Over the first weekend of February, the University of St Andrews Sailing Club hosted the third Scottish Student Sailing competition of the academic year at Loch Ore.
Heralding competitors from Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Strathclyde, Dundee and Glasgow, the Scottish Student Sailing competition—or SSS for short—seeds the best teams in Scotland to send on to a BUCS final with the rest of Britain.
After the cancellation of the second competition due to Storm Éowyn, there was extra pressure on the St Andrews team to deliver and gain entry to the prestigious BUCS final. The Saints fielded three teams: St Andrews Pink, Yellow, and Blue.
The Saints performed well on the weekend, with St Andrews Pink winning most of their league’s competition until the final event. Unfortunately, after a tight tiebreaker, they took second place because of the number of points against them. This still qualifies them for the BUCS final, which will be held in April.
St Andrews Yellow, who competes two leagues below Pink, also performed well, taking first place. St Andrews Blue came eighth overall but qualified for the playoffs—a second opportunity to qualify for the BUCs final. These playoffs should fall next month.
Hosting this huge event was a big task for the committee. Hannah Nightingale, the club’s Bosun, said it involved “a lot of early wakeups—up at 5:30am—and a lot of long days racing.” However, she also commented that “the hard work of our committee members, who put lots of time into organising socials and the races themselves, meant that the weekend was a great success.”
Good luck to the Saints at their BUCS final in April!
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