Team Racing
Published 10:56 on 25 Jun 2026
Greg Eaton writes: The weekend of 20-21 June dawned bright and sunny with 10 knots in the forecast for the afternoon high tide, perfect for the Emsworth Team Racing weekend. 7 strong helms had signed up, along with their respective crews, all prepared to get stuck into some short course racing, with an emphasis on tactics and boat handling. The format for the weekend was 'random pairs' - four boats split into two teams of two, with the boat in last place losing the race for their team, forcing your team mate to come back and help you out.
The 'random' part is just that the pairings in each race rotate on a computer schedule so race 1 might be Jonny & Tom vs. Hugh & Luke and then race 2 could be Tom & Luke against Hugh & Henry. This means that you can't get too 'shouty' with your opponent as they might well be your team-mate for the next race. With a wide range of team-racing experience across the sailors, the format helps as the more experienced team racers help their team-mates around the course. Each time you win a race you score a point, and the helm and crew with the most points win the day.
After a short briefing on Saturday from experienced team racer and international umpire, Greg Eaton, practice racing got underway on a starboard 'box-course' just off the Club and very quickly lessons about being pushed past lay-lines, covering or mark-traps were quickly turned from theory into practice. After a couple of hours of tight races, with some random penalties to bring the fleet back together, we all returned ashore for a pint and debrief in the sunshine.
Sunday was time for the event itself. 7 races in total would permit each helm/crew pairing to sail 4 races and with a lighter more southerly breeze we switched the course configuration to two laps, and to keep the action close, through the start/finish line on each lap. 7 action packed races were held - occasionally one team would sail away to a 1-2 combination but most of the time it was closer with lots of requests to the on-water umpire team if a sailor thought an opponent had fouled them. With a dying breeze the last race was shortened to a single lap and we all dived ashore for a final wrap-up and prizegiving. Luckily we had signed up to Ksail - so finding out who had won was just a matter of checking the tie-breaks online and Simon didn't have to spend yet more time on Sailwave!
1st - Tom & Sophie, 2nd - Dave & Miggy, 3rd - Hugh & Luke, 4th - Henry & Ella
Big shout out to Jonny for his work on prepping the boats and equalising them. Bonus points for winning 'play of the day award' for a finish line move that turned a clear loss into a last-ditch win - he had definitely been paying attention to the risk/reward part of the morning briefing. Thanks also to Simon & Barbara for the loan of the committee boat and all the other volunteers for manning rescue boats and providing boat decals (Jerry). Thanks in particular to Kirstie for organising such a fabulous weekend, and recruiting such a fun, friendly group of sailors.
"I learned so much and enjoyed the sessions" was the feedback from one of the competitors. Here's to more of the same in 2027