Saturday 11 June saw Eton College host the 2016 Thames Valley Area Schools Championships at Bray Lake. Sevenoaks entered two teams and were looking to defend their title after winning the previous two years.
Unfortunately the wind didn’t really play ball and racing took place in extremely light and challenging conditions. The 21 teams were initially split into four qualifying leagues with the top from each going into a gold league, second into a silver league, third bronze and so on.
Sevenoaks A had a flawless qualifying series winning all their races comfortably with 1, 2, 3 combinations. Sevenoaks B, who were the youngest team in the competition with four Year 10 sailors, also sailed really well defeating hosts Eton, but they narrowly lost out in a decisive race to Royal Grammar School and so ended up in the Silver League.
In the gold league three teams, Sevenoaks, Winchester and Magdalen College School, all ended on three wins out of four. With the light winds there wasn’t time to do the usual semi and final rounds and so the result was decided on points on countback with Sevenoaks unfortunately ending up third overall. Sevenoaks B finished second in the Silver League and 7th overall, comfortably the top ranked B team which was a great result for a young team.
Next up is the schools nationals and international finals which we are hosting this year at Bough Beech reservoir on 4-5 July. Sevenoaks A will look to defend both their titles.
Sailing for Sevenoaks:
Sevenoaks A
George Haynes (capt) & Cameron McClellan
Matthew Caiger & Alessandro Foglia
Oliver Kidd & Helen Jones
Sevenoaks B
Holly MacAskill (capt) & Issy Lewis
Nicholas Davies & Will Baulkwill
Cossie Lewis & Anne-Marie Ratnage
