Happy 21st Birthday Warwick Turtle!

To quote the well-worded report from 1995, “the annual Warwick Turtle sailing meet was battered by the winter gales yet still proved a successful and rewarding weekend for competitors and organisers alike.”

Starting with registration on Friday 23rd January 2015, the (mostly) annual UWSC Turtle was proud to welcome 21 teams into its midst. With the event now old enough to legally drink even in the USA, it was all kicked off in style with a night in local Leamington pubs.

With Saturday dawning, sleepy faces made their way to Draycote Water for a spot of team racing. In standard Turtle behaviour, the wind gods sent along some intense breeze to get the event started, causing some sailors to question their choice of hobby.

Despite the use of storm sails, and with boats breaking left, right and centre, the event was off to a slow start. However, it eventually cleared up and 47 races were finished before the end of the day.

Provisional results from Day 1 showed Southampton Black, MCS, Birmingham 2, Swansea White and TWAT (The Warwick Alumni Team)   all on 100% wins, whilst new comers to team racing, Oxford Brookes, brought up the rear with 10%.

In an unexpected and “incomplete turn” of events, London White and Oxford Brookes earned themselves some black flags on the water, and following the hearings were docked half a race win. Due to unfortunate circumstances, the UWE team retired after racing on Saturday and headed back to Bristol.

The Umpires on Saturday Morning – Copyright Robert Ebenburger

Saturday evening, the troops regrouped in Leamington, and in their occupational fancy dress attire, headed for a curry and proceeded on to a local watering hole.

Sunday morning, scattered teams showed to perfect team racing weather and an overly keen organising committee, pushing to get as many races done as possible. After finishing the round robin, teams were split into flights of gold, silver and bronze, and racing continued. With the day rapidly progressing, the decision was made to move to quarter, semis and finals; taking the top 5 teams from the gold fleet and top 3 of silver.

The first quarter final was raced between event leaders MCS and silver sleet thirds Swansea White, and won by a hairs breadth by Swansea White with a 1,3,6 combination. The second quarter final saw Cambridge race London Pink, with Cambridge taking the win. The third quarter final put TWAT through to semi-finals ahead of Swansea Green and the fourth saw Southampton Pink beat Birmingham 2. In the best of three races semis, Southampton Pink beat Swansea White 2-1 and Cambridge knocked out Warwick old boys TWAT 2-1.

Sadly, time crept up on event organisers again, and the final had to be run as a single race, whilst some umpire and safety boats were being taken out of the water. Cambridge took the win over Southampton Pink, to be crowned UWSC Turtle champions 2015.

The organising committee would like to thank once again the teams for participating, with special mention to Oxford Brookes for bringing a team at such short notice. To the teams and drivers that supplied boats, the University of Warwick Student’s Union and Warwick Sport, many thanks, as without their support the Warwick Turtle would be unsustainable. Thanks go also to the umpires, helpers and dedicated members that made the event possible, and to Summer Sail Week, for providing some fantastic prizes for our winners.

Finally, many thanks to Draycote Water and its staff for their help, advice and patience in the presence of approximately 150 university sailors. See you all next year!

Eventual Winners Cambridge – Copyright Sam Stone

Final results:

1st Cambridge
2nd Soton Pink
3rd Swansea White
4th TWAT (The Warwick Alumni Team)
5th MCS
6th Birmingham 2s
7th Swansea Green
8th London Purple
9th Oxford Yellow
10th Soton Black
11th Edinburgh Green
12th Birmingham 3s
13th London White
14th Nottingham
15th Edinburgh Blue
16th Birmingham 1s
17th London Red
18th Oxford Green
19th Oxford Brooke’s
19th WANC (Warwick Alumni National Consortium)
RETIRED UWE