48 I OXFORD UNIVERSITY I SPORTS REVIEW 2013
WINDSURFING The 2012–13 academic year has been another great one for Oxford windsurfers. With our usual mix of local windsurfing at Farmoor Reservoir, trips to student windsurfing events in the UK, and another successful Varsity trip to Egypt, new and old members alike have learned some wonderful new skills. After a busy Fresher’s’ Fair, the year kicked off with a trip to the twelfth annual Aussie Kiss windsurf festival in Bude, Cornwall. A mix of beginner and advanced Oxford windsurfers travelled south for a windy weekend at Roadford Reservoir. Beginners took their first steps on a windsurf board, whilst advanced windsurfers enjoyed insightful clinics held by professionals. Our annual Varsity trip was another successful event in our calendar. Around 20 eager students of all levels, from complete beginners to seasoned windsurfers, bridged the Oxford–Cambridge divide and travelled together to Dahab (Egypt), a small town on the Red Sea which is renowned for its incredible wind conditions. This intense training week was an excellent opportunity for Oxford windsurfers to dramatically improve their skills. Finally, Oxford hosted the Windsurf Varsity Race in February and we took home the trophy. Despite very cold conditions, we organised a series of three races and our team of six windsurfers ranked first overall. The Committee sees the continuation of a few of its key members from the past year, with the addition of a new President. Their principal aims are to expand the club, get members more involved, and continue to foster great relations with our sister club in Cambridge.
YACHTING – DINGHY SECTION It has been another successful year for the dinghy side of OUYC. The first six reached the final of the Mixed BUCS Team Racing Nationals for the third consecutive year, unfortunately losing to a very strong Bristol team. In addition to this we won the Oxford Invitational Trophy, a selective event for the top eight university teams in the country, as well as finishing second (and first university) at the Cam Cup. The men’s Varsity Match was, as usual, a tight affair but after two days of close racing we eventually lost 4–1.5. The women’s team narrowly missed out on making the semi-finals at the Women’s BUSA Team Racing Nationals, finishing in fifth place overall. They had, however, saved their best for the end of season and beat the Cambridge team, who had won the nationals www.sport.ox.ac.uk
4–3, in a thoroughly entertaining Varsity Match that went right down to the finish line of the last race. Thirteen teams entered Cuppers this year, with Pembroke lifting the trophy after beating Balliol in a tense final. Brasenose finished in third. In recognition of their successes over the year, Phil Derry, Guy Stephens, and Ben Gratton were all selected for the biennial BUSA–ICSA sailing tour, which pits the very best American college sailors against their British university counterparts. This is the pinnacle of university sailing and so to have three members selected is testament to OUYC’s continuing strength on the circuit.
YACHTING – YACHT SECTION 2012–13 has been another successful year for OUYC with many members participating in our cruising trips, racing programmes and training courses, helping the club to grow. Our Racing Team also gained Half-Blues after finishing seventh-best University Team in the country in the BUSA Student Yacht Nationals. The summer months saw both experienced and novice members take part individually in a variety of events, inshore and offshore, including the J-Cup, J109 Nationals, Cowes
Week, and the JOG and RORC offshore series. Life member Richard Palmer once again kindly invited members of the club to take part in the second JOG race to Cherbourg on his J109, Jangada Too. A crew of mixed ability was assembled, who finished in seventh place after a very enjoyable weekend. Cruising trips have been organized all year round, with high attendance. OUYC offered a summer trip to Croatia for a week in September and the club saw 50 people participate in our annual Extravaganza cruising trip in October. All cruising trips are skippered by club skippers, but greatly rely on OUYC life members (i.e. Oxford yachting alumni). OUYC has been trying to tackle a shortage of club skippers by encouraging experienced sailors (mainly members of the Blues team) to take the OUYC-organized RYA yachtmaster theory courses and giving them limited skippering experience during cruising and racing trips. The cost of these courses is carried by the potential skippers on top of the cost for training and racing. Only with their help can the club be run to the current high standards of safety. Several RYA shore-based training courses were run by professional RYA instructors, including the RYA Yachtmaster Shorebased Theory, a VHF Radio Course, and a First Aid at Sea course.