Kennedy claims RYA Marlow Ropes Women's Match Racing crown
by British Keelboat Sailing 19 Sep 00:52 PDT
14-15 September 2024
The RYA Marlow Ropes Women's Match Racing Championship title was claimed by skipper Juliette Kennedy and her team over a weekend of close competition.
The annual fixture at Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy had good conditions for an action-packed two days of racing in British Keelboat Sailing's fleet of Elliott 6Ms (14-15 September 2024).
With sunshine for most of the weekend, Saturday had two round robins in a consistent 6-10 knots, followed by a cooler Sunday and 8-12 knots of breeze for a third round robin, semis and finals, with a minimum of 17 races per team.
Race Officer Eilidh Millar said: "There was lots of racing for everyone and it was a really enjoyable weekend. We had relatively short races and a good umpire team who were on the case as needed, and the results don't show just how close a lot of the racing was over the weekend - we had quite a few almost photo finishes with just half a metre or less between the boats at times."
Coaching
The event attracts both new and experienced teams and Phil Devereux - Head Coach of the British Keelboat Academy - along with the umpires, hosted a debrief after the racing on Saturday to answer questions about match racing rules and tactics.
With coaching support and the event's typically warm and welcoming ethos, teams who didn't take a race on the Saturday were able to improve and pick up wins on day two.
Round robins & finals
Juliette Kennedy, Ruby Sunderland and Amber Hale all took turns at the top of the round robin leaderboards in a hotly fought series.
Overall standings after three round robins saw Kennedy in pole position with 12 wins from 15 races, Hale in second with 10 wins and Ellen Morley in third with nine.
Morley then beat Hale 2:0 in the semi-finals; Sunderland meanwhile took a first race win from Kennedy, who then won the next two to seal her spot in the final.
The petit final also went to three matches, with Hale taking a race before Sunderland of Cowes Match Racing made a comeback with two wins to claim third overall.
In the final, Kennedy took overall victory 2:0 from Morley.
Overall Results: (top three)
1st Juliette Kennedy, Jenny Smallwood, Olivia Jacklin, Kate MacAdorey
2nd Ellen Morley, Hannah Cox, Lisanne Blok, Hazel McDonnell
3rd Ruby Sunderland, Rosie Povall, Zoe Dunn and Maeve Hall
Full results here.
Winning skipper Kennedy, who finished third in the 2023 edition, said: "I have done this event for the last few years and it's one of my favourite sailing events in the calendar. I love how friendly the teams are and how tight the races can be. Each year I have learnt more about match racing rules and strategy, and I think that experience helped us clinch the win this year! It would be great to see more women getting into match racing and hopefully lots of teams competing next year."
Take part
Next up for the #rockupandrace RYA Match Racing Championship Series 2024 is Qualifier 5 in RS21s at Queen Mary Sailing Club in London over the weekend of 28-29 September. Enter now and by 9am Friday 20 September at the latest.
The qualifiers then conclude with the Ceilidh Cup - incorporating the Scottish Student Sailing Championship - which will be sailed in Sonars at the Royal Northern & Clyde Yacht Club, 5-6 October. Read more and enter via the Ceilidh Cup preview.
The top teams from each event in the series receive an invitation to compete at the RYA National Match Racing Grand Finals, 18-20 October 2024 at Queen Mary Sailing Club.
Find out more at RYA Match Racing.