British Schools Dinghy Racing Association Team Racing Finals
Twelve students from Kings Sailing participated in the British Schools Dinghy Racing Association (BSDRA) Finals at Farmoor Reservoir, Oxford.
The Finals consisted of team racing in two fleets of boats, a Firefly fleet and a RS Feva fleet. With a team from King’s in each fleet, in addition members of King’s School team jumped into other boats to allow other schools to enter teams, so there were King’s sailors sailing for Royal Hospital School, Claire’s Court and Royal Guildford School, as they were all short of a team members.
Over the two days there were over three hundred races sailed (yes three hundred) and although neither Kings Teams came away with any silver wear, both teams became more competitive as their experience and confidence grew. The Feva team, captained by Eleanor Baker, ably crewed by Isabella Cable, and the second boat manned by David Xu and Matthew Lai from the International School, saw significantly more success on day two. They won 3 races, the last of which was against the eventual runners up. The race win was down to an inspired final beat tactics by David, and a great turn of speed by Eleanor, converting their positions from a losing 1 and 4 to an emphatic winning combination of 1 and 2. Laurie and Jo, who were fortunately enough to be near the finish line on their ferry rib, were seen whooping and hollering as they crossed the line!
On the other side of the reservoir, the Firefly team were also starting to come out on top. The team, captained by Ben Helme and crewed by Derek Lee, and ably supported by Eoin Pickstone and Bella Gaskin, Peter Jones and Ben Cook won two races, and were unlucky not to win more.
Special mention goes to Amelie Board who sailed for Royal Hospital School. They sang her praises for enthusiasm, agility and determination. Alex Banks crewed for Claire’s Court on the second day, and they sailed their way right through to the finals, and eventually winning Silver B flight. Bella filled in for Guildford School on day one, allowing them to put a team in the water, while they arranged for a reserve to be sent up from Guildford for the second day. Bella returned to the King’s Firefly team on the Sunday.
The improvement of performance in both teams was massive and the experience gained will serve them well in future competitions. All competitors returned to school happy, and extremely tired after two days of hard racing. Matthew Lai from the IC who only started sailing in September last year has become an accomplished crew and valued team member, raced for the last time for King’s School as his family are relocating. He was given a fond farewell by the team.IMG_0645 
