusty conditions and several hailstorms as the day progressed. The round-robin commenced straight away, although with 24 teams it was only possible to get through most of it. Blue had a tough draw of teams, accompanied by several silly mistakes, landing them on 3/10 at the end of day 1. Purple ended on 2/10, including a win over MCS that briefly broke the Ksail results system.
Teams had a relaxed evening and approached day 2 ready to avenge their losses, with Blue in bronze league and Purple in plate league. With the sun shining, both teams got back in the game: 4/5 wins each made them champions of their respective leagues.
Congratulations to UKTRA 2024 champions Exeter Blue, who silver-surfed and defeated the West Kirby Hawks in an exciting 2-1 final, and motivated productive training before BUSA finals.
Teams were, in their helm-crew pairings:
Blue: Robbie McDonald and Lucius Bligh (C), Gordon Cogan-Sivarajan and Elizabeth Linsdell, Tim Hire and Hannah Cox
Purple: Magnus Handley (C) and Lisanne Blok, Charlie Merryweather and Jenny Jiang, Ellen Morley and Sam Dernie