| LONDON, UK-(8-12-2005) Mark Campbell-James, Dave Mason, Andrew Yates and Andy Clark are the first team to get a slot in the JPMorgan Asset Management Winter Challenge Final following their win at the match racing event this weekend (3-4 December).
Sailing in the RYA J80’s, eight teams gathered at Queen Mary Sailing Club, Staines to prove their worth at the international match racing event. British Olympic medallists Iain Percy and Chris Draper were both fielding teams, along with the Swedish all women’s crew helmed by Jenny Axhede. Also ready to challenge the competition were the Danish team helmed by Mads Ebler and Chris Rast’s Swiss team.
With the wind blowing at 12 to 18 knots, the organisers ran a round robin competition where all teams raced against each other once. At the end of day one, with most of the round robin completed, both Percy’s team and Campbell-James’s team remained undefeated, Ebler had lost two races and fourth place was still up for grabs.
The second day of racing brought little wind and a delayed start. Shifting and unstable breeze proved to be trying conditions for all of the teams out on the water. The first race saw Percy lead off the line and when the wind skewed the course Campbell-James was given little chance to get back into the race. After five races the round robin was complete with Percy in first, Campbell-James in second, Ebler maintaining third and Cherry earning fourth.
The final saw match racing heavy weights Campbell-James, ranked fifteen in the world and America’s Cup sailor Percy set to battle it out in the best of three races. Percy gave the first race away when he incurred an early entry resulting in a penalty, which Campbell-James took full advantage of and extended his lead to win the race. With the second race underway, Percy was once again judged to be over the line at the start and incurred another penalty allowing Campbell-James to slip away and take the overall victory.
While Campbell-James and his team have earned a berth in the Grade One Final, Ian Percy’s team will receive an invitation to the JPMorgan Asset Management Grade Two Final on the 10-12 March at Queen Mary Sailing Club.
The next qualifying weekend is 17-18 December when top British match racer Ian Williams will join the fray along with teams from France, Germany, Slovenia and Switzerland
Results
1 Mark Campbell-James, Dave Mason, Andrew Yates and Andy Clark
2 Iain Percy, Ganga Bruni Andrew Simpson, Rachel Howe
3 Mads Ebler, Soren Tonder, Chris Keene Pedersen, Niels Kinch
4 Nick Cherry, Nick Houchin, Oscar Hellstrom, Giles Waterhouse
5 Chris Rast, Alain Stettler, Patrick Zaugg, Stefom Rathigeb
6 Jenny Axhede, Annika Carlunger, Nina Bake, Johanna Sarna, Annika Olsson
7 Chris Draper, Simon Hiscocks, Shane Hughes, Jez Elliot
8 James Fox, Adam Heeler, Ollie Houseman, Andy Palmer-Felgate
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