The Harry Baker Trophy was rebranded from an internal SSCBC trophy to The Harry Baker Victorian University Team Racing Championships. This change was made to fill in the void of a lack of University sailing in Victoria. The format of the event was designed to have tight head to head racing and to allow multiple teams/Universities to participate. Fortunately, the Universities answered the call and we had a sell-out event with 6 teams (University of Melbourne x 3, Monash University x 2 and RMIT x 1) which comprised sailors from across the bay.
On Sunday, we enjoyed perfect conditions with a beautiful 10-12 knot westerly breeze. The format of racing is a 15 race round robin (every team against each other) followed by finals. In the end, the Semis were made up by Monash 2 vs Melbourne 2 in one semi and Monash 1 vs RMIT. Each semi-final had the lead swap several times with Melbourne 2 progressing undefeated to face Monash 1. There was no love lost between these teams as the team Captains were Tom Trotman for Monash and Jack Abbott for Melbourne.
Dubbed the Battle of the Egos, Melbourne 2 defeated Monash 1 in a thriller final. Congratulations to all involved and we look forward to hosting more University regattas in the future.
Pictured is the winning Melbourne 2 team: Hannah Danks, Ethan O’Brien, Allie McLennan and Jack Abbott.
Below is a nice shot of a Couta boat getting amongst the action, as well as the flight sheet for those interested in how the racing is done.
