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The Official
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Racing will take place over three days in the RYA J/80's, with each team starting off by sailing a round robin, where each skipper will race every other boat in their group once, and then ranked according to their performance. A second series will then be raced with the top six boats going through to the next series. In the final round robin the six qualified skippers from series one and two will race each other once and a winner will be determined.
Qualifying through their national ranking are Mark CAMPBELL-JAMES and Christian HAMILTON ranked second and fourth respectively in Great Britain. As a joint winner of the National Match Racing Final in 2004, CAMPBELL-JAMES is the defending champion at this event. Most recently finishing third the 2005 ISAF Grade 2 Knickerbocker Cup, CAMPBELL-JAMES watched his ISAF World Match Race Ranking go up to 18th in the world. CAMPBELL-JAMES and his crew will be hungry to prove they are the best and will be one of the toughest teams to beat out on the water.
The RYA Match Racing qualifying series, held over three weekends, separated the weak from the strong. Nick CHERRY, Ali HALL, and Rob GRIEG-GRAN and their crew all made the cut and will be out on the water at the final. Also asserting her presence on the water will be Gemma FARRELL who will helm the only all woman's boat.
Two more teams, one led by Alex CHERRY and the other still unconfirmed, qualified for the weekend's event at the Match Racing play-offs and will be joining the competition.
A strong group of youth sailors will also set out to pit their skills against the more seasoned match racers. Ian DOBSON, Richard MASON, Jon PINNER and their respective teams, all under 19, will sail in the finals after qualifying at the ISAF Grade 3 Volvo RYA Youth Match Racing Championship and at the ISAF Grade 3 Skandia Cowes Youth Week.
Finally, sailor Andrew CORNAH and his team from Southampton University earned their spot in the Final at the BUSA Match Racing Championships this spring and will try out their tactics on the wider match racing circuit.
Racing gets underway on Friday 7 October and continues through to Sunday 9 October.
RYA National Match Racing Final Entrants
(- ISAF World Match Race Ranking)