Oxford miss tide
Oxford narrowly missed out on a top ten position at the National Yachting Championships in Portsmouth, in which 28 crews from 20 universities competed.
Over the week the crews raced daily for the much coveted crown. Monday saw strong winds and a wet day for all those sitting up on the rail, as the Oxford crew found their feet quickly, finishing in the middle of the fleet that day after two races.
The wind dropped off slightly on the Tuesday morning, building again in the afternoon. There was one long race that day, demanding both tactics and focus, which the crew showed that they possessed, leading to another solid mid-fleet result.
Wednesday's lighter winds on a 'simple' windward-leeward course proved to be a successful combination for Oxford, with tactics paying off and the Dark Blues climbing to 6th overall.
Light early morning winds on the Thursday saw Oxford drop from their form of the previous day, but placings on the last day were consistent and earned the crew an overall position of 11th in the final results.
Promising talent from this year's crew is expected to go forward next year; an excellent trimming team of Ben Keitch, Chris Lock and Ronan O'Kelly worked well with the current mastman, meaning that Oxford's yachtsmen and women will be strong contenders in the 2005 Championships.
29th Apr 2004