OU Sailing Association Arrow Trophy 2026 By William Beharrell (M 15)
The Arrow Trophy returned this year for another spectacular weekend from 9–11 October. Mathew, Kala and Lana returned for another year, as did Alex and Henry, providing their expertise and bringing our age range back in line with the modest levels expected of the Arrow Trophy. New recruits this year included the youngest member of the Davies tribe, as well as Charlie Fairs and me. This year, we competed in the Fairview fleet under the leadership of Henry Arnold, who had valiantly turned down a race in Italy in favour of the Arrow. Sadly, racing only took place on Saturday due to a lack of wind on Sunday. However, we fought hard and were rewarded with fourth place out of 12 in our class, an improvement of one place over the previous year. Convening at Port Hamble on Friday afternoon, we loaded up the boat – minus Lana and Rosie’s dresses – for the journey across the Solent. Unfortunately, as anticipated, the weather decided to come in at that moment. However, despite the loss of a crate of beer and a rather soggy arrival at Shepards Marina, the team was in great spirits and excited for the weekend ahead, with promising wind and drier weather forecast for the morning. Prior to the inaugural Spice Central meal to kick off the Arrow weekend, two out of three Davies’s made the bus journey to Newport to source some replacement, lovely brown frocks for dinner the following evening. After a swift pre-supper pint, we all convened at the curry house, where we filled up with performance fuel ready for the following day, washed down with a few Dark ’n’ Stormys at the Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club. To make sure of the job, we stumbled into a popular local establishment on the way home. After being refused service for the second round – likely for the best – the team disbanded and returned to their respective accommodation. With the captains’ briefing at 0800 before racing on Saturday, the alarm went off rather sooner than anticipated, and we convened at the boat, bleary-eyed, for a blustery day on the water. There was much excitement among all the teams as we prepared to head off.
As we left Cowes, the weather began to show itself and helped to sharpen our minds as we practiced our maneuvers. Rosie, the youngest Davies sibling, was in charge of kite packing, while the two new novices, Charlie and me, were active around the mast and bow, assisting Rosie with the kite. Experience increased towards the stern of the boat, with Mathew in charge of the mainsail and Kala and Alex manning the jib.Henry helmed, while Lana assisted with race strategy and work around the stern. The first race saw gusts upwards of 15 knots and a strong start to the day’s racing, with our skipper positioning us perfectly. The first hoist of the spinnaker was confident and surprisingly inspiring. However, at the leeward mark, the halyard became caught and, as a result, we lost a few places and marginally damaged our confidence. On the second lap, we regained the places we had lost, moving back into third and almost into second, but alas, more spinnaker problems arose when the spinnaker sheet blew out on the finish line, and we finished third. After the first race, we were instructed that spinnakers were not to be deployed until further notice, which turned out to mean for the rest of the day. The second race saw another strong start; however, it was a more static race, as we went the wrong way on the first upwind leg and could not improve upon our fifth-place position. The start of the third race was far more dramatic, and, frustratingly, we had our worst start of the day. However, we remained close enough to, but comfortably clear of, a three-boat pile-up involving Oundle and Sherborne, which caused considerable damage, with Sherborne suffering a fairly nasty hole in their stern. Despite the unfortunate accident, this was our best race yet: we had a fantastic leg in 25-knot gusts and sailed up into second place, which we held around the course. The final race was a race around the cans back up to Cowes. Although we nearly got inside the boats ahead of us at a leeward mark to take first place, we narrowly lost the overlap just outside the zone and finished third. Under the experienced guidance of Henry at the helm, with assistance from Lana on race strategy, Uppingham reached the start line consistently towards the front of the fleet, if not as the first boat on more than one occasion. We came home with a third, sixth, second and third to finish fourth out of 12 in the Fairview fleet, behind Charterhouse, Malvern and Bryanston, with Wellington retaining the overall Arrow Trophy in the Sunsail fleet.
Coming back into Cowes meant an important post-match debrief on the stern of the boat and plenty of reminiscing about fond memories of our time at school. This continued almost until the pre-dinner quiz, which, in typical Arrow fashion, was held in a RORC double bedroom. The tight confines of the room meant that the teams were split between the bed team and the floor team, with the latter prevailing by two points due to some arguably more favourable questions. Shortly afterwards, we joined the party downstairs and took our seats for the prizegiving and the highly anticipated chicken supreme. Although a plan was put in place for the morning’s racing, the likely outcome was already apparent, and the whole event continued to party on that basis, which was later proved correct. The fun continued well into the evening, with Uppingham the last to leave the dining room and some great shapes on the dance floor at The Vectis. Apparently, the late-late club enjoyed a rumoured spectacular after-party aboard our boat, Carte Blanche – “what happens in Cowes stays in Cowes”, I am told. Tired and weary – after Charlie found me relaxing on the back of another boat in the marina – we trundled back to Port Hamble around midday on Sunday, said our goodbyes after what had been a fun-filled weekend of camaraderie and shared interests, and peeled off in our separate directions. Until next year!
2026 Crew Alex Woodroffe (F 87) Skipper Henry Arnold (F 01) Lana Davies (S 15) Charlie Fairs (HF 15) William Beharrell (M 15) Kala Davies (S 17) Mathew Mason (WD 20) Rosie Davies (S 20) With David Gavins (LH 73) in support If you’re interested in joining the OUSA, and taking part in the Arrow Trophy next year, please reach out to Lana Davies (Sa 15) or David Gavins (LH 73). lanamdavies@icloud.com david.gavins@btinternet.com See you on the water!