Newcastle University Sailing Club

YACHTINGThe Easter started with the Yachting nationals in Port Solent.  This is sailed in equally matched sunfast 37s with about 40 uni teams taking part.This year started slowly for Team Newcastle with some top tens and a black flag leaving the team just out side the top ten.  However, with a good next few days with one day missed out due to too much wind and a first and second the team were right in contention.  Going round the last mark of the last race things were looking good and second place overall seemed all but in our hands.  However 10m from the finish a big gust caused a broach and this lead to the finish line being missed and 8 places being lost. This lead to Newcastle finishing 5th overall equalling last year.TEAM RACINGTeam racing was held in Chew Valley in Bristol.  After a competent start Newcastle made the gold league.  However, due to fickle conditions the leagues were not quite completed  Having not had the greatest of starts to the gold league this left Newcastle in a tricky position.  The team beat last years champions Oxford but this was not enough to help the team as the round was called off due to lack of wind.  The team showed potential all week and showed some good results against some good teams.MATCH RACINGThis year match racing was held in Cowes in Sonars.  After showing good boat speed in the first day and made it in to the gold fleet.  This then followed with a disappointing start where miss matched boats caused more than one team issues.  Team Newcastle missed out on the semi finals by one match win.  This then meant that we were in the petite finals.  By winning both of the matches the team finished in 5th place.  A disappointing end to the event

George Yeoman and Ed Fitzgerald have been selected to sail with GBR1 at the student worlds in Crete this summer.  George and Ed were both part of the bronze medal winning team at BUCS last year.  They are teaming up with gold medallist and their normal helm, top under 23 match racer, Andy Shaw from Southampton.  The rest of the team is made up of Ben Ainsworth from Southampton and Rachel Williamson from Portsmouth.

BUCS Championships Preview

Yachting:

Yachting this year is going to be held at Port Solent.  After finishing a very creditable 5^th last year, Newcastle will be looking to improve from here with a basically unchanged team!

Team Racing

Team racing finals is being held at Chew Valley in Bristol.  After qualifying directly from the northern qualifier the first team have been training hard and are looking forward to getting involved in the finals.  After qualifying for the gold fleet last year but missing out on the quarters, the first team will be looking to make the next step up into the knock out stages and a chance of adding to the gold medal from the fleet racing.

Match Racing

Last year match racing was the highlight of the season with the team finishing in 3^rd winning BUCS bronze medals.  This year we are looking for the win with the boats changing from j80s to sonars, and the venue from Queen Mary to Cowes.  And with two of the GBR1 Match Racing team for the FISU Student Worlds on the team chances are looking good for a northern team to disrupt the southern dominance.

We can now confirm the date for this years first social yachting trip is to be on the 19th to the 21st of October,
this year we have chartered 5 yachts so there will be 48 available places, book early to be sure of a place!

the event is open to all members of the club and no previous experience is necessary, There will be a fully experienced skipper and a member of competent crew on board each boat to assist and instruct you during the course of the weekend.

to find out more and to book your place, get in touch with Gerry Goodfellow on geraint.goodfellow@ncl.ac.uk

Freshers week has been confirmed and is to start on Monday 24th September. We will be present at the Societies fair on both Monday and Tuesday in the sports centre, Ricky Rd. If you fancy joining come and have a chat. If you’re an old member, please come and help out.