With the team racing season underway, two Wessex teams competed at the Oxford Magnum this weekend. An event steeped in pedigree but plagued by light winds on the first day meant only 50 races were completed, Southampton Green performed well with a 4 for 5 winning ratio and Southampton Red were 2 for 4.
Come the evening, our sailors were feeling very fresh after only racing a handful of times.
This perky attitude coupled with the outrageous £20 social tickets, lead our teams to really try and make the most of the night ahead. Southampton Red decided the best course of action was to have a bottle of wine each pumping in their system before the 8pm curry, each team mate using their 2nd bottle to wash down the disappointing curry that was provided; proving once you live the life of luxury that is Manzil’s, it is hard to settle for less. We’d like to say we all made it to the club, but who knows where a majority of our Wessex Wanderers ended up! Google maps history highlighted a mammoth 5 hour trip back to the accommodation for Pete that involved 3 different modes of transport! Our very own team racing captain, Owen, wished to stroll down memory lane and take in the sights of his hometown and was lost until the rest of the team returned to their dorm.
Sunday brought freezing temperatures and big winds. The round robin continued and the big sails were used as the Southampton teams faced each other, in what became a battle to get round the course and survive! Team Red were winning 2 of the 3 pairs by the halfway stage and were further rewarded when big gust forced a drastic ease of main from Crispin, the boom clipped Gus who was holding course underneath and Crisp was given spins just before the final mark. Putting team green into 5,6 and Team Red took the win from the 1st team!
The day was then completed on the smaller cut down mainsails but the huge gusts still made sailing the boat well the priority over team racing. Southampton Green struggled against some top Alumni teams in the gold fleet, whilst Red smashed the silver fleet winning all but 1.
The weekend finished with Wessex 2nd and 3rd University teams; positive moving forward towards BUSA finals with 2 top teams to push each other at our Wednesday trainings.
Thanks to Oxford for hosting us and organising the event.
Wessex Love xxx
