Sixteen teams gathered in Hamble at the weekend for the RYA National Match Racing Championship Grand Finals following a summer season of qualifiers, youth and university championships.

Royal Southern Yacht Club were the hosts with racing taking place on the Solent, adding an interesting tidal dimension to the fun and frenetics of match racing in RS21s.

Racing was scheduled over three days (21-23 October) but was not possible on day one due to high winds, so competitors gathered before dawn on Saturday morning with a much better weekend forecast and plenty of racing to get through.

The 16 teams were split into two groups based on World Sailing match racing rankings and on Saturday each group completed a full round robin with the top four from each advancing through to the quarter finals.

Both groups were topped with 100% records, with Andy Cornah in group A and Ted Blowers in group B both finding early form.

The battle for the top four was tight with group A seeing a three way tie for fourth, which saw event top seed Alastair Gifford come out on top to join Cornah’s team, Ceilidh Cup winner Alex Colquitt and Matt Greenfield in the knockouts.

Group B saw strong performances from Ali Mo, Patrick Croghan and Ellie Cumpsty to see them advance alongside Blowers.

Sunday was knockouts day with event director Richard Moxey also scheduling continued racing for the teams that missed out. After a short delay for lightning strikes on the Solent, racing got under way with the quarter-final wins going to Cornah, Blowers, Greenfield and Colquitt.

In the semi-finals, Blowers saw off Colquitt 2-0 and the other semi saw three incredibly close fought races with penalties, place changes and committee boat raft ups aplenty — Cornah emerged victorious 2-1 to face Blowers in the final.

The tide was now ripping upwind making pre-start quite tricky to judge the time back to the line and the prospect of being over the line very costly.

Race 1 saw an even split tack start with Blowers taking a narrow lead round the top mark; Cornah and crew kept things close on the run and picked their moment to lead the gybe, managing to roll over the top and lead into the bottom mark from where they extended away to take the win.

Race 2 saw an almost identical pre-start with Cornah leading back in and splitting tacks off towards the committee boat in the last 10 seconds. This left Blowers too close to the line and unable to not be taken over by the tide, giving Cornah a good head start up the first beat.

Blowers and team chased hard the whole way round but ultimately the OCS proved too costly and Cornah — with his crew of Guy Brearey, Niall Myant-Best and Kate Macgregor (back on bow after winning as a helm in 2021) — holding on to take the title.

For Cornah this was his second title in three years. “We had a really fun weekend. Whilst it was a shame not to race on the first day, the event team and in particular PRO Tom Rusbridge did an amazing job of getting tons of high quality racing in for all teams,” he said.

“It was a pleasure to sail with my amazing crew this weekend, they did a great job getting us round the race track, which wasn’t easy especially when the tide was ripping!”

Matt Greenfield and team took third place defeating Colquitt in the petit final. Full results can be found HERE.

For more about RYA Match Racing and all upcoming events, Including the start of the Winter Match Racing Series in January 2023, see www.ryamatchracing.co.uk.

X-Yachts owners will have another chance to take part in some fun racing on the Solent with fellow happy customers and crews before the summer.

That’s when the Royal Southern Yacht Club in Hamble hosts the 2022 X-Yachts GB Solent Cup over the weekend of 13-15 May.

Last year’s event enjoyed superb sailing conditions and the Danish performance yacht maker hopes for even more in three months’ time.

Entry forms will go out soon so be sure to get on the list and register with Debbie Weldon.

The X-Yachts Solent Cup returned for 2021 over the UK spring bank holiday weekend (28-30 May) and was blessed with blue skies and superb sailing conditions in the Solent, with hosts the Royal Southern Yacht Club providing for smoothly run racing and relaxed fun shoreside.

The Family Class proved popular with participating X-Yachts owners, sporting the biggest fleet to date with some exciting racing throughout the entire fleet.

Special mentions go to Maxian, one of the few entirely family-crewed X-Yachts in the regatta who provided a super father-and-son effort, as well as the husband-and-wife team at the helm of Xc 42 Freya — the only double-handed yacht racing at the event.

X marks the spot for Xenia with Baby X behind | Credit: Rick Tomlinson

Barry Tipping and his crew travelled all the way from Dover to compete with his new X4⁰, Roxie. And particularly well sailed was Xc 38 Astrid, the smallest X-Yacht in the family fleet but plucky enough to be mixing it with the larger Xs in the Family Class.

But the class winner was Anthony Esse's X4³, Baby X, helmed by Charlie Esse to straight wins which sealed the X-Yachts Solent Cup title overall — not to mention the highly coveted X-Yachts stand-up paddle board along with many other prizes from the event sponsors.

Baby X with the fleet, including David Murray’s Irish-flagged X-50 Touche | Credit: Rick Tomlinson

“X Yachts GB excelled, yet again, putting on a fabulous, high quality weekend of sailing,” said Anthony after the event. “For any X-Yacht owner this is an absolute ‘must do’ regatta. The camaraderie and bonhomie accompanied by some excellent sailing made this a truly memorable weekend.”

In the Sports Class, varied sizes ranged from the imposing, dark-hulled X4⁶ xSabio — with a crew who had never before raced together — to the well-sailed X-302 Quickstep.

But it was the X-34 Juno, a boat under new ownership since the start of the year, which claimed the Sports Class title, winning a B&G voucher for £1,500 and many other useful items.

Sports Class winner, Simon Bottoms & William Bridge’s X-34 Juno | Credit: Rick Tomlinson

Make a note in your diaries for the next edition of the X-Yachts Solent Cup to be held on 13-15 May 2022.

#sb20 – The UK SB20 class association and distributor SportsBoat World are holding an open day at the Royal Southern Yacht Club in Hamble on Saturday, April 5, 2014, for anyone thinking of sailing an SB20 this year.

SportsBoat World, the worldwide distributor of the hugely popular keelboat, will be demonstrating a brand new SB20, built by White Formula. SB20 owners can also bring their boats along to the Royal Southern Yacht Club for a pre-season check by the expert SportsBoat World team – a great opportunity to check you're in race-winning shape before this summer's packed schedule, which includes championships in Germany, France and Russia.

Sailors interested in crewing on an SB20 for the first time this season can try one of the exciting asymmetric one-designs and meet members of the fleet. There will also be advice on buying new and used boats for prospective owners.

The open day takes place at the Royal Southern YC, on Rope Walk, Hamble, from 1000am to 1600pm. Contact [email protected] to book your slot for a demo sail, or contact [email protected] for a pre-season boat check.

Italian sailing clothing brand Slam is title sponsor to the Solent based X-Yachts Solent Cup and as the official clothing partner for X-Yachts GB and Ireland.

Slam is providing all competitors with an event T-Shirt and will be offering competitors 20% off selected Technical products and exclusive X-Yacht branded items. For further information on the Slam X-Yachts Solent Cup please visit the event home page: http://www.x-yachts.com/seeems/119115.asp

Chris Ducker, Managing Director of Slam says" we are pleased to be associated with X-Yachts GB and Ireland, and looking forward to a fantastic Cup weekend. See you at the X-Yachts Solent Cup 6-8th May"

Entries have reached 26 so far so there are only the remaining 4 free berthing slots at the Royal Southern Yacht Club, if you would like to enter your X-Yacht in the event please see the event website.

It may not quite live up to the adventurous exploits of Scott and Shackelton, but an intrepid group from the Hamble-based Royal Southern Yacht Club, led by Mike 'Pike' Jones, Peter Delbridge and Tim Robinson, sought out new Solent territories yesterday resulting in them naming a newly found island 'Southern Land' as well as declaring it a bona fide annexe to the Yacht Club's Hamble Riverside home.

Thanks to a rare natural occurrence, the Shingles bank forms the Western edge of the Needles Channel and has been synonymous with navigational blunders over the years. Yesterday three RIBs (rigid inflatable boats) set out from Hamble in search of new lands, thanks to the lowest tide of the year and an ever-changing shingle bank. Low tide revealed a truly impressive sight, rising out of the sea.

Upon landing at 16:12, a pennant was planted upon the highest point, in lunar-landing style. One small step for man, one giant leap for yachtsmen. A veritable feast was prepared ashore and a glass raised on what was a truly memorable evening. The explorers departed at 1810 under the last rays of the sun.

Plans are being put in place to make this an annual event, conditions allowing. The Royal Southern has a history of unusual antics at low tide including hosting the annual Brambles Bank Cricket Match with the Island Sailing Club in the middle of the Solent.