Itchenor Sailing Club retain the Stewart Morris Trophy for the annual team racing match in Swallows v. the Oxford & Cambridge Sailing Society.
Itchenor were delighted to resume this annual event, following the pandemic disruption in 2020 and to welcome a Society Team including 2 Olympians and comprised of: Nigel Masding (Capt.) , Iain MacDonald-Smith, Robin Nott, Roger Yeoman, Tim Cooke, and Vincent Geake. The Club team were Simon Slater (Capt.), Hugo Fisher, Malcolm Green, Philip Pascall, Andrew Reid, and Mike Wigmore. As has been the case in previous years, there was much overlap in loyalties between the teams with many entitled to sail for either team.
The new format of lunch first to get to know each other, followed by up to seven back to back races in the afternoon when the breeze was in proved to be a great success.
The ISC PRO Chris Darling, an experienced team racer himself, made the most of the conditions, setting a quadrilateral starboard-handed course to provide the challenging corners and potential traps that this branch of sailing requires.
The result, with ISC taking the win in four straight races, did not reflect the closeness of the racing. Most of the races finished with a split of points requiring only one more successful manoeuvre to change the result.
This event has in the past proved fertile ground for Swallow Class recruitment. The guests enjoyed Itchenor, and our wonderful National Swallows and we hope that they will come and sail with us more often and tell their O&CSS friends all about us.