The St Mathew Cup 4 Sep 2011
This year the St Mathew Cup was hosted by the Burnham Sailing Club and team raced in Squibs. The format was for each club to enter two boats, with four races sailed but each club had to have four helms as each helm could only sail a maximum of two races, although the same crew could sail in all four races if so required.
The event was held directly off the Burnham Sailing Club with a windward/leeward course set across the river as the wind was from the south, giving the spectators on the shore an excellent view of the proceedings. All eight boats started together and spinnakers were not allowed to be used, as is often the case with team racing and there were three laps per race.
The RCYC team consisted of Robert Coyle, Malcolm Hutchings, Mark Wade and Mickey Wright as our four helms, along with Andy Ramsey and Duncan Grindley as crews. The Team Captain was Peter Marchant, who also acted as an on the water umpire along with Matthew Anthony.
The racing was very hotly contested with the team racing aspect being used to its full, with many shouts of “Protest” and the umpires having to be quick with their decision making. The main contest developed with a fight between the Royal Burnham and the Royal Corinthian which led to very close racing between these two clubs. Unfortunately race three had to be re-sailed due to the race not being finished after the third lap, which led to some very interesting debate between the umpires from the RBYC and RCYC, particularly as the RBYC had a first and second in that race, although in the end it did not affect the final result.
The final outcome was that the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club retained the Trophy with 9 points, 2nd was the Royal Burnham Yacht Club with 19 points, 3rd was the Burnham Sailing Club with 26 points followed by the Crouch Yacht Club with 42 points.
The St Mathew Cup was presented in the Burnham Sailing Club by the Town Mayor, Helen Elliott. Peter Marchant, in his response on behalf of the competitors thanked the Burnham Sailing Club for hosting the event and said that he looked forward to 2012 when the event would be hosted by the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club.